DOROTHY DANIELS – Affair in Marrakesh.

Pyramid X-1786; paperback original, 1968. Pyramid N3342, 2nd printing, 1974 (shown).

   Whether Dorothy Daniels actually wrote the gothics attributed to her, or if they were all written by her husband, long-time pulp writer Norman Daniels, has been the subject of some recent email discussion between long-time mystery bibliographer, Al Hubin, and myself. In the end, as I understand it, he decided to say something to the effect that some of her books (in particular, those copyright in Norman’s name) were likely to have been written by him.   [See UPDATE below.]

   This one’s billed as “a novel of gothic intrigue.” No castles shrouded in fog, in other words, but a Helen MacInnes sort of romantic adventure, with a naive young woman finding herself in the midst of an affair of international importance.

   More important to Margo Addison, however, are matters that are all personal: (1) on an around-the-world trip she has been followed everywhere she goes; (2) her father, who has been travelling with her since her mother’s strange death, suddenly disappears; (3) she seems to be falling in love with Gil Morley, a young American handicraft importer; and (4) no surprise, the possibility that her mother did not die after all.

   It is difficult to lose track of all of these plot-lines, as Margo seems to go over them in her mind often enough to keep even the most drowsy reader well on the right direction — sometimes, as indicated above, well before her.

   For those looking for entertainment, an evening’s enjoyment, no more, no less. For the more analytically minded, two rather obvious plot contrivances — “coincidences” as they’re called in the real world — make the taste not quite as savory as it might have been otherwise.

[UPDATE] 11-04-08.   All of the entries for Dorothy Daniels in Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV now state that they were ghost-written by Norman Daniels. Whether she had any input into the stories, and if so, how much, has not been established.