About the Author

Dorothy B. Hughes was an acclaimed crime novelist and literary critic, her style falling into the hard-boiled and noir genres of mystery writing. Born in Kansas City, she studied journalism at the University of Missouri, and her initial literary output consisted of collections of poetry. Hughes' first mystery novel, The So Blue Marble, was published in 1940 and was hailed as the arrival of a great new talent in the field. Her writing proved to be both critically and commercially successful, and three of her novels - The Fallen Sparrow, Ride the Pink Horse and In a Lonely Place - were made into major films. Hughes' taught, suspenseful detective novels are reminiscent of the work of Elisabeth Sanxay Holding and fellow The Murder Room author Margaret Millar. In 1951, Hughes was awarded an Edgar award for Outstanding Mystery Criticism and, in 1978, she received the Grand Master award from the Mystery Writers of America. She died in Oregon in 1993.

Reviews

Hughes is the master we keep turning to
*Sara Paretsky*

If you wake up screaming with terror don't say we didn't warn you
*NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW OF BOOKS*

Every sentence is suffused with dread
*LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS*

Cornell Woolrich meets Agatha Christie in this taut, grim reissue
*PUBLISHERS WEEKLY starred review*

Beautifully told
*NEW YORKER*

Superbly done
*WASHINGTON POST*

An author with a flair for terror
*NEW YORKER*

The perfect in-flight read
*KIRKUS*

Hughes didn't just pre-date Jim Thompson, she also pre-dated Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, and other so-called Masters of Psychological Suspense or Noir. And her writing style stands up to the test of time
*Bookslut*