The Bamboo Blonde by Dorothy B Hughes

The Bamboo Blonde by Dorothy B Hughes

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.

Dorothy B. is a member of the Dorothy B. Hughes was a mystery writer, award-winning poet, and literary critic who lived from 1904 until 1993. In a Lonely Place and Ride the Pink Horse are two of her fourteen works, the most well-known of which are In a Lonely Place and Ride the Pink Horse. Both were adapted into films that were well-received. Her writing influenced many other mystery writers in the postwar era, and the films she inspired are still considered some of the best in the genre.

She influenced the next two generations of female mystery authors in particular. She mostly stopped writing fiction in the early 1950s, preferring to concentrate on critique. She won an Edgar Award for Outstanding Mystery Criticism after reviewing mysteries for the Los Angeles Times, New York Herald Tribune, and other publications. The Grand Master Award for literary merit was given to her by the Mystery Writers of America in 1978.