Helen Reilly (1891–1961)

Probably closer to 2.5 stars. An old fashioned (1940) mystery about the murder of a bitchy young socialite at a fashion school. The prose was a bit formal and clunky at times for my tastes. The story had tons of characters--a bit hard to keep them all straight and it was one of those stories where just about any of them could have turned out to be the killer depending on the author's whim. Still, it was a fun enough read.

A beautiful dancer dies in mid-dance at a speakeasy called "the Sanctuary." Inspector McKee of the Manhattan Homicide Squad investigates. Reilly does nice straightforward police mysteries, sometimes a bit grim.

A HIBK detective novel without much detection. Upper crust group gathered together on a train, then at a Canadian lodge, are met with three murders. The main character, a young female, is a passive character caught in the middle, trying to sort out the various secrets of the other characters.

I’m not too familiar w/ Macfadden Books. It’s my impression that they came to the vintage paperback party a little late in the day, and, fair or not, I tend to think of them as decidedly second-tier. But they did produce some cool, pulpy cover art that recalls (in a 1960s sort of way) those great quasi-trashy covers of nearly two decades prior for such vintage publishers as Avon, Eton and Graphic. I just love the Dead Man Control cover . . . . . [by the way – what about that title ; show more what exactly is ‘dead man control’? something to do with zombies?]. Anyway, things I like about the cover : the splashy, choppy red color which dominates the cover [I presume it represents blood -- well, duh!] ; the shadowy figure of the P.I. lurking in the background ; and the girl’s late 50s/early 60s hair style.
By the way, Helen Reilly seemed to be served very well by the covers of her books ; see : http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/helen-reilly/ [that Dell Silver Leopard cover is an absolute classic!] and http://www.mysteryfile.com/Reilly/Grost.html
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