The Expendable Man

"...a fascinating, filmic work of early-1960s noir [...] The seasoned narrator Ron Butler tells it grippingly." The Times

Trainee doctor Hugh Densmore is on his way to a wedding in Phoenix. Just two days later, he is a suspect in a murder investigation. Set under a sweltering Arizona sun, The Expendable Man by award-winning author Dorothy B Hughes shows up the racial, social and moral tensions rife in 1960s America.

Hugh Densmore picks up a young hitchhiker on a deserted stretch of road. Though he initially takes pity on her, something doesn’t add up: her backstory is barely believable. Despite this, ‘Iris’ cunningly gets Hugh to take her all the way to Phoenix, then comes to his motel the same evening hinting that she needs an abortion.

Already unnerved, panic seizes Hugh when two officers arrive to question him following reports of a girl’s body in a canal. Then comes a revelation which upends the entire novel. And as the police’s net closes in, Hugh rushes to find the real culprit and evade a scandal which threatens to engulf him.

The Expendable Man is part of the Persephone Audiobook Collection, a series of forgotten classics including neglected fiction and non-fiction by women writers. First published in 1963, this edition includes an afterword by Dominic Power.

© 2026 Macmillan Collector's Library (Audiobook): 9781035068289

Release date

Audiobook: 16 April 2026