The Longsnozzle Event

"The Longsnozzle Event" by Hal Annas is a 1950s science fiction novel where Len Zitts, a sharp detective in a far-out galaxy, tackles a puzzling murder with strange weapons and galactic conspiracies. Mixing humor and satire with classic detective stories, the book follows Zitts as he’s hired by a widow, Mrs. Brown and Smith, to look into her husband’s fishy death - she just so happens to be ready to part ways with the gold she intends to offer him for his services. To solve the case, Zitts uses oddball tech and gets help from his talking dog, Pupsie, revealing more deaths connected to the victim's old flames. The story balances funny talk with weird sci-fi stuff, spotlighting the craziness and cleverness needed as Zitts gets more intrigued by the killer weapon. The book wittily studies relationships, crime, and how a detective figures out the weird crimes of a very strange world.