I have not enjoyed a murder mystery this much in a long time. If my Detection Club afficionados are not listening, I will say that I think Ms. Lawrence wrote puzzle mysteries at least as well as Madama Sayers (gasp!). Well-written suspense is everywhere, even in watching an elevator make its excrutiatingly slow way down, and the reader is compelled to turn the page just to get relief. Forget leaving it until tomorrow. I received the Crime Classics/NetGalley ebook in exchange for this review, but I’m thinking of buying the paper version so I can re-read it in the style it was meant to be read. And I will definitely be looking for more by this writer. Her characters pop with individuality and real life, her settings could not be more vivid (and spooky). The mystery had me guessing right to the end – I suspected one “doll”, then changed to one after another, trying to keep up with new clues as they blossomed. And didn’t quite have it nailed right to the end. My favorite kind. The droll humor had me chuckling out loud. Our socialite amateur sleuth has two old-biddy helpmates, Bessy who loves to drink and Beulah who watches out for her. When Mark East suggests apprehensively that maybe the drinker should be taken home, Beulah says, “Wait till her eyes are pink”. Later when they are discussing the case, Bessy says something about “m-u-r-d-e-r”, adding that you have to spell the word in case someone is listening. To which Beulah replies, “Time. Practically red.” Yet, both ladies are cleverer than they let on. As Mark East says, “They can find a needle in a haystack and thread it with a camel.” If you love Golden Age murder and suspense, with sophisticated humor, then enjoy.

Death of a Doll was first published in 1947. It's the story of Ruth who moved to the city to Hope House. This was a boarding house for women. During this time period, these types of places were much more common than they are today. During a party, Ruth jumps from the building. Suicide or murder? The story unfolds slowly with the investigation of her death. It's confusing at times because of numerous characters. I wish the story had moved a little faster. It's well written and intriguing. There is a menacing creepy vibe to it. The characters are likeable and dynamic together. I enjoyed the story overall. Perfect for readers of vintage crime fiction. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a vintage murder mystery set in America, hard to get into as it jumps all over the place, and all over the people that populate this story. Yet it has a wonderful charm about it that you just can't put it down, a very different writing style. The book is this month's Crime Classics choice for rediscovering these vintage writers, and I will certainly search out the few other books by Hilda Lawerence.
I certainly recommend reading this book to anyone who is interested in crime classics.

Hope House, a Home for Girls, was a New York City residence run by director Monica Brady, with assistance from social worker Angeline Small. In charge of 70 girls, Miss Small made sure they "slept correctly" and were "properly nourished". "These [are] poor love-starved babies, I must do what I can". Ruth Miller, 29 years old, was a salesperson in the toilet goods department of Blackmans. Ruth shared her excitement with wealthy, regular customer Roberta Sutton. She would be moving to Hope House where she would receive both breakfast and dinner and "all the hot water you want".

Suitcase in hand, shy,quiet Ruth entered Hope House with high expectations. Within minutes, her demeanor radically changed. "...in a sea of strange faces, one face was not strange". "Confidently walking into the future Ruth had come face to face with the past". Two days later, Ruth's body was discovered in the courtyard, presumably having fallen from a seventh floor window. Her death was ruled a suicide.

Roberta Sutton was shocked upon hearing of Ruth's demise. She didn't believe Ruth killed herself and convinced Private Investigator Mark East to investigate. Roberta's two house guests, elderly spinsters Beulah Pond and Bessy Petty were amateur sleuths. Mark had his methods of discovery while Beulah and Bessy contributed a comic element. Beulah decided to gather data at Hope House. She walked into the dwelling with an affected limp thinking that an infirmity would make her appear honest. Upon leaving, she limped on the opposite leg!

One thing was for certain. Ruth saw or heard "something" upon arriving at her new digs. The following day, at the house "costume party", Ruth knew she had been recognized. She had seen the "following eyes". She knew what she had to do. Her suitcase was packed, ready to go!

"Death of a Doll" by Hilda Lawrence was written in 1947. Lawrence created a claustrophobic atmosphere with Miss Brady and Miss Small demanding adherence to rigid rules, a stifling living arrangement bound to create discomfort and suspicion. The first half of the tome set the stage to question Ruth's death. The investigation in the second half was murky and slow moving. Fans of classic crime will enjoy the mystery and suspense from the pen of Hilda Lawrence.

Thank you Agora Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Death of a Doll".

Light, disguise, and blindness, in various forms, are key elements in this atmospheric and rather creepy murder mystery, set in the claustrophobic, somewhat enclosed, world of a New York hostel for young women. It was the third from Hilda Lawrence featuring private detective, Mark East, and his sidekicks, Miss Bessy and Miss Beulah, and was first published in 1947.

It is the most successful of the three. Although it would have benefitted from a little pruning, here the momentum was better maintained. As the plot is more focussed on psychology and character than on detection, this is not one for pure puzzle-lovers. The culprit was not too difficult to spot, but the tension lay in what the next move would be and how a resolution would be reached. There is interest, too, in the various relationships of the women in the residence, particularly that of Miss Brady and Miss Small who “run” the place.

Recommended as very readable and quite engrossing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Agora Books and Crime Classics Advance Readers Club for the digital review copy.

I really want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I liked it a lot.

I felt kind of lukewarm about the book for the first chapter or two, but as it went on, I found myself not wanting to stop reading until I got to the end. Something about it really grabbed my attention. The author was able to convey a strong sense of menace and suspense, just by the tone of her writing. The violence in the book is really minimal, but there’s no doubting that there is great wickedness somewhere in the women’s residence in which the story is set.

I was unfamiliar with the author, Hilda Lawrence, and read that this is considered the best of her four mystery novels. I know that I really enjoyed it.

I found myself a bit confused at times by the huge number of characters, and I still wonder why some of them were included. For instance, were three detectives really necessary? There is a private detective and two snoopy old ladies, or at least my impression was that they were old ladies. And that leads into another thing that I noticed. It wasn’t really possible to guess the ages of many of the characters, and consequently, the ending, when it came was even more of a surprise to me than it might have been. However, I don’t think that I could have predicted the ending with any certainty, no matter how much additional information I was given. Despite this the ending was quite believable.

A classic cozy crime novel focusing on a seeming suicidal plunge from the seventh floor during a rag doll costume party at a women’s dormitory. Not the right choice for my reading. Exceedingly dull.

What a strange and mysterious opening chapter. Slowly but surely I was drawn into this most unusual story. The plot is gradually explained and is in fact very cleverly written. I did of course want to know all the answers but could not guess until the very end. Stick with this one and you will be pleasantly surprised.