Gee- Dorothy Hughes really let me down with this one. Yes, it is a 1st book, but Ride the Pink Horse and In a lonely place are so so good. And on the bright side, she does convey a bright, chirpy, nervous quality to the mood of this book - but... it is a thin covering of the awful plot of the mysterious, charming twins who bedevil our lead Griselda and everyone they come in to contact with. but she she can't go to the police as person after person is bumped off- because..... why again? something to do with putting Con at risk ... the same goes with everyone else ... so beguiled and frightened are we of those twins! and her 16 year sister Missy- she's a spooky one right? eh, not so much ... just an oddball with a vicious streak. What is going on, Ms. Hughes. Ack ack ack. It's bad. ( )

I know it's her first novel, but one would thing that a published poet would have some idea of structure! I'm astonished that the writer of this mess could only a few years later produce the superb "In A Lonely Place", and later "The Expendable Man". I will read more of her later work, but this one is just a shambles. ( )

I picked this book for the title. It didn't disappoint . Dorothy Hughes write a compelling mystery with just the right amount of tension and fear. It was hard to determine who were the bad guys and who were the good guys. There were some gray areas as well. I would like to read more of her work. ( )

Former actress Griselda Satterlee is seeking a respite from her life in California. Her ex-husband, Con, has an apartment available for her to stay in while she visits New York City. The apartment itself is nice but feels rapidly unwelcoming when the Montefierrow twins, wealthy and sinister men-about-town, insist that she or Con has a rare gem, and that they will stop at nothing in order to get it, including murder. Then Griselda’s spoiled younger sister gets involved…

This plot is probably a bit bananas, but Hughes is brilliant at establishing atmosphere. The first chapter had me almost recoiling from the book as I read because the twins were so sinister and oppressive in trying to get Griselda to give up the blue marble. I couldn’t really breathe properly until they’d left the scene at the end of the chapter. After that, the rest of the book was a slightly unbelievable plot, full of glamorous society ladies, actors and actresses, and a lone woman attempting to outsmart a pair of dangerous criminals. I recommend this if you’re looking for precisely that sort of thriller, with a dash of mildly eye-rolling romance between Griselda and her ex. ( )

This was SUCH a good story! It was dark and frightening and surprisingly violent for a mystery from 1940. I liked the New York setting and will definitely be searching out more of Hughes' books now, especially the three that became films.

https://webereading.com/2018/10/ripxiii-update-3.html ( )