Brigada Fluvial

River Brigade (Brigada fluvial) Arnold Briggs, translated by Francisco Gómez Llopis, 1953 This Spanish-language crime novel is set in the Mississippi Delta marshlands south of New Orleans. Two sailors are discovered murdered—Charles Marquette and Broddie Stevens—each with an identical dagger thrust into the nape of the neck, both left deliberately at the crime scene. Graham Colbert, a brilliant detective from the River Brigade (the crime-suppression unit of the fluvial police) nicknamed "Judas" because his brother and father are criminals, takes the case. Both victims were survivors of a shipwreck from the vessel *Lady Hearts*. The narrative establishes Colbert's character through interactions with Commissioner Clemens and introduces the café *Fifty-Fifty*, a waterfront establishment where Colbert observes the singer Carolina Despré and Fox "Seven Lives," a criminal with an attraction to her. The investigation unfolds against the atmospheric backdrop of the bayou's nocturnal setting, with descriptions of marshland terrain and period details of New Orleans's underworld.