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Dolores Hitchens

A drunken man is shot dead on his doorstep in this classic mystery starring the “observant [and] appealing” seventy-year-old sleuth (Publishers Weekly).
 
 Walking home wearily from an evening spent poring over the books of the Parchly Heights Methodist Ladies’ Aid searching for a fifty-eight-cent error, Miss Jennifer Murdock becomes witness to a terrible scene: A man, stumbling drunk, arrives home—and just as he fumbles with his keys, gunfire erupts and kills him on the spot.
 
 Jennifer is determined not to tell her sister, Rachel, anything about it. After all, Rachel considers herself a sleuth, or as Jennifer views it, a busybody who pokes her nose in places it doesn’t belong. What she doesn’t know is Rachel has just had a visit from a member of that same household, a meek eighteen-year-old taken in after she was orphaned and treated like a servant. Young Shirley has been alarmed by a series of nasty pranks—and now she’s heartbroken, and even more frightened, after finding her pet bird dead. There’s something awful going on in the house on Chestnut Street, and neither her prim and proper sister nor Det. Lt. Stephen Mayhew can stop Rachel from finding out what it is . . .
 
 “Rachel has never yet failed to solve a murder mystery. Never before have her methods been quite so devious and unorthodox as they are in this story.” —The New York Times
 
 The Cat Wears a Noose was previously published under the pseudonymD.B. Olsen

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road

The Rachel Murdock Mysteries

The Cat Wears a Noose

A spry seventy-year-old sleuth and her feline companion sniff out clues to a crime: “The observant Rachel is an appealing Jessica Fletcher antecedent. ” —Publishers Weekly

A letter has arrived at the home shared by the elderly Murdock sisters and their black cat, Samantha. It stirs Rachel’s curiosity, and Jennifer’s alarm, as she fears her sibling will once again head off on a dangerous adventure in detection. The letter-writer is an old friend’s granddaughter who explains that a bizarre drawing of a hand has been slipped under her door, making her very uneasy, and she’d appreciate Rachel’s sleuthing skills. 

Leaving a furious Jennifer behind and toting Samantha in her travel basket, Rachel departs Los Angeles to visit Prudence Mills and assess any possible threat to her. There’d been conflict over her late father’s business dealings, and Prudence’s little sister encountered a prowler in her bedroom. Even more troubling, Prudence’s face has been scarred by an unseen attacker—and for some reason, she fears telling the police. Now, in the snowy mountains, Rachel will be entangled in a chilling mystery—and, as a child of pro-temperance activists, visit a bar for the first time in her seventy years …

“Dolores Hitchens has been writing novels of mystery and suspense, under a variety of names and in a variety of styles, but always entertainingly and often achieving something more than casual entertainment. ” —The New York Times

Catspaw for Murder was previously published under the pseudonymD. B. Olsen

Catspaw for Murder

This classic mystery features a family feud, feline intervention, and the spirited septuagenarian sleuth from The Cat Saw Murder.

A strange encounter with a little girl named Claudia and a dead toad sparks Rachel Murdock’s obsessive curiosity, and she winds up renting the house next door just to see how things play out. But soon after she and her cat Samantha move in, Rachel realizes they’ve landed right in the middle of a deadly love triangle that’s created animosity among the three families who now surround her.

When Rachel finds Claudia’s great-grandmother dead in her basement, she reaches out to a friend in the LAPD to solve the crime. They soon learn the three households have been torn apart by one husband’s infidelity and a complicated will that could lead to a fortune. In a house plagued by forbidden love, regret, and greed, Rachel will have to trust her intuition, as well as Samantha’s instincts, to survive—and keep Claudia out of the hands of a killer whose work has just begun …

“You will never regret having made the acquaintance of Miss Rachel Murdock. ” —The New York Times

The Alarm of the Black Cat was originally published under the pseudonym D. B. Olsen.

Praise for Dolores Hitchens

“High-grade suspense. ” —San Francisco Chronicle on Stairway to an Empty Room/Terror Lurks in Darkness

“For those who enjoy Little-Old-Lady detectives, this should be a pleasing mystery, particularly if active LOLs are preferred… . Both interesting and unusual is the motive for murder. ” —Mystery*File on Cats Don’t Smile

The Alarm of the Black Cat

Native American lore infuses a southwestern mystery featuring the indomitable Rachel Murdock and her cat, Samantha.

The notes—short and sharp—seem to strike at the heart of each recipient’s insecurities and darkest secrets. Signed “Kachina, ” they’ve been sent to a group of friends who met in college, including Rachel Murdock’s goddaughter, Gail. When Gail wants to unmask the letter writer by inviting the group to her house in Arizona, she asks Rachel for help. Unable to resist, Rachel scoops up her cat, leaving her sister behind on a tour through the Southwest.

As the seven friends reconnect, familiar grievances and new resentments emerge. And when one woman—as prickly as the cacti dotting the desert landscape—is killed by a rattlesnake bite, the party takes an even darker turn. A thunderous storm soon washes out the roads, and the group is left on their own with a dead body and a murderer in their midst. Now Rachel must use her knowledge of human nature to unmask a killer before another life is snuffed out.

“You will never regret having made the acquaintance of Miss Rachel Murdock. ” —The New York Times

The Cat Wears a Mask was originally published under the pseudonym D. B. Olsen.

Praise for Dolores Hitchens

“High-grade suspense. ” —San Francisco Chronicle on Stairway to an Empty Room/Terror Lurks in Darkness

“For those who enjoy Little-Old-Lady detectives, this should be a pleasing mystery, particularly if active LOLs are preferred… . Both interesting and unusual is the motive for murder. ” —Mystery*File on Cats Don’t Smile

The Cat Wears a Mask

A newlywed might be newly dead in this feline-flavored mystery featuring a septuagenarian sleuth who’s “an appealing Jessica Fletcher antecedent” (Publishers Weekly).

Priscilla Beckett has left a trail of suspicious exes in her wake—three former husbands who are convinced she tried to kill them. But this black-widow-to-be has found groom number four, and they’re happily honeymooning at a desert dude ranch.

The fourth time might be the charm for the murderous Priscilla, which is why Rachel Murdock is called in. With her contrarian sister and stealthy cat at her side, Rachel expects to find a dead body. She does—it’s just not who she thought it would be …

“The setting a phony dude ranch; the cast of characters, a set of ex-husbands, a lost sweetheart, a bride of uncertain antecedents, the owners and servant and guests of the ranch—and Miss Rachel to the rescue, annoying the local authorities, but turning up the right evidence at the right time … a pleasant antidote for the tough school. ” —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Dolores Hitchens and her mysteries

“You will never regret having made the acquaintance of Miss Rachel Murdock. ” —The New York Times

“High-grade suspense. ” —San Francisco Chronicle

“For those who enjoy Little-Old-Lady detectives, this should be a pleasing mystery, particularly if active LOLs are preferred … Both interesting and unusual is the motive for murder. ” —Mystery File

The Cat and Capricorn

The senior super-sleuth is the odds-on favorite to discover if a killer stalks the Hollywood Hills in the final Rachel Murdock mystery.

Though not a professional private eye, Miss Rachel Murdock has gained notoriety in certain Los Angeles circles for her crime-solving skills. They come in handy after she witnesses an extraordinary event: a woman being thrown into the window of a pet store.

Said woman is Ruth Rand, an actress desperate to find her missing niece, Lila. She is convinced that Lila’s husband, a former jockey, killed her. It doesn’t help that he’s the one responsible for Ruth ending up on the pet store floor. When Rachel agrees to help her, she’s drawn into the sordid world of horse racing and gambling. But the more she learns about the lives of those involved, the more she’s willing to bet that the truth lies in the haunting figure of Lila’s one-eyed cat.

Praise for Dolores Hitchens and her mysteries

“You will never regret having made the acquaintance of Miss Rachel Murdock. ” —The New York Times

“High-grade suspense. ” —San Francisco Chronicle

“For those who enjoy Little-Old-Lady detectives, this should be a pleasing mystery, particularly if active LOLs are preferred … Both interesting and unusual is the motive for murder. ” —Mystery File