The Taste of Ashes

Howard Browne's mystery novels follow in the style of Raymond Chandler — hard-boiled and laconic, and usually centered on a weary PI (in Browne's case, Paul Pine). In The Taste of Ashes, Browne's ninth novel, Pine is hired by a wealthy family to find their missing daughter who is an apparent victim of a blackmail scheme. Browne's prose is sometimes forced and unfunny, but this is a tightly-plotted noir that surpasses many of Chandler's novels.