Dorothy Salisbury Davis (1916–2014)
Auteur de A Death in the Life
A propos de l'auteur
Dorothy Salisbury Davis was born on April 25, 1916. She received a degree in literature from Barat College in 1938. In the depths of the Depression, she got a job as a magician's assistant. She later worked in public relations for a meatpacking company before becoming an author. During her afficher plus lifetime, she wrote 17 crime novels, three historical novels, and many short stories. Her works included A Gentle Murderer, the Julie Hayes Mysteries series, and Black Sheep, White Lamb. She received a lifetime achievement award from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1986, she helped found Sisters in Crime. She died on August 3, 2014 at the age of 98. (Bowker Author Biography) afficher moins
Séries
Œuvres de Dorothy Salisbury Davis
A Choice of Murders: 23 Stories by Members of the Mystery Writers of America (1958) — Directeur de publication — 4 exemplaires
A Matter of Public Notice 1 exemplaire
Backward, Turn Backward 1 exemplaire
The Purple is Everything 1 exemplaire
Spring Fever [short story] 1 exemplaire
Oeuvres associées
Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense (2013) — Contributeur — 173 exemplaires
Thou Shalt Not Kill: Father Brown, Father Dowling and Other Ecclesiastical Sleuths (1865) — Contributeur — 46 exemplaires
Ladies of Fantasy: Two Centuries of Sinister Stories by the Gentle Sex (1975) — Contributeur — 46 exemplaires
Senior Sleuths: A Large Print Anthology of Mysteries and Puzzlers (1989) — Contributeur — 17 exemplaires
Women's wiles: An anthology of mystery stories by the Mystery Writers of America (1979) — Contributeur — 16 exemplaires
The Crime of My Life: Favorite Stories by Presidents of the Mystery Writers of America (1984) — Contributeur — 11 exemplaires
Killers of the Mind: A Collection of Stories by the Mystery Writers of America (1974) — Contributeur — 4 exemplaires
The Case of the Screaming Woman | The Late Miss Trimming | Death of an Old Sinner (1957) — Contributeur — 1 exemplaire
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Nom légal
- Davis, Dorothy Margaret Salisbury
- Date de naissance
- 1916-04-25
- Date de décès
- 2014-08-03
- Lieu de sépulture
- Rockland Cemetery, Sparkill, New York, USA
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieu de naissance
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Lieu du décès
- Palisades, New York, USA
- Lieux de résidence
- Rhinelander, Wisconsin, USA
- Études
- Barat College (1938)
- Professions
- novelist
short story writer
crime writer
mystery writer - Relations
- Davis, Harry (husband)
- Organisations
- Mystery Writers of America (President, 1955)
- Prix et distinctions
- MWA Grand Master(1985)
Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award (1989) - Courte biographie
- Dorothy Salisbury Davis was born in Chicago and adopted as a toddler by a farm family in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. In 1938, at the height of the Great Depression, she graduated from Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois, and worked as a magician's assistant, as a research librarian for a Chicago advertising firm, and in public relations. She also was an editor of The Merchandiser, a weekly publication. In 1946, she married Harry Davis, an actor and stage manager who encouraged her to write. She achieved her first big success in 1951 with her third novel, A Gentle Murderer. Over her more than 50-year career, she came to be known as a grande dame of crime writers. She published 17 crime novels, three historical novels, and numerous short stories, many of which portrayed women as strong, complex characters rather than as the usual damsels in distress. She served as president of the Mystery Writers of America in 1956 and was declared an MWA Grand Master for lifetime achievement in 1985.
In 1986, she helped found Sisters in Crime, an organization of female mystery writers.
Membres
Critiques
A Gentle Murderer by Dorothy Salisbury Davis was first published in 1951. It is a psychological study of a murderer, which starts in a New York Catholic church when a tormented man confesses to the young Father Duffy that he has murdered a woman with a hammer. Duffy cannot tell the police about the crime and doesn't know the murderer's name or where to find him, so his only recourse is to identify the murderer and persuade him to turn himself in. His starting point is the information revealed by the murderer's disjointed confessional ramblings.
Sergeant Goldsmith is carrying out a parallel search, starting with the acquaintances of the murder victim. We, the readers, know who the murderer is, are privy to his thoughts, and realise that a young woman and her mother are in danger. Will Duffy and Goldsmith be in time to prevent another murder?
The publishers have supplied numerous footnotes, starting with the very first line of the book, "Bless me father for I have sinned...." There is no need for a footnote to explain this, and the overuse of footnotes is a distraction throughout the book. They explain things most readers would already know, could pick up from the context, or don't need to know. Few are useful. There is a reading group guide at the end of the book, and I found some of the questions problematical because what you think will depend on your own religious beliefs, which might not be what you want in a book group discussion.
Overall, this is a suspense-filled, well-written, psychological crime novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC.… (plus d'informations)
Sergeant Goldsmith is carrying out a parallel search, starting with the acquaintances of the murder victim. We, the readers, know who the murderer is, are privy to his thoughts, and realise that a young woman and her mother are in danger. Will Duffy and Goldsmith be in time to prevent another murder?
The publishers have supplied numerous footnotes, starting with the very first line of the book, "Bless me father for I have sinned...." There is no need for a footnote to explain this, and the overuse of footnotes is a distraction throughout the book. They explain things most readers would already know, could pick up from the context, or don't need to know. Few are useful. There is a reading group guide at the end of the book, and I found some of the questions problematical because what you think will depend on your own religious beliefs, which might not be what you want in a book group discussion.
Overall, this is a suspense-filled, well-written, psychological crime novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC.… (plus d'informations)
crime fiction, law enforcement, Library of Congress Crime Classics, Catholic clergy, murder, procedural, murder investigation, mid 20th century, reissue, psychological, NYC****
The publisher's blurb gets the reader into the mood of the story. It is a crime study of a time past, but there are some things about it which could easily be contemporary. It is also a character study of the characters involved. I got a lot out of the foreword, introduction, and references to other books by this and other notable authors of the time.
I requested and received an EARC from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!… (plus d'informations)
The publisher's blurb gets the reader into the mood of the story. It is a crime study of a time past, but there are some things about it which could easily be contemporary. It is also a character study of the characters involved. I got a lot out of the foreword, introduction, and references to other books by this and other notable authors of the time.
I requested and received an EARC from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!… (plus d'informations)
This is the second book in the Mrs Norris series, but the first one I've read. Mrs Norris is the housekeeper for James Jarvis, an upper-crust New York lawyer, who has just been allocated a breach of promise case, not the sort of case his superiors would normally accept, but impossible to refuse because the defendant is the son of a wealthy, long-term client. The firm's compromise is to demand that the defendant, Teddy Adkins, not sully their office with his case, but meet with James at his apartment. Adkins drops in often and ingratiates himself with Mrs Norris. Meanwhile, a rich woman has been murdered and her broker is implicated. Who is this broker? We readers have clues that the investigators do not.
I enjoyed this fifties mystery. There's no blood or gore, the murders happen off-stage and most of the victims are awful.… (plus d'informations)
I enjoyed this fifties mystery. There's no blood or gore, the murders happen off-stage and most of the victims are awful.… (plus d'informations)
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pamelad | 1 autre critique | Sep 22, 2022 |
pamelad | 1 autre critique | Sep 22, 2022 | Listes
Prix et récompenses
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Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 29
- Aussi par
- 40
- Membres
- 545
- Popularité
- #45,748
- Évaluation
- 3.7
- Critiques
- 7
- ISBN
- 118
- Langues
- 2
Ecclesiastical detectives have been around a long time, but Father Duffy is no all-knowing Father Brown. Father Duffy is more all-questioning, His questions lead him to a possible suspect and he tries to find him by going to his home town and to the pre-seminary boarding school he attended. He finds the psychological origins of the crime, leading with compassion and a growing certainty that the man will kill again, that he is driving my psychological monsters.
Meanwhile, the police are investigating and it begins to seem as though the police and Father Duffy are in a race to find the killer. Though can it be a race when they are not aware of the race they are in?
This is a good mystery. It’s fair. We learn what they investigators learn when they learn it. Father Duffy was a bit of a cipher though. I often wondered what he thought he was doing and going to do when and if he found the murderer. He could not force him to go to the police. He can’t tell anyone, though in a way, I wondered if he were treading past the line. Still, I wanted them to find him before he killed one or both of the women in the boarding house where he resided. There was real tension and jeopardy that was satisfying.
I received an e-galley of A Gentle Murderer from the publisher through NetGalley
A Gentle Murderer at Poisoned Pen Press | Sourcebooks
Dorothy Salisbury Davis
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2023/03/15/a-gentle-murderer-by-doro...… (plus d'informations)