Continuing my reading of Dorothy B. Hughes novels with her first, THE SO BLUE MARBLE, which features as many murders as IN A LONELY PLACE but in a much lighter vein. This one is as if Cole Porter or Astaire and Rogers became enmeshed in a series of murders in upper crust Manhattan on the eve of WWII. It focuses on Griselda Satterlee, a former film star turned fashion designer who goes to New York for a break, borrows her ex-husband’s apartment, only to find that she’s become prey to those who think she knows where an oh so blue and ever so valuable marble might be. Does she?Certainly, her ex once had it in his possession. There are three beautiful sisters, a pair of very polite and very deadly European twins, one of them involved with the youngest sister, two top box office film stars, one Columbia Professor, an ex-husband who may not be an ex for long, and lots and lots of murders. They’re all searching for that shiny blue marble because, when opened, it reveals a map that will lead to untold wealth. Naturally, they all have their reasons for wanting it. Corpses pile up with a certain nonchalance: none is in itself sufficient to halt a trip to The Stork Club or El Morocco. An elegant, witty, mystery
José Arroyo
