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This page lists novels and non-fiction by Dorothy B. Hughes.

Cover images are when possible of the first US edition and a recent paperback or digital edition.

By Dorothy B. Hughes:
- novels
- omnibus editions
- non-fiction

The So Blue Marble

Dorothy B. Hughes

1940

"The society pages announce it before she even arrives: Griselda Satterlee, daughter of the princess of Rome, has left her career as an actress behind and is traveling to Manhattan to reinvent herself as a fashion designer. They also announce the return of the dashing Montefierrow twins to New York after a twelve-year sojourn in Europe. But there is more to this story than what's reported, which becomes clear when the three meet one evening during a walk, and their polite conversation quickly takes a menacing turn. The twins are seeking a rare and powerful gem and they believe it's stashed in the unused apartment where Griselda is staying. Baffled by the request, she pushes them away, but they won't take no for an answer. When they return, accompanied by Griselda's long-estranged younger sister, the murders begin... Drenched in the glamour and luxury of the New York elite, The So Blue Marble is a perfectly Art Deco suspense novel in which nothing is quite as it seems."

The Cross-Eyed Bear

Dorothy B. Hughes

1940?

Also published as The Cross-Eyed Bear Murders.

"Alone in New York City, Lizanne Steffasson comes face to face with reality when her dream of acting on Broadway collapses. Now she just needs to pay her rent. So she answers an unusual ad in the paper, for 'a beautiful girl. One not afraid to look on danger's bright face'. Lizanne is neither beautiful nor fearless, yet she is certainly about to look danger in the face. A New York estate lawyer wants her help to track down a young man who has vanished into the wilds of the city on the eve of inheriting a vast sum of money from his billionaire late father, a Swedish man known as the Cross-Eyed Bear. It turns out that Lizanne is the perfect person for the job, as she knows more about the story than her employer has bargained for."

The Bamboo Blonde

Dorothy B. Hughes

1941

"When Con Satterlee picked up the half-intoxicated blonde in the Bamboo Bar, Griselda was annoyed. When he walked out with the blonde, leaving Griselda flat, she was furious. She was frightened, too, returning alone to the isolated, ramshackle beach cottage. And this was to have been their second honeymoon! Con came back rattling a handful of shells which he said he had taken from the blonde’s revolver. But the blonde didn’t come back. The police found her corpse the next morning. And then Con was arrested. That left Griselda alone, behind a door with a lock that a bent hairpin could open. Quite defenseless, she had to face the sinister Major Pembrooke, who wanted something from Con; beautiful, lying Kathie; Dare, so very possessive as far as Con was concerned; and the debonair Kew, who was intent on helping Griselda, for selfish reasons."

The Fallen Sparrow

Dorothy B. Hughes

1942

"Was it Barby, with her silvery sheen of hair, looking like a top model and acting like a woman madly in love? Or the beautiful Toni, who is hiding some strange secrets? Could it be Otto, a handsome refugee, nicknamed Blue Eyes and an object of attraction for Barby? Kit, a cop's son, has come back to New York to track down his best buddy's killer. It had to be murder: Louie wasn't the suicidal type. One person stands in the way of his revenge - The Wobblefoot, his unseen nemesis from two terrible years spent in captivity during the Spanish Civil War. He is watching. One false step will mean curtains for Kit. But Kit is willing to take any risk for a friend - even murder in cold blood."

The Blackbirder

Dorothy B. Hughes

1943

"Julie Guilles is in trouble. She's fled her home in Occupied France for a seedy neighbourhood in New York and has been laying low - but not low enough. Because now she has the Gestapo, the FBI and her shady Uncle, the Duc de Guille, all on her tail, and her options are running out. Whispers of the Blackbirder reach her - a sinister figure who, for the right price, can promise safe passage across the border to New Mexico. Finding the Blackbirder is her only chance of escape - but what if the Blackbirder doesn't want to be found?"

The Delicate Ape

Dorothy B. Hughes

1944

"Diplomatic corps man Piers Hunt watches the glittering lights of Broadway from his Hotel Astor room. The German girl's mocking voice returns to his mind yet again: 'More melodrama, Piers?' Yes: this time it's 'more melodrama', but with a vengeance. In New York incognito, only Piers knows that his superior, Samuel Anstruther, has been murdered, possibly to get him out of the way of a plan to withdraw a police force that governs post-Second World War Germany. Rumours abound that the Germans might be allowed free reign once again. Piers is a man of peace, but he may have to get his hands dirty if he doesn't want to be murdered - before telling the world what Anstruther knew."

Johnnie

Dorothy B. Hughes

1944

"Private First Class Johnnie Brown is on a break in New York, with just two days to spend however he likes before shipping out to fight the Nazis. All he wants to do is ride the subway, and while his fellow soldiers are exploring the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and what the nightclubs in Times Square have to offer, he pays his nickel and boards the train. Oddly, he runs into a stout, mysterious man speaking German. Johnnie follows him to an upscale townhouse, where he finds himself looking at more thrills than any cabaret. Suddenly he has lost his clothes, his sense of where he is and his dignity, but Johnnie isn't going to give up until he's uncovered every secret the townhouse is hiding."

Dread Journey

Dorothy B. Hughes

1945

"In the four years since she arrived in Los Angeles, Kitten Agnew has become a star. Not all by herself, of course; though beautiful and talented, Kitten would be lost without her director, the acclaimed and powerful Vivien Spender. But Spender is a dangerous man. Kit knows that, and has heard all the stories - of discarded stars that have ended up in a chorus line, or a sanatorium, or worse. Spender knows that Kit knows, and wouldn't dare destroy her glittering career. But he may be willing to kill her . . . On a train from LA to Chicago, Kit makes a discovery that could have her fighting not just for her career, but for her life."

Ride the Pink Horse

Dorothy B. Hughes

1946

"It's carnival time in Santa Fe, and three out-of-town visitors are drawn together in the heat, the smells and the colour of the festival . . Sailor, a hood from Chicago, is there to confront his boss, Sen, a crooked politician, to try to get money for what he knows about the murder of Sen's wife, killed supposedly during a robbery gone wrong. Following them both is Mac, a man from the same side of the tracks as Sailor, but who has made very different choices. He's a cop now, and wants Sailor to testify against Sen and put him away. The three strangers collide, retreat and advance through the streets of New Mexico, moving ever closer to a charged and unexpected outcome."

The Scarlet Imperial

Dorothy B. Hughes

1946 / 1948 (?)

Possibly also published as A Kiss For A Killer.

"Her name is not Eliza Williams. A fashionable young woman with a taste for adventurous men, she made the mistake of falling in love with Towner Clay—a New York City playboy whose international jetsetting conceals dangerous secrets. On Towner’s behalf, she has spent six months pretending to be Eliza Williams, a dowdy Midtown secretary. It’s dull work until the day Gavin Keane, a blue-eyed associate of Towner’s, leaves her with a mysterious package. Eliza understands that protecting it is a question of life and death. When he comes to pick up the package that night, Gavin is followed, and he shoots the man to protect the parcel’s secret. With blood on her carpet and a mystery on her hands, the woman who is not Eliza will have to act quickly to survive."

In a Lonely Place

Dorothy B. Hughes

1947

"Dix Steele is back in town, and 'town' is post-war LA. His best friend Brub is on the force of the LAPD, and as the two meet in country clubs and beach bars, they discuss the latest case: a strangler is preying on young women in the dark. Dix listens with interest as Brub describes their top suspect, as yet unnamed. Dix loves the dark and women in equal measure, so he knows enough to watch his step, though when he meets the luscious Laurel Gray, something begins to crack. The American Dream is showing its seamy underside."

The Big Barbecue

Dorothy B. Hughes

1949

The Candy Kid

Dorothy B. Hughes

1950

"ose Aragon is a ranch hand between jobs. Looking and smelling just like a piece of border-town trash, he's hoping the Chenoweth Hotel, El Paso, will let him in for a much-needed shower, a room and a couple of cold beers. But a beautiful and wealthy woman with golden-brown hair, Dulcinda Farrar, mistakes him for a local, and offers him money to pick up a package for her. Jose goes along for the ride, but his playfulness is about to get him in trouble. Just minutes after he's picked up the package, it disappears, and suddenly he has the border's toughest thugs on his tail. Jose knows how to round up a herd of cattle, but a classy blonde is going to prove more difficult . . . and more dangerous."

The Davidian Report

Dorothy B. Hughes

1952

Possible alos published as The Body on the Bench.

"Steve Wintress's flight to Los Angeles is forced down in bad weather, and he shares a car into town with three fellow travellers: a shy young soldier, a cool Hollywood actress and a Justice Department official. But all four passengers have something in common - something any one of them might kill to get their hands on. Every secret agency in the world wants to possess the Davidian Report, smuggled out of East Berlin by a Communist defector, and it's lying somewhere in LA. Steve wants that Report, but he'll have to fight with the big guns, like the CIA and the FBI, if he's going to get there first."

The Expendable Man

Dorothy B. Hughes

1963

"A young American doctor, driving his parents’ white Cadillac between Los Angeles and his family home in Phoenix, Arizona, stops in a stretch of desert highway and gets caught up in a murder. But The Expendable Man is far more than a crime novel. Just as Hughes' earlier books had engaged with the political issues of the 1940s – the legacy of the Depression, and the struggles against fascism and rascism – so The Expendable Man, published in 1963 during Kennedy’s presidency, evokes the emerging social, racial and moral tensions of the time."

Terror: An Omnibus Of Three Mysteries

Dorothy B. Hughes

1942

An omnibus edition that combines the three Dorothy Hughes novels: The So Blue Marble; The Cross-Eyed Bear; and The Bamboo Blonde

A Mystery Reader

Dorothy B. Hughes

1944

Uncertain of title.

An omnibus edition that combines the two Dorothy Hughes novels: The So Blue Marble and The Fallen Sparrow

Ride The Pink Horse And Two Other Great Mysteries

Dorothy B. Hughes

1975

An omnibus edition that combines the three Dorothy Hughes novels: Ride The Pink Horse; In A Lonely Place; and The Davidian Report

Women Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1940s

Vera Caspary / Helen Eustis / Dorothy B. Hughes / Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

2015

A multi-author omnibus that combines the following 1940's novels:

• Laura (Vera Caspary)
• The Horizontal Man (Helen Eustis)
• In a Lonely Place (Dorothy B. Hughes)
• The Blank Wall (Elisabeth Sanxay Holding)

Dark Certainty

Dorothy Belle Flanagan

Yale University Press

1931

Pueblo on the Mesa: The First Fifty Years of the University of New Mexico

Dorothy B. Hughes

1939

Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason: A Biography

Dorothy B. Hughes

1978

"An intriguing biography of an author who knew worldwide popularity thanks to the success of his Perry Mason stories, which, of course, became one of the best-known detective series on TV in the USA and in Great Britain. Erle Stanley Gardner was an unusual man who wrote 131 works of fiction, including 82 full-length Perry Masons."