Vintage Mystery: 1st Edn of Dolores Hitchens’ First Book

Dolores Hitchens (1907-73) wrote under several pen-names besides her own. Her love for names was perhaps inspired by her parents’ apparently shared love of them; Dolores’ full name was Julia Clara Catherine Maria Dolores Robins. As her parents divorced and her mother remarried, was divorced and married a third time, Dolores added the surnames Norton and Birk. The young writer married twice herself, first to Beverly S. Olsen (her first books were published under the name D. B. Olsen), then to Hubert A. Hitchens, with whom she wrote several railway mysteries (he was a railway detective in real life).

Hitchens wrote and co-wrote at least 44 novels beginning with one in 1938. The Clue in the Clay introduces readers to Inspector Stephen Mayhew, who also features in Death Cuts a Silhouette. Both she wrote under the name D. B. Olsen.

Olsen, D. B. Clue in the Clay. First Edition. New York: Phoenix Press, 1938. [6] 7-256 pp in bright blue cloth over boards, Titles stamped in dark red. VG-/- (No DJ). Spine a bit tanned, cover edges somewhat worn, small spot of colour loss LL corner front board. Pages lightly aged (usual for books of this period). Binding tight. ECB13071  $115.00