Dolores Hitchens (1907–1973)
Autor de The Cat Saw Murder
Sobre El Autor
Series
Obras de Dolores Hitchens
The abductor 3 copias
Devious Design 2 copias
Death Cuts a Silhouette 2 copias
El corazón de Paul 1 copia
The Night of the Bowstring 1 copia
The Shivering Bough 1 copia
Obras relacionadas
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Nombre legal
- Hitchens, Julia Clara Catharine Dolores Birk Olsen
- Otros nombres
- Hitchens, Dolores
Olsen, D. B.
Birkley, Dolan
Burke, Noel - Fecha de nacimiento
- 1907-12-25
- Fecha de fallecimiento
- 1973-08-01
- Género
- female
- Nacionalidad
- USA
- Lugar de nacimiento
- San Antonio, Texas, USA
- Lugar de fallecimiento
- Orange County, California, USA
- Lugares de residencia
- San Antonio, Texas, USA
Los Angeles County, California, USA - Relaciones
- Hitchens, Bert (husband)
Miembros
Reseñas
The Second Ever Cat Mystery?
Review of the Penzler Publishers - American Mystery Classics paperback edition (April 4, 2023) of the Doubleday hardcover original (1942).
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.… (más)
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.… (más)
The First Ever Cat Mystery?
Review of the Penzler Publishers - American Mystery Classics paperback edition (June 1, 2021) of the Doubleday hardcover original (1939).
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 💃🏻🕺🏻🎶… (más)
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 💃🏻🕺🏻🎶… (más)
I have no idea as to what a cat cozy mystery is, this is the first one I ever read, and apparently the one that started a sub genre. I enjoyed the mystery overall, and the writing was pretty engaging. There were times I could have used less description but that's a personal preference, and doesn't necessarily distract from the book. I didn't give this a five star review because there were points where I started to lose track of the characters. There were a lot of them and they weren't so distinct that I was able to immediately connect who was who between reading sessions. The reveal of the murderer in the end also seemed a little more left field than I prefer.
Miss Rachel and Mayhew have an odd sort of camaraderie that I can't quite get a handle on, and I wonder if this being the first in a series has something to do with that. Miss Rachel herself is a well realized character overall, and I think that Mayhew is also pretty well drawn in the mind. But if you expect the cat to be more of a personality I'm going to have to disappoint you. Samantha has a character, but it's not more than I'd expect of any cat and there are chapters where she isn't mentioned, let alone appearing. I think, if you like old mysteries, these characters are more likely to appeal to you, and the mystery itself will be interesting. It's dated, but not in a way that takes it too far from what an American would be familiar with. I enjoyed reading it, and I don't regret doing so. I'll probably even see if I can scrounge up the sequel.… (más)
Miss Rachel and Mayhew have an odd sort of camaraderie that I can't quite get a handle on, and I wonder if this being the first in a series has something to do with that. Miss Rachel herself is a well realized character overall, and I think that Mayhew is also pretty well drawn in the mind. But if you expect the cat to be more of a personality I'm going to have to disappoint you. Samantha has a character, but it's not more than I'd expect of any cat and there are chapters where she isn't mentioned, let alone appearing. I think, if you like old mysteries, these characters are more likely to appeal to you, and the mystery itself will be interesting. It's dated, but not in a way that takes it too far from what an American would be familiar with. I enjoyed reading it, and I don't regret doing so. I'll probably even see if I can scrounge up the sequel.… (más)
Listas
Premios
También Puede Gustarte
Autores relacionados
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 52
- También por
- 12
- Miembros
- 340
- Popularidad
- #70,096
- Valoración
- 3.7
- Reseñas
- 9
- ISBNs
- 54
- Idiomas
- 4
Review of the Mysterious Press/Open Media Kindle edition (December 6, 2022) of the Doubleday hardcover original (1944).
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.… (más)