The Eyes That Won't Die, by Michael Mallory

 

"The Eyes That Won't Die," by Michael Mallory, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January/February 2025.

This is the seventh appearance in this space by my friend and fellow SleuthSayer Michael Mallory.

The title reads like horror, but the story reads like classic Black Mask.

It's 1946 and Jim Beckley survived the war but, like many of his comrades, he is having trouble with the peace.  He is living with his wife (who he only met three months before they married) in a hastily built Quonset hut village for ex-GIs and their families.  Memories of people he killed are haunting him and no one seems to understand.  Jobs are hard to find and so, for Jim, is the gumption to hunt for one. 

When the ex-GI living in the other half of his barrack is murdered and dumped in the street, Jim is  suspected of the murder.  If you know this sort of story you know that he is going to wind up investigating the killing, and so he does.

I am a sucker for stories in which the protagonist has  chance at redemption.  This is a good one.