Dorothy Cameron Disney

The thrilling story of The Strawstack Murders (also known as Strawstack) takes place in a fashionable Maryland town just fifteen miles from Washington. There Margaret Tilbury, a wealthy and keen Vermont spinster (a “stoutish woman of uncertain age”—as she will describe herself), purchases an estate where she expects to settle down to a life of luxury and contentment. One night, however, the strawstacks next to the stables are set on fire, and protruding from one of them is the gloved hand of a murdered girl. With Miss Tilbury and her family the reader is plunged into a series of crimes and non-stop action that won’t let out until the very end. Unlike many of the mystery stories of the time, Strawstack avoids devices that may become annoying: There is no omniscient detective, no long, boring, repetitious interviews with servants, no scientific tests and experts, and, best of all, no complicated, confusing house or room plans. The Strawstack Murders is just a plain good mystery, just as good as Disney’s previous novel Death in the Back Seat.

The Greers are nice, ordinary people, friendly and respectable, and when a dreadful accident leaves them homeless and helpless their next door neighbors do not hesitate to take them in. But, suddenly they find themselves at the center of a police investigation as the senseless explosion turns out to conceal a deeper, darker, more purposeful crime. Somewhere in the lives of these ordinary people is hidden a motive for murder.

"Thirty Days Hath September" somewhat resembles "Death in the Back Seat," also available as eBook from Book Revivals Press. In both mysteries, the victim is a visitor from New York City, and both take place in rural New England. But "Thirty Days Hath September" is different in that the narrator is the man, the husband of the couple that gets involved with the local police seemingly determined to pin the murder on them. This is typical of Disney who sees the police as made up imperfect human beings, often trying to pin crimes on innocent people. "Thirty Days Hath September" was written in collaboration with George Sessions Perry, a once-famous mainstream writer, known for both fiction and non-fiction.

Death in the Back Seat is the first book written by Dorothy Cameron Disney. In this classic mystery, Mr. and Mrs. Storm, a painter and a writer, plan to live a simple life in an isolated cottage in the country away from their New York apartment, but find themselves accused of murder and swept in a series of dangerous events.

Detective Book Club edition contains three complete 1949 novels. The Hangman's Tree by Dorothy Cameron Disney: Dr. Victoria Grant travels to Charleston for the annual Azalea Festival and ends up investigating the tragic death five years previously of her best friend's husband's first wife. Four gentlemen from some of Charleston's finest families eventually confess, but Dr. Grant must determine whether they confessed out of gallantry or guilt. (WorldCat) Dig Me Later by Miriam-Ann Hagen: After Hortense Clinton gets involved in the murder of a man next door, she retreats to a lodge in Nova Scotia. There - hoping to find anonymity - she is surrounded with the attentions of two inseparable boys, a dubious doctor, an insurance agent, and a man she disliked. As various attempts are made on her life, another dies in her stead. (Kirkus Reviews) The Leather Duke by Frank Gruber: A book in the Johnny Fletcher, P.I. series Circumstances beyond their control (and for once, beyond their ability to twist, sidestep, or disregard) force Johnny Fletcher and Sam Cragg to take jobs. They become the employees of "the Leather Duke", Chicago's biggest operator in the leather business. But before they've been there half a day, Sam finds a corpse. Then the uproar begins. Whether they're fighting in poolrooms, mixing it up at dances, or merely adding to their well-developed art of deadbeating, these two lads are at it every minute. (Publisher)

> The talented author of Crimson Friday makes an abrupt departure from the type of story she has done in the past. Now she offers a tale of furious action in which an attractive young American couple find themselves both the pursued and the pursuers in a spy plot as unusual as it is fiendish. Done with the finish and close attention to characterization which have marked all of Miss Disney's previous books, this one is a notable performance in suspense and excitement. >The best friend of Paul and Mary Strong, a photographer for the same news magazine for which Paul is a correspondent, is stuck in Iceland on his way back to America. In place of his 17th letter comes an envelope containing only a theater program from an unidentified city. That is the first intimation of anything amiss, but from the day of its arrival things happen at a breath-taking rate. >Readers will take Mary to their hearts. For all her youth and blonde beauty she is indefatigable in her pursuit of the mysterious menace that hangs over her husband and his friend. When Paul gets himself assigned to Iceland to investigate, she unhesitatingly stows away on the same ship because she has received a mysterious warning that "something is going to happen to the convoy." Not the least of the complications on board is a charge of murder brought against Mary and Paul by the captain. At Halifax the fun really begins because their problem is to get ashore and dodge the Mounties while they pursue the clue of the enigmatic theater program.

Veronica Moran's eccentricities are a ruse to hide a dark past. When her history catches up with her, the frightening revelations end in murder and suicide. The story takes place in a New England town where Mrs. Moran disappears and her maid is murdered. Arsenic and an empty harp crate are just two of the clues that combine with other events, present and past, into the smoothly blended solution.

What if our homes could tell the stories of others who lived there before us? Set in a small village near Paris, The Balcony follows the inhabitants of a single estate--including a manor and a servants' cottage--over the course of several generations, from the Belle Époque to the present day, introducing us to a fascinating cast of characters. A young American au pair develops a crush on her brilliant employer. An ex-courtesan shocks the servants, a Jewish couple in hiding from the Gestapo attract the curiosity of the neighbors, and a housewife begins an affair while renovating her downstairs. Rich and poor, young and old, powerful and persecuted, all of these people are seeking something: meaning, love, a new beginning, or merely survival. Throughout, cross-generational connections and troubled legacies haunt the same spaces, so that the rose garden, the forest pond, and the balcony off the manor's third floor bedroom become silent witnesses to a century of human drama. In her debut, Jane Delury writes with masterful economy and profound wisdom about growing up, growing old, marriage, infidelity, motherhood--in other words, about life--weaving a gorgeous tapestry of relationships, life-altering choices, and fleeting moments across the frame of the twentieth century. A sumptuous narrative of place that burrows deep into individual lives to reveal hidden regrets, resentments, and desires, The Balcony is brimming with compassion, natural beauty, and unmistakable humanity.