Human Interest Stuff by Brett Halliday

Originally published September 1938 in Adventure; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

PG

(D, V, L)

Drug Use {PG}

Some Violence {PG}

Coarse Language {PG}

Representations

Gender:

A single reference to the existence of women, off-screen.

Sex:

No sexuality noticed as present.

Race & Ethnicity:

Story set in Mexico, starring two USAians explicitly described as white. Mexican men depicted as violent in response to familial insult. Plenty of stereotyping, e.g. 'works well under direction, but lacks initiative'.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

A character off-screened by convenient dysentery.

Notes

Might be the first since the first story in the collection to feature a twist ending at the very finish. Rereading to put the rating together, it was obvious at least with foreknowledge, but I managed to overlook most of the "it doesn't make sense if [first impression] but does if [what is actually the case]" held out in plain sight. So I think that is complimentary.