In an interview in the New York Times, Irish TV presenter Graham Norton named Dorothy Salisbury Davis’ 1951 mystery A Gentle Murder as one of his favorite books. Some people may have heard of the author, Norton commented, but “not enough”.
Dorothy Salisbury Davis isn’t just a mystery writer—she’s a legend hiding in plain sight. An eight-time Edgar nominee and a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, she wrote sharp, psychologically gripping crime fiction that put her right up there with the greats.
Whether crafting standalone thrillers or series, she had a knack for diving deep into the minds of women facing danger, deception, and moral dilemmas.
She also helped launch Sisters in Crime, making waves for women in the genre. If you love smart, character-driven suspense, it’s time to put Davis on your radar.
These incredible mysteries by Dorothy Salisbury Davis are ten good reasons why Norton is right.
A Gentle Murderer
Graham Norton described this New York-set crime novel as “odd, unsettling, and unlike anything written today”. It’s an accurate summation of a finely drawn and psychologically complex novel that snickers with unease.
Priest, Father Duffy, sets out to track down a murderer after listening to a horrifying confession. His sleuthing leads him to crack NYPD detective Ben Goldsmith.
Together the two men begin to piece together the details of a gruesome crime in the sleazy underbelly of a corrupt city.
A Gentleman Called
As well as writing stand-alone mysteries, Davis also created a couple of series featuring female amateur sleuths. Mrs Norris, a redoubtable Scottish housekeeper who works for a family of wealthy New York lawyers, made her detecting debut in 1957.
In this witty and engaging 1959 Edgar-nominated outing, Mr Norris brings all her native common sense to bear on a paternity suit and a string of unsolved murders, while fending off the unwanted attentions of a dandyish gentleman and a more sinister threat from a potential killer.
Lullaby of Murder
Davis's second serial sleuth is starkly contrasted to the doughty and domestic, Mrs Norris. Julia Hayes is a former actress turned fortune-teller who dreams of being a journalist.
In this, her third appearance, the glamorous Hayes is still trying to find her way as a reporter in New York, her career overshadowed by that of her older more successful husband.
She’s working as an assistant to a low-rent New York gossip columnist. It’s a role that brings her into contact with former child stars, mobsters, publicists, Broadway wannabes and, inevitably, murder.
A Town of Masks
This 1952 mystery is a stylishly written small-town tale featuring Hannah Blake, a dowdy spinster whose attempts to gain the attention of the fashionable set of Campbell’s Cove are constantly thwarted.
However, when one of the women who has looked down her long nose at Blake for years winds up strangled, the rejected loner finds herself in the spotlight at last, but for all the wrong reasons.
Where the Dark Streets Go
Davis had a wonderfully varied approach to crime writing covering everything from classic cozy mysteries (including the Mrs Norris novels) to bleak issues-led drama (such as the final Julia Hayes book, Habit of Fear).
Here she’s in gritty noir territory with the gripping tale of an anonymous murdered man and the three unlikely characters who team up to find out who he was and why he died.
The Judas Cat
Davis is back in classic crime small own territory in this 1949 mystery—her full-length debut. It’s a mystery that has shades of Tom Sawyer and To Kill a Mocking Bird about it.
Andy Mattson is an elderly recluse in the town of Hillside. His only pleasure seems to be terrorizing the local kids. His single friend is his cat. Then one day he’s found dead and covered in blood on his living room sofa. The main suspect is his angry, blood-splashed moggy.
But as the local police chief digs into the killing, he finds something even stranger and darker behind the death of the mysterious and moody Mattson.
The Pale Betrayer
Another example of Davis’ versatility comes in this 1965, Washington-set espionage thriller. In it, academic Eric Maher finds himself the unwitting dupe of a couple of men who claim to be acting in the national interest of the U.S.
The seemingly minor theft of a roll of film from a briefcase quickly leads Maher into a Hitchcockian world of assassination, treason, and double-crossing in which nobody and nothing is as it seems.
The Clay Hand
A coal-mining town in West Virginia is the setting for this 1952 mystery.
When ace globe-trotting reporter Dick Coffee turns up dead at the bottom of a cliff in Winston, his best friend, sports editor Phil McGovern, and Coffee’s beautiful widow, Margaret, make the journey to mining country to investigate.
Was the Pulitzer-winning journalist tripped, jumped or was pushed to his death?
Enemy and Brother
Davis makes a rare departure from the U.S. in this richly atmospheric 1967 political thriller.
The setting is modern Greece. Visiting Lord Byron scholar John Eakins finds himself distracted from his study of the English poet when he comes across details of the death of an American newspaperman, killed 17 years earlier during a Communist uprising.
Increasingly obsessed, Eakins teams up with a blind former guerrilla and sets off into the mountains determined to find out what really happened.
Tales for a Stormy Night
Like many crime writers of her generation, Davis was a brilliant exponent of mystery short stories. Fifteen of her best feature in this collection.
Among them: a deadly outing to the public library for Mrs Norris; a small-town romantic who goes all Fatal Attraction; a revival tent preacher stirs violence in the Mid-West and a tale of sibling rivalry that turns a little too intense.
In 1985 the Mystery Writers of America awarded Davis the title of Grand Master. Reading these neatly plotted, dark and twisty tales, it’s easy to see why.
