Writers Born Today - Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

It's the birthday of Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, born June 18, 1889 in Brooklyn, New York. She was educated at Miss Whitcombe's and other proper schools for ladies, and began her writing career penning romance novels. Her husband was a British diplomat.

Based only on this, it would be hard to foresee a time when Raymond Chandler would call her "the top suspense writer of them all." But at a time when mystery writing was dominated by men, she helped create noir fiction with her mystery and suspense novels.

Psychological suspense was her strength, and she displayed it best in her novel The Blank Wall (one of Chandler's favorites). The tale of a mother trying to protect her teenage daughter from a lecher who later turns up dead is still read today, and thankfully available in a Kindle edition. It's been made into a movie on two occasions, first in 1949, The Reckless Moment with Joan Bennett, and again in 2001, The Deep End with Tilda Swinton.

The Blank Wall is included in the Library of America's upcoming fall release, Women Crime Writers, edited by Sarah Weinman.

Ms. Holding also has a story in Weinman's collection of domestic suspense stories, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, which was well received when it was published in 2013.


"Before anybody had ever heard of ‘pyschological novels of suspense’ Elisabeth Sanxay Holding was writing them, and brilliantly."

                                                                                               - Anthony Boucher

Mystery History - The First Edgar Award

The presentation of the 2014 Edgar Awards is just a few hours away. By late evening or early morning, we'll know the winners.

But do you know who won the very first Edgar given for Best First Novel in 1946?

Meet Sgt. Julius Fast, who was still in the army when his debut novel, Watchful At Night, was published. Fast's protagonist suspects the accidental shooting of an army buddy was really murder, and follows a trail of clues to uncover a domestic spy ring.

The novel got good reviews (the Saturday Review called it "well worth reading") and it was selected as the winner of the first Edgar Award in June 1946 by the newly created Mystery Writers of America. The award included a special leather-bound edition of "The Portable Poe" by Viking Press. The now classic Poe Statues given out tonight hadn't been created yet.

Other awards were given for Best Picture of a Mystery Nature, to Murder, My Sweet (based on the Chandler novel Farewell, My Lovely), Best Radio Mystery Program (it was a tie between The Adventures of Ellery Queen and Mr. and Mrs. North), and Best Mystery Criticism to Anthony Boucher for his reviews and commentary.

I wish all the nominees Good Luck, and for the attendees, you have an exciting evening ahead of you. For the rest of us, I'm sure we'll all be watchful at night until the winners are announced.

Writers Born Today - Dorothy Salisbury Davis

It's the birthday of Dorothy Salisbury Davis, born April 26th, 1916 in Chicago, Illinois. She was an adopted child, a fact she only learned at the age of 17 and it made a powerful impact on her view of the world.  Before she began her writing career, she worked for a traveling stage magician. The small towns and personalities she encountered helped shape her stories.

Davis has been called one of the original Gone Girls by Sarah Weinman, for her path breaking novels of suspense written during three decades starting in the late 40s.

Her first novel, The Judas Cat, was published in 1949. Black Mask had this to say about it: "Davis in her first crime novel shows a mastery of both plotting and characterization". Anthony Boucher called it a "rewardingly perceptive novel" and thought she had a bright future. He was right. Three more novels followed over the next three years. During her long career she wrote more than 20 novels and story collections.

Dorothy was nominated for the Edgar Award 6 times and was awarded Grand Master in 1985.  She was given lifetime achievement awards from Bouchercon and Malice Domestic.

Ms. Davis was more than just a pioneer on the printed page. When Sisters in Crime was just getting off the ground in the 80s, she served on the steering committee and helped the new organization gain credibility by convincing major women writers such as Mary Higgins Clark to join.

In 2010 the National Book Critics Circle asked its members which books they would most like to see back in print. Sara Paretsky named Dorothy Salisbury Davis, and had this to say about her: "She lived among bootleggers, immigrants, sharecroppers, and itinerant workers in her early years, and there's a richness to her understanding of the human condition that is missing from most contemporary crime fiction."

It looks like Sara got her wish. Open Road Media announced in 2014 that Davis's novels would be re-released. To discover more of her writing, check out her ebooks at Open Road Media.

Davis's short story, Lost Generation, a tale of small town suspicions and paranoia, was included in the excellent 2013 short story collection Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives.

For more about Ms. Davis, check out Weinman's in-depth article at The Daily Beast, The Original Gone Girls: Dorothy Salisbury Davis and Other Forgotten Pioneers of Crime Fiction.

For a bibliography of her work, click here.

You can listen to a brief excerpt from an interview Davis gave to Don Swaim in 1988 about her novel, The Habit of Fear.


Update: Dorothy Salisbury Davis passed away on August 3, 2014 at the age of 98. The New York Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America has published a moving tribute to this amazing writer.