Dorothy B. Hughes

"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...

On their second honeymoon, a woman's husband is arrested for murder Griselda Satterlee is beginning to regret her second marriage to Con. Their  honeymoon was supposed to be joyous, romantic, and full of glamor-all of the things their first marriage wasn't-but instead they are spending it on Long Beach, a Navy town whose fleets have all shipped out to sea. The tedium of Long Beach cannot compare to the insult Con gives Griselda one night, when he...

Sailor used to be Senator Willis Douglass' protégé. When he met the lawmaker, he was just a poor kid, living on the Chicago streets. Douglass took him in, put him through school, and groomed him to work as a confidential secretary. And as the senator's dealings became increasingly corrupt, he knew he could count on Sailor to clean up his messes. Willis Douglass isn't a senator anymore; he left Chicago, Sailor, and a murder rap behind and set out...

To prevent another war, a diplomat hides from enemies of peace Twelve years after the Second World War ended, America's war efforts have been replaced by those of the Peace Department, whose chief responsibility is to oversee the police force that governs Germany. On the eve of the biennial Peace Conclave in New York, rumors are swirling that the force may be withdrawn, and the Germans allowed free reign once again. Only the secretary of peace stands...

In El Paso, a ranch hand falls for a dangerous gringa Jose Aragon looks like a cowboy and, to his disgust, smells like one too. In El Paso between jobs, he's standing outside the Chenoweth Hotel, praying for a room, a shower, and a couple of ice cold beers. Instead, he finds a woman: a sandy-haired, wealthy beauty named Dulcinda Farrar. Mistaking him for ordinary border-town trash, she offers him a few bucks to pick up a package for her. Jose plays...

Julie Guilles has escaped to New York from Nazi-occupied France. But that doesn't mean she's safe. The German invasion put an end to her glamorous, sheltered life in Paris three years ago, and because she entered America illegally, she has to live in the shadows, a refugee without papers, never quite sure whom she can trust. When an old acquaintance is gunned down in front of her apartment building, Julie worries she could be next. To evade the NYPD,...

To stop a Communist plot, a secretive man searches Los Angeles for a confidential report When bad weather forces his flight to Los Angeles to land outside of town, Steve Wintress agrees to share a car with three of his fellow travelers: a timid young soldier, a powerful Justice Department official, and a taciturn Hollywood beauty. They don't know it yet, but all four strangers have something in common-and one of them might kill to get it.   A Communist...

A down on his luck screenwriter reluctantly agrees to adapt a trashy bestseller to the silver screen. Rather than read the book himself, Steele convinces a star-struck hatcheck girl, Mildred Atkinson, to accompany him home and tell him the story in her own words. Later the night, Mildred is found murdered and Steele, who has a history of violent behavior, becomes the prime suspect. A neighbor who is attracted to him lies to the police providing him...