Status Updates From Dread Journey (Murder Room ...

I’m startled by how sophisticated and contemporary this feels. It reads like a post-Me-Too novel in its undertanding and acceptance of the exploitative misogyny of Hollywood. The observations are acute. The people feel real. Ubiquitous poverty sets the context for the obsecenly large movie business salaries. The train porter, who would have been mostly invisible in a Christie novel is a well-rounded character.

Dorothy B. Hughes is probably the most underrated mystery writer of all time and one of the greatest to ever do it.

Her sheer intensity is unmatched for her era and she remains one of my most recommended writers as the prose is sophisticated enough to please the "intellectuals" and she strikes a balance of that sophistication with atmosphere, readability, and excitement.

Glorious noir suspense thriller.