Informazioni generali

Nome legale: Hitchens, Julia Clara Catharine Dolores Birk Olsen
Altri nomi: Hitchens, Dolores
Olsen, D. B.
Birkley, Dolan
Burke, Noel
Data di nascita: 1907-12-25
Data di morte: 1973-08-01
Sesso: female
Nazionalità: USA
Luogo di nascita: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Luogo di morte: Orange County, California, USA
Luogo di residenza: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Los Angeles County, California, USA
Relazioni: Hitchens, Bert (husband)

Utenti

Recensioni

Catspaw for Murder (The Rachel Murdock Mysteries) di Dolores Hitchens

'Cat's Claw' and 'Catspaw For Murder' are the same book!
Review of the Mysterious Press/Open Media Kindle edition (October 11, 2022) of the Doubleday hardcover original (1943).

It is perhaps a case for The Lone Librarian™ as the Goodreads series for the Rachel Murdock mysteries incorrectly lists Cat's Claw as #3 and Catspaw for Murder as #4. This throws out the numbering for all the subsequent books of which there were only 12 in total and not 13.

But otherwise, this is a standard entry for the series. Rachel is called to assist Prudence, the granddaughter of an old schoolfriend who has written to her asking for advice about a series of ominous notes which she has been receiving. Rachel's sister Jennifer tries to discourage any involvement but Rachel is soon on the road with Samantha the cat in tow. When she arrives at the home of Prudence and her sisters, murder soon follows.

Miss Rachel and Samantha were alone in the hall. The cat, who went with Miss Rachel on whatever travels that lady undertook because she refused to eat with Miss Rachel away, seemed aware that something unusual was about to happen.

See book cover at https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/...
Cover design of the original 1943 Doubleday edition when the book was published under the D.B. Olsen pseudonym. Image sourced from Goodreads.

There are some fairly unrealistic elements to this story, including one witness to a murder apparently not noticing that she was sitting in the same room with a dead body. Eventually Miss Rachel's friend from the LA murder squad Detective Mayhew is also brought in on the case and of course Miss Rachel ignores his cautionary advice until suddenly in the middle of the book she is apparently kidnapped along with her cat. But all is explained in the end, with cat Samantha providing a vital clue with a pawprint. Miss Rachel and her familiar continue to have nine lives and more!

Note: In the first 2 books, Samantha the cat was described as being of a marmalade colour. This apparently didn't suit the marketing and design staff for the book series, where a black cat constantly appeared in the titles and the book covers. In #3 Catspaw for Murder Samantha is suddenly described as being black.🐈‍⬛… (altro)

Segnalato

alanteder | May 9, 2024 |

The Cat Wears a Noose (The Rachel Murdock Mysteries) di Dolores Hitchens

The Cat Goes Black
Review of the Mysterious Press/Open Media Kindle edition (December 6, 2022) of the Doubleday hardcover original (1944).

She tested the claws and found them sharp. "You're going to have to take care of yourself," she told Samantha. "Keep an eye out for whoever tries to take this bottle."
She tied the bottle to the string by its cap which contained the dropper, and then she looped the string about Samantha's throat and made a firm knot.

Ok, to get the elephant in the room immediately out of the way, there is no hanging of the cat in this book and there is no noose ever tied around its neck. The latest cover designers for this and the new 2024 edition (see below) obviously did not read the book, but went with their assumptions. What actually happens is that Miss Rachel at one point ties a ribbon around the neck of Samantha the cat with a clue dangling from it. It is meant to provoke a reaction from a suspect. So it is a metaphorical "noose" i.e. a trap, to ensnare the culprit. The cover design on the original 1944 edition did a better job in trying to portray this, even if it does look a bit ridiculous.
See cover at https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/...
Cover design of the original 1944 Doubleday edition when the book was published under the D.B. Olsen pseudonym. Image sourced from Goodreads.

Otherwise this was a fairly standard entry in the series where the parameters have now been clearly defined. 70-year-old Miss Rachel (who hasn't aged since book #1) is intrigued by some imminent or actual crime situation and insinuates herself into the investigation over the objections of her sister Jennifer and especially those of police detective Mayhew. She always manages to bring along Samantha the cat who becomes her unwitting assistant in solving the crime.

The stories are improbable of course, but I do enjoy the idea of a senior amateur female sleuth outwitting the authorities and the culprits. And let's face it, it is adorable that she has a constant feline companion.

Note: In the early books Samantha the cat was described as being of a marmalade colour. This apparently didn't suit the marketing and design staff for the book series, where a black cat constantly appeared in the titles and the book covers. In The Cat Wears a Noose the cat is suddenly described as being black.🐈‍⬛

Trivia and Links
This edition of The Cat Wears a Noose was from Otto Penzler's Mysterious Press but the latest 2024 edition is part of the Otto Penzler American Mystery Classics series (2018-ongoing).
See latest edition cover at https://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/cdn/shop/files/Cat-Wears-a-Noose-cover-72dpi_...

There is an American Mystery Classics related Goodreads Listopia here with 57 books listed as of early April 2024. There are currently 71 titles listed at the Mysterious Press online bookshop. The official website for the series at Penzler Publishers seems to show only the most recent and upcoming titles.… (altro)

Segnalato

alanteder | Apr 14, 2024 |

The Alarm of the Black Cat (An American Mystery… di Dolores Hitchens

The Second Ever Cat Mystery?
Review of the Penzler Publishers - American Mystery Classics paperback edition (April 4, 2023) of the Doubleday hardcover original (1942).

... also possesses, like Miss Rachel's Samantha, a form of animal intuition that we humans do not. Face it, if a cat or dog takes an instant dislike to someone you can be damned sure that there's a good reason. - from the Introduction by David Handler.

Seeing that there was another Rachel Murdock available from American Mystery Classics (AMC) I was curious to see how the series progressed. As mentioned in the introduction by Joyce Carol Oates in AMC's edition of The Cat Saw Murder (1939), Dolores Hitchens (originally under the penname of D.B. Olsen) was the first writer of a so-called "cat mystery", a sub-genre which has since grown to considerable popularity. This novel is therefore likely to have been the second such book.

The Alarm of the Black Cat finds 70-year-old Miss Rachel again moving away from her sister Jennifer and taking the cat Samantha in toe. She has rented a house in a rather odd neighbourhood where the 3 other nearby houses contain the various relatives of a feuding family. Various creepy incidents occur and murders soon follow. Rachel is determined to solve the case despite Detective Mayhew's (who makes a reappearance from book #1) attempts to dissuade her, even though her own life is at peril by the end.

Again, this book leans more towards a noirish and bloody tone, rather than being a so-called cozy. The solution was actually a surprise to me, despite a gradually reduced list of suspects. The case concludes with the standard golden age of crime trope of gathering all the suspects in a room for the reveal. In an echo of the Philo Vance series, the culprit ends it all with an action which requires an Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™.

Note: As mentioned in my review of The Cat Saw Murder (Rachel Murdock #1 - 1939), Samantha the cat is described as being of a marmalade colour. This apparently didn't suit the marketing and design teams for the book series, where a black cat constantly appears in the titles and the book covers, even in these latest editions from Penzler Publishers. 🐈‍⬛

Trivia and Links
This edition of The Alarm of the Black Cat is part of the Otto Penzler American Mystery Classics series (2018-ongoing). There is a related Goodreads Listopia here with 57 books listed as of early April 2024. There are currently 71 titles listed at the Mysterious Press online bookshop. The official website for the series at Penzler Publishers seems to show only the most recent and upcoming titles.… (altro)

Segnalato

alanteder | Apr 10, 2024 |

The Cat Saw Murder: A Rachel Murdock Mystery (An… di Dolores Hitchens

The First Ever Cat Mystery?
Review of the Penzler Publishers - American Mystery Classics paperback edition (June 1, 2021) of the Doubleday hardcover original (1939).

The first in a series of mysteries by D.B. Olsen, one of the pseudonyms of bestselling Dolores Hitchens (1907-1973), The Cat Saw Murder (1939) inaugurates what has become a curious publishing phenomenon - the "cat mystery," now a multi-million-dollar-a-year industry. (Given the mythology of cats, originating in ancient Egypt where cats were allegedly worshipped as gods, it is not surprising that the cat, of all animals, is imagined as the Doppelgänger of amateur detectives.) - from the Introduction by Joyce Carol Oates.

I'm not necessarily a devotee of the cat mystery sub-genre, but when something is identified as being the first ever creation of anything, I'm always curious to find out how it began. The Cat Saw Murder is actually a bit more noirish and bloody than the supposed cozy mysteries which are usually associated with the tag.

Miss Rachel Murdock, along with her sister Jennifer, is the caregiver for Samantha, an heiress cat endowed by a relative. Miss Rachel is 70 years old and quite feisty and spry, even shockingly so in a few scenes in this book. Rachel answers a plea for assistance from her niece Lily and travels from Los Angeles to Lily's beach town where she is living in somewhat downtrodden circumstances after a failed marriage.

Awkwardly, Lily is at first hesitant to explain what her problem is. But once Rachel encounters some of the various suspicious characters living in the same boarding house as her niece, it slowly becomes clear where the danger lies. Then there are attempts on the life of the cat Samantha! And then the niece herself is murdered while Rachel herself is drugged unconscious. The cat is a witness and lives up to the title. Will Rachel solve the crime with the help of Samantha the cat? Of course she will! 🐈

Note: Samantha the cat is described as being of a marmalade colour. This apparently didn't suit the marketing and design staff for the book series, where a black cat constantly appears in the titles and the book covers. 🐈‍⬛

Soundtrack
See Bonus Track below.

Trivia and Links
This edition of The Cat Saw Murder is part of the Otto Penzler American Mystery Classics series (2018-ongoing). There is a related Goodreads Listopia here with 57 books listed as of early April 2024. There are currently 71 titles listed at the Mysterious Press online bookshop. The official website for the series at Penzler Publishers seems to show only the most recent and upcoming titles.

Bonus Track

Not the soundtrack for The Cat Saw Murder, but when I saw that Dolores Hitchens was also the writer of Fools' Gold (1958) which was adapted as the Jean-Luc Godard film Bande à part (Band of Outsiders) (1964), I couldn't resist looking up the completely charming version of the Madison Dance scene which was edited with the recording of "Dance With Me" (orig. by Lords of the New Church) by the covers band Nouvelle Vague which you can see here. French band Nouvelle Vague usually perform covers of English language songs from the 1970s & 1980s punk / glam / new wave rock era, but with bossa-nova arrangements 💃🏻🕺🏻🎶… (altro)

Segnalato

alanteder | 2 altre recensioni | Apr 9, 2024 |

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