A Dog's Ransom by Patricia Highsmith

When Clarence awakened the events the events of last evening went tumbling through his mind until he stopped them by deliberate effort.  The Pole might be dead, he thought.  And if he wasn't dead?  He would say it was the cop Dummell who -- had attacked him and beaten him nearly to death.  Clarence knew that he had flung himself on Rowajinski like a maniac.  He had hit Rowajinski with his gun.

---Patricia Highsmith, A Dog's Ransom (Knopf, 1972)

I hadn't read any Highsmith recently until I read Terry Castle's review in the London Review of Books of a new biography.  I'm not one who thinks it's necessary to know anything about a writer's life to enjoy their books but Highsmith's life is an interesting one, if only because with all her life's complexities and problems she was able to write some superb prose; she creates a world of her own.  The world of A Dog's Ransom strongly resembles the New York City of the 70's, with much of the story taking place in Greenwich Village, where I lived at the time, with its relatively low rents and diverse population.  Clare Duhammel, a policeman with a college degree who is called "Dummell" by his fellow cops,  tries to help a couple whose dog has been taken by the dubious Kenneth Rowajnski, who sends a note to the dog owners demanding a ransom, even though Rowajinski had killed the dog immediately.  Clarence takes the crime seriously, unlike his fellow patrolmen, and tries to track down the dognapper.  Clarence finds Kenneth but things start to go bad immediately, as Rowajnski starts to harass Marylyn after he is seen by a psychiatrist and released; Marylyn is Clarence's girlfriend, a hippie who hates cops and proceeds to break up with Clarence.  After Clarence kills Rowajinski the other cops investigating the murder start harassing Clarence, Marylyn, the dog's owners, and even Clarence's parents in Queens.  As often happens in Highsmith's misanthropic novels those who try to do the best end up the worst.