Mystery Review: The So Blue Marble is wonderful entertainment. A hard-boiled detective story without a hard-boiled detective. But with a speedy though (literally) incredible plot and a murderer's row cast of characters. All in search of a possibly magical, menacing, mythical perfectly sky-blue gem. Our hero, Griselda Satterlee, was married for three years, has been divorced for four (still carries a torch), was a Hollywood starlet for one year and now works as a Tinseltown fashion designer dressing the stars. Still only 24, she's a swell dame but no tough guy. Despite that she's always braver than she thinks she is and manages to battle through every scrape -- and there's plenty. In her debut novel, Dorothy Hughes (1904-93) perfectly captures 1930's upper crust Manhattan, fancy hotels, swell bars, Art Deco and fashion. The So Blue Marble is like watching a TCM classic movie of the time but reading a book: "The magazine slid to the floor, each page's rustle louder than if a tray of dishes had crashed. 'Delayed?' Ann's question was terrored, so soft, softer than a pillow." The story, the writing, the characters, the settings, it's all entertaining as hell. "Danger. The word didn't have the bright sound that poets gave to it. It was something dark and furry, nauseous." Even James Bond-type weaponry. The romance was only so-so, but hey, he's not good enough for Griselda. Dorothy Hughes was also an accomplished poet, receiving the prestigious Yale Younger Poets Prize in 1930, and wrote the original novel of the film noir classic, In a Lonely Place (1950). despite the slapdash plot, I was happily surprised as just how good The So Blue Marble was and how much I enjoyed it. [4★]
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