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 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. While different in style from her later books, Dorothy B. Hughes's debut highlights her greatest strengths as an author, rendered with both the poetic language and the psychology of fear for which she is known today." -- Amazon.

Infernal machine / John Lutz -- Final toast / Stuart M. Kaminsky -- Phantom chamber / Gary Alan Ruse -- Return of the Speckled Band / Edward D. Hoch -- Adventures of the unique Holmes / Jon L. Breen -- Sherlock holmes and "The Woman" / Michael Harrison -- Shadows on the lawn / Barry Jones -- Adventure of the Gowanus abduction / Joyce Harrington -- Dr. and Mrs. Watson at home / Loren D. Estleman -- Two footmen / Michael Gilbert -- Sherlock Holmes and the muffin / Dorothy B. Hughes -- Curious computer / Peter Lovesey -- Adventure of the persistent marksman / Lillian de la Torre -- House that Jack built / Edward Wellen -- [The Doctor's Case]/ Stephen King -- THE SECOND TREATY / Daniel Stashower THE ADVENTURE OF THE VENOMOUS LIZARD / Bill Crider Hostage to fortune / Anne Perry Afterword: Moriarty and the real underworld / John Gardner.

Dorothy B. Hughes wrote the book "Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason" and included in that book a bibliography of Gardner's writings compiled by one of his acquaintance named Ruth Moore.

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—a top-secret report smuggled out of East Germany--and one of them might kill to get it.

> In the dimly lit bars of New York and Santa Fé, the refugees from the war in Europe whisper his name. >The Blackbirder is a sinister figure, but he offers refuge, smuggling bodies through the skies: a thousand dollars will buy a passage across the border into the sunlit peace of New Mexico. >Julie Guille is desperate. Entangled in two murders, she is on the run from the Gestapo, from the FBI and most of all from her uncle, Paul, Duc de Guille. Now she seeks the Blackbirder - and a flight to safety. >But for Julie the price of freedom is to be unbearably high.

Sailor, a small-time crook, arrives in Sante Fe, New Mexico, determined to blackmail Senator McIntyre.