Day of the Dolls #6

Today we are almost done with the Day of the Dolls. All this week I have been showcasing a mystery title or two with Doll in the title. Why do you ask? Dolls. All through the late forties to the early sixties a doll would be associated with a hardboiled or noir title. Today is a special treat. Not one but two Dolls with the same title. 

Presenting

Death of a Doll

by Hilda Lawrence

Miss Small and Miss Brady do everything to make their boarders feel safe and secure: Hope House is one of the few places in new York City where a young working woman could enjoy a homey atmosphere at very little cost. When Ruth Miller moves in, however, the atmosphere seems to change, and when her body is found in the courtyard, the miasma engulfing Hope House becomes stifling. suddenly no one in Hope House is quite what she seems, and no one is above suspicion . . .

Printing History

Written by Hildegarde Kronmiller (1906-1976)

Simon & Schuster

April 1947

Death of a Doll

by Carter Brown

A private eye accepts a movie mogul's bid to track down a wandering wanton star in Florida. Her name was Gloria Van Raven and she preferred to party on a yacht of Edward Woolrich II. Until the party got too wild with a dixieland horn player sounding a lament in a polka dotted bikini lying dead at his feet.

 This title was originally posted in December 2010 in a slightly different form

Death of a Doll

And Featured during the 2013 Crime Fiction Alphabet
 The Letter E

Printing History

Written by Alan G Yates (1923-1985)

Horwitz Publications, Inc

 Numbered Series #11 1956
Second Collectors' Series  Vol 1 #20 October 1958

Reprint By Demand Series #22 July 1960

Long Story Magazine #21 April 1961

International Edition November 1962 (IE21) 1971 (IE70)

Note
This title was revised as The Ever-Loving Blues in 1961 for the USA market