Dorothy B. Hughes

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Critic Woody Haut pointed out in Pulp Culture that the female hardboiled writers of the 1950s were certainly more aware of the stereotypical treatment of women in crime ficton than were the male writers. One of the writers he profiles, Dorothy B. Hughes, must have been more aware than most; although she was a successful novelist and critic, she had to leave off writing novels in order to take care of domestic responsibilities: tending to her mother and her grandchildren.

Hughes' novels usually border on the hardboiled. They're crime novels, but with a heavy dose of Gothic sensibility (think Cornell Woolrich), and frequently feature international intrigue or conspiracy. Her best known book, In A Lonely Place, is indisputably hardboiled, and was made into a classic film with Humphrey Bogart and noir vixen Gloria Grahame. Hughes was a noted critic and reviewer, and later won an Edgar for her biography of Earl Stanly Gardner.