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Do Not Disturb
Do Not Disturb by Helen McCloy, winner of the MWA's Grand Master award.
“Engaging heroine—who does most of sleuthing—many shivery and exciting sequences, continuous action, and extra good writing.”—Saturday Review of Literature
“One of [McCloy’s] most startling efforts.”—Hartford Courant
Original hardcover jacket:
Helen McCloy has won wide acclaim as author of the Basil Willing mysteries. This time she has written an entirely different kind of mystery novel—one of escape and threat and terror that will chill the marrow of your bones.
The sign read DO NOT DISTURB and at first Edith Talbot ignored the pitiful whimpering that came through the door. The hotel clerk assured her that the room was occupied by a sick boy under the care of a physician. Later in the night, when the cries were resumed, she felt that something must be done—and she made the fatal mistake of knocking on the door...
From then on things begin to happen—strange things that at first seem innocuous coincidence but crescendo into a series of hair-raising events.
From the paperback cover:
The viciously mutilated body of a stranger lying on the rug in a hotel room…A Do Not Disturb really means Danger! Keep Out!...The dry, choking sobs of a man—regular as breathing, hopeless as hell…A heart-stopping scream of terror…A pair of badly torn silk stockings...A small lump of lead embedded in a tree trunk…A mysterious, frantically sought object so dangerous nobody dares describe it...A pair of astigmatic eyes...A lonely house on a mountaintop. A friendly, growling watchdog…manicure scissors used as a defense weapon…A badly typed letter which affords a brief respite from terror…A nursing home with iron bars behind the gay chintz.
• Why the hotel clerk was so reluctant to rent Room 1404?
• What was going on in Room 1404?
• Why the innocent Edith fled for her life instead of calling the police?
• Who tries so persistently to kill Edith? And why?
• Why Lucien decides to come to America?
• Why the white-faced little man appears with such regularity?
Learn the answers to these questions in this swiftly unfolding tale of murder and suspense in which pretty Edith Talbot attempts to help a stranger in distress, and thereby finds it necessary to flee for her life.
Approximately 72,000 words in total.
[2013 Aug. 15: re-proofed in-house]
“Engaging heroine—who does most of sleuthing—many shivery and exciting sequences, continuous action, and extra good writing.”—Saturday Review of Literature
“One of [McCloy’s] most startling efforts.”—Hartford Courant
Original hardcover jacket:
Helen McCloy has won wide acclaim as author of the Basil Willing mysteries. This time she has written an entirely different kind of mystery novel—one of escape and threat and terror that will chill the marrow of your bones.
The sign read DO NOT DISTURB and at first Edith Talbot ignored the pitiful whimpering that came through the door. The hotel clerk assured her that the room was occupied by a sick boy under the care of a physician. Later in the night, when the cries were resumed, she felt that something must be done—and she made the fatal mistake of knocking on the door...
From then on things begin to happen—strange things that at first seem innocuous coincidence but crescendo into a series of hair-raising events.
From the paperback cover:
The viciously mutilated body of a stranger lying on the rug in a hotel room…A Do Not Disturb really means Danger! Keep Out!...The dry, choking sobs of a man—regular as breathing, hopeless as hell…A heart-stopping scream of terror…A pair of badly torn silk stockings...A small lump of lead embedded in a tree trunk…A mysterious, frantically sought object so dangerous nobody dares describe it...A pair of astigmatic eyes...A lonely house on a mountaintop. A friendly, growling watchdog…manicure scissors used as a defense weapon…A badly typed letter which affords a brief respite from terror…A nursing home with iron bars behind the gay chintz.
• Why the hotel clerk was so reluctant to rent Room 1404?
• What was going on in Room 1404?
• Why the innocent Edith fled for her life instead of calling the police?
• Who tries so persistently to kill Edith? And why?
• Why Lucien decides to come to America?
• Why the white-faced little man appears with such regularity?
Learn the answers to these questions in this swiftly unfolding tale of murder and suspense in which pretty Edith Talbot attempts to help a stranger in distress, and thereby finds it necessary to flee for her life.
Approximately 72,000 words in total.
[2013 Aug. 15: re-proofed in-house]
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1943
2 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Helen McCloy
63 books38 followersHelen McCloy, born as Helen Worrell Clarkson McCloy (she also published as Helen Clarkson), was an American mystery writer, whose series character Dr. Basil Willing debuted in Dance of Death (1938). Willing believes that "every criminal leaves psychic fingerprints, and he can't wear gloves to hide them." He appeared in 13 of McCloy's novels and in several of her short stories. McCloy often used the theme of doppelganger, but in the end of the story she showed a psychological or realistic explanation for the seemingly supernatural events.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 1, 2015
1943. Edith Talbott comes to New York City where she has difficulty finding a moderately-priced hotel. Finally she lands at the Majestic and reluctantly accepts the only room the clerk can give her - room 1404. Thus starts this fast-paced thriller. She hears cries from the next suite and, having been told that there is a sick child there, she knocks on the door and offers her assistance. She soon finds herself involved in a series of events which she cannot understand.
Thoroughly enjoyable with a heroine that isn't as sharp as she should be -- but even a wide-awake reader can be taken in by the twists in this story of wartime espionage.
Thoroughly enjoyable with a heroine that isn't as sharp as she should be -- but even a wide-awake reader can be taken in by the twists in this story of wartime espionage.
May 20, 2012
This was the first Helen McCloy book I ever read, and it got me hooked on her writing style.
A woman goes to an old fashioned hotel in the United States after divorcing her husband, and she wishes she had gone somewhere else. After hearing pained screams in the room next door, she goes to check on the source. Inside is a group of cops giving a criminal the third degree. She goes back to her room trying to dismiss the whole scene from her mind, but the next day, it comes back to haunt her.
After being hit by a car, she goes back to her room to find a dead body on the floor. Rather than call the police because she believes they are the ones after her, she attempts to escape the city to a friend's summer home in the country in order to secure a lawyer. But she is being followed.
This story is filled with action and remains exciting to the very end.
A woman goes to an old fashioned hotel in the United States after divorcing her husband, and she wishes she had gone somewhere else. After hearing pained screams in the room next door, she goes to check on the source. Inside is a group of cops giving a criminal the third degree. She goes back to her room trying to dismiss the whole scene from her mind, but the next day, it comes back to haunt her.
After being hit by a car, she goes back to her room to find a dead body on the floor. Rather than call the police because she believes they are the ones after her, she attempts to escape the city to a friend's summer home in the country in order to secure a lawyer. But she is being followed.
This story is filled with action and remains exciting to the very end.
June 8, 2021
If you enjoy classic mysteries and haven't tried Helen McCloy, your missing out on one of the best mid-century practitioners in the field. This one is a corker, with twists and surprises that will keep you guessing to the last chapter.
February 19, 2016
Quite readable
All of her mysteries are well written. I was impelled by the plot to the last few pages. This is not her best but it 's good. Love me her other books, this one is set in a domestic Miley yet concerned with World War II and anti-Fascist.
All of her mysteries are well written. I was impelled by the plot to the last few pages. This is not her best but it 's good. Love me her other books, this one is set in a domestic Miley yet concerned with World War II and anti-Fascist.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews