By Dorothy B. Hughes
A vintage global conflict II-era noir with a page-turning plot, a solid of colorfully sinister characters and a protagonist who's thrust into the center of political intrigue, this eye-catching 1943 novel parallels the undercover agent novels of Grahame Greene, Eric Ambler, and the flicks of Hitchcock and Lang. yet in -signature Hughes style, The Blackbirder has a genre-bending twist: its hardboiled protagonist is a woman.
Born of yankee expatriate mom and dad, Julie Guilles used to be a good looking, sheltered wealthy lady turning out to be up in Paris, a favourite of the “Ritz Bar” set. yet every thing replaced whilst the Nazis rolled into the town of lighting fixtures. After 3 years of existence underground, Julie is hiding out in big apple; yet she is familiar with hassle is coming while the corpse of an acquaintance seems on her doorstep. With a bunch of attainable risks on her tail—the Gestapo, the FBI and the recent York cops—she embarks on a determined trip to Santa Fe looking for her final, top desire. “The Blackbirder”is a legend between refugees, a trafficker in human souls who flies less than the radar to carry humans to defense around the Mexican border—for a price.
With no assets at her disposal yet a smuggled diamond necklace and her personal razor-sharp wits, Julie needs to navigate a tangle of dangers—and take a stand within the world wide fight that has shattered the lives of hundreds of thousands. unlike the common representations of wartime ladies as “Mrs. Minivers” guarding domestic and fireside, Dorothy B. Hughes provides her intrepid heroine a spot on the middle of the action
Dorothy B. Hughes (1904–1993) is the writer of various hardboiled secret novels. 3 of her books grew to become winning motion pictures: The Fallen Sparrow (1943), Ride the red Horse (1947), and In a Lonely Place (1950), reprinted by means of the Feminist Press in 2003. In 1978 she was once named a Grand grasp by way of the secret Writers of America.
Femmes Fatales restores to print the easiest of women’s writing within the vintage pulp genres of the mid-20th century. From secret to hard-boiled noir to taboo lesbian romance, those rediscovered queens of pulp supply subversive views on a turbulent period. benefit from the sequence: Bedelia; The Blackbirder; Bunny Lake Is lacking; via Cecile; The G-String Murders; the ladies in 3-B; In a Lonely position; Laura; mom unearths a physique; Now, Voyager; Skyscraper; Stranger on Lesbos; Women's Barracks.