Dolores Hitchens

Julia Clara Catherine Maria Dolores Hitchens (born December 25, 1907 in San Antonio , Texas , † August 1, 1973 in Orange County , California ) was an American writer . In addition to her own name, Hitchens also used the pseudonyms Dolan Birkin , Noel Burke and DB Olsen .

Live and act

Hitchens was the daughter of William H. Robbins and Myrtle Statham (1882-1977) and spent the first years of her childhood in Caldwell County ( Texas ). After the death of her father, she and her mother returned to live with their paternal grandfather in San Antonio.

Ten years later, Hitchens settled in Kern County, California, where her mother married Arthur Birk in 1922. On the occasion of this marriage, Hitchens was adopted by Birk and took his family name. There she studied education at the University of California, Los Angeles .

In 1931, in San Francisco , Hitchens married the radio operator (merchant marine) Beverly S. Olsen, with whom she had a daughter - Patricia Marie. During this time, Hitchens first worked as a nurse, later she got a job as a teacher for some time. Her first literary attempts come from her studies and from the mid-1930s she devoted herself only to writing.

In his second marriage, Hitchens married the railway detective Hubert Allen Hitchens (1907–1973) in 1941 and had a son with him, Michael.

On August 1, 1973, Dolores Hitchens died in Orange County (California) and found her final resting place there.

reception

Hitchens was best known for her crime novels . In addition to many individual novels, she also wrote several (highly praised in her time) multi-parts and series. Together with her second husband, she published five detective novels, which benefited from his experiences as a railway detective.

Works (selection)

As Dolores Hitchens

Jim Sader cycle

• Sleep with strangers . 1955.
  • German: Who sleeps with strangers . Zurich 1999.
• Sleep with Slander . 1960.
  • German: You only die twice . Munich 1991.

Individual novels

• Stairways to an empty room . 1951.
  • German: The man with the wolf eyes . Munich 1965.
• Nets to catch the wind . 1952.
  • German: The rope in front of the door . Munich 1965.
• Beat back the tide . 1954.
  • German: A small mistake . Munich 1954.
• Fool's gold . 1958.
  • German: Escape to Las Vegas . Munich 1965.
• The watcher . 1959.
  • German: Close to madness . Munich 1966.
• Footsteps in the night . 1961.
  • German: steps in the night . Munich 1963.
• The abductor . 1962.
  • German: danger to Marion . Munich 1963.
• The bank with the bamboo door . 1965.
  • German: The bamboo door . Munich 1965.
• The man who cried all the way home . 1966.
  • German: She was there . Munich 1967.
• Postscript to nightmare . 1967.
  • German: Fire erases the trace . Munich 1968.
• Collection of strangers . 1969.
  • German: The old lady's fault . Munich 1970.
• The Baxter letters . 1971.
  • German: The Baxter letters . Munich 1971.
• In a house unknown . 1973.
  • German: In a strange house . Munich 1974.

Plays

• Cookie for Henry. One-act-play for six women . New York 1941.

Together with Bert Hitchens

• FOB murder . 1955.
  • German: The yellow flag . Frankfurt / M. 1965.
• One-way ticket . 1956.
  • German: Without return . Munich 1968.
• End of line . 1957.
  • German: California-Express . Munich 1968.
• The man who followed women . 1959.
  • German: East of Los Angeles . Munich 1968.
• TheGrudge . 1963.
  • German: Dynamite is out of date . Munich 1965.

As DB Olsen

Sister Murdock series

• The cat wears a noose . 1944.
  • German: Murder is for the cat . Frankfurt / M. 1980.
• Death wears cat's eyes . 1950.
  • German: Death has cat eyes . Munich 1977.
• Cat and Capricorn . 1951.
  • German: Do not touch old wounds . Frankfurt / M. 1981.

Professor Pennyfeather Series

1. Shroud for the bride . 1945.
2. Gallows for the groom . 1947.
3. Devious design . 1948.
4. Something about midnight . 1950.
5. Love me in death . 1951.
6. Enrollment canceled . 1952.

Lt. Stephen Mayhew trilogy

1. Clue in the clay . 1938.
2. Death cuts a silhouette . 1939.
3. The thinking heart . 1940.

As Dolan Birkley

• The unloved . 1965.
  • German: The girl next door . Munich 1967.

As Noel Burke

• Shivering bough . 1942.

Film adaptations

• Jean-Luc Godard (Director): The Outsider Gang . 1964 (based on her novel Fool's gold ).

literature

• Jacques Baudou and Jean-Jacques Schleret: Le vrai visage du masque, vol. 1 . Futuropolis, Paris 1984.
• Claude Mesplède: Dictionnaire des littératures policières, Vol. 1: A-I . Édition Joseph K, Nantes 2007, ISBN 978-2-910686-44-4 .

Web links

• Dolores Hitchens at Unionsverlag
• Dolores Hitchens in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The first edition appeared under the title: Twice died .