Case Pending

First published in 1960, this series launch from Elizabeth Linington (1921–1988) writing as Dell Shannon was an Edgar finalist, but it hasn’t aged well. Los Angeles homicide lieutenant Luis Mendoza, one of the first fictional Latino detectives, fears that an unknown murderer has struck again. Six months after someone killed chambermaid Carol Brooks, damaging her left eye, 18-year-old window dresser Elena Ramirez is found dead with a similar wound. Mendoza and his team investigate, starting with Ramirez’s family and friends. That the killer’s identity is signaled early on limits suspense in a plot driven by following routine police procedures. Leslie Klinger’s informative introduction concedes that the author employs racial stereotypes, and Mendoza has groan-worthy attitudes toward women (he wonders whether a witness he’s attracted to might possess “that great rarity in a woman, a sense of humor”). This Library of Congress Crime Classics selection is more a curiosity than anything. (Aug.)