Pretty Sinister Books

THE STORY:   Cyrus Hatch is invited to a cocktail party at the home of Marcia Clay, his former fiancee from their college days. When he arri...

A wealthy bachelor who breeds and rents his prize cock-fighting rooter is found shot to death, a bullet in his head, in the doorway to the c...

THE STORY :  It's 3:00 AM in Avondale, Michigan and Jill Trent has been awakened by a bloodcurdling scream followed by the sound of four...

Elma K. Lobaugh's first mystery She Never Reached the Top (1945) was lauded by the editorial team at Doubleday Doran's "Crime ...

THE STORY:   Dorothy marries divorced Edward, a non-fiction writer.  All is well until Edward's children are sent to live with him. Caro...

It's too bad that the striking cover illustration at left for this debut mystery novel by Jean Leslie, and the introduction to her deca...

Today I introduce a new category for the blog -- the "Swan Song" post.  This will be devoted to a writer's final book in the c...

THE STORY: The malicious, exploitative and deeply disturbed wife of Willem Himbert, symphony conductor, becomes the target of Elizabeth Bee...

Set in a summer resort town on the shores of Ogg Lake Dead Man’s Float (1944) deals with the macabre drowning death of Bethine Coit who wa...

Lavinia Davis apparently struggled her whole life to improve her writing and to be taken seriously. Primarily known for her children’s book...