The Naked Eye by Henriette Martin and Gita Lewis

Top marks for this original mystery gem, featuring a man haunted by the shadow of his cornea operation donor, a foul nest of blackmail and extortion, assault and kidnapping, murder and perpetual menace. An all-around winner.

Dr. Goldner chose Zachary Anders, a veteran blinded at Cassino, to receive a life-changing operation to regain his eyesight. The eyes were of a condemned man, the pure chance of whoever was put to death 48 hours before the operation. Anders narrates how the hospital gave him the name of a rooming house to begin his new life; the home of Mrs. Kyle, who never finishes a sentence. Oddly, the previous tenant was Clinton Page, the man who was put to death, and Anders begins to notice the strange shadow of a man in his peripheral vision. He meets Mrs. Kyle's daughter Casey, who runs a sleep clinic featuring languorous salesgirls in negligées, and Casey's cousin Phyllis, decked out in furs, the wife of used car salesman Jovial Jarvey. At Jarvey's car lot, he meets seductive secretary Daphne, and across the street at the Hi-Hat bar (where the bartender is a tall albino named Blackman) he meets radio personality Rollin Champion, whose program Jarvey sponsors, and Nappy Stoker, neighborhood loan shark with dreams of extortion. Champion is interestingly described as fey without actually naming it, the kind that lives on the outer edge of convention and whose apartment is 'chi-chi'. They all knew Clinton Page, the man condemned to death—he worked at Jarvey's car lot and was accused of killing the trusted bookkeeper Humberley, though always proclaimed his innocence. Anders uncovers a web of blackmail, including a famous harpist, who dies before he can reach her. All the while, the mysterious shadow leads him towards justice.

At the halfway mark, the mystery turns into a thriller, with Anders changing from a confused veteran into a tough detective, working with Lieutenant Shafter and private eye Harry Vale on the case, his narration becoming jaded and his belt sporting a gun. He is out to break the blackmail syndicate, and discover how they all know the name Mary-Anne.

This had a lot of charm (the days when you could get a full breakfast at the drugstore counter), and some unusual quirks, mixed in with the confusion of having someone else's sight, and of course, the descent into murder that mystery readers are looking for.

The other mystery would be about the authors, of which little can be found. Gita Lewis is an acknowledged mystery writer, the wife of one of my favorite authors Herbert Clyde Lewis (Season's Greetings, Gentleman Overboard), who may in fact be hiding behind the pseudonym of Henriette Martin.

Top marks for this original thriller.

1950 / Paperback / 248 pages