Friday's Forgotten Books - The Habit of Fear

Dorothy Salisbury Davis, who turned 94 in April, was born in Chicago and raised as a Roman Catholic but left the church when she married her husband, actor Harry Davis (who died in 1993). Now considered one of the Grand Dames of crime fiction, she didn't start out as a writer, working first in advertising and as a librarian, publishing her first novel in 1949 with the encouragement of her husband. Since then, her 20 novels and numerous short stories have received seven Edgar Award nominations; the novel A Gentle Murderer was chosen as one of the Haycraft-Queen cornerstones of detective fiction; and Davis appeared on the "CBS News Nightwatch" program along with Robert Parker and Nicholas Meyer discussing Sherlock Holmes. Her novel Broken Vows was also made into a 1987 TV movie starring Tommy Lee Jones.

She's had a clear influence on the crime fiction community, serving as Myster Writers of America grandmaster in 1985 and on the initial steering committee for the formation of Sisters in Crime (along with Charlotte MacLeod, Kate Mattes, Betty Francis, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard and Susan Dunlap). She was Guest of Honor at Malice Domestic VI, quoting Hilaire Belloc, that "It will not matter if my sins are scarlet, if only my books are read."  In an interview with J. Kingston Pierce for January Magazine in 2002, no less than Stuart Kaminsky said in regards to his publishing venture called Mystery Vault, "I'm particularly proud of publishing Dorothy Salisbury Davis' 1940s novel Town of Masks..."
          
By her own account, Davis is an "odd fit" in crime fiction, unhappy with her perceived inability to create a memorable series character and uncomfortable with violence and murder. But she's very happy creating villains, and has often commented that villains are much more fun to write about than heroes. Her themes trend more toward psychology than out-and-out detection and religious tensions are often found in her work, not surprising considering her own background.

That religious undercurrent can be found in The Habit of Fear, the fourth and last in her series featuring Julie Hayes, a former actress and fortuneteller-turned New York City tabloid reporter, but the religious theme is only a small part of the deftly-knit threads of the plot that begin with her husband Jeff telling her he wants a divorce. Angry and hurt, she storms out of their apartment where she's tricked into a nightmare scenario of rape and sodomy by two mysterious men. Although she's reluctant to help the police, preferring to try and put as much emotional distance between her and the events as possible, she's drawn into the case, as well as a search for the Irish father she never knew, a journey that eventually takes her to the land of her beloved Yeats.

But her troubles only follow her, as a strange "Gray Man" seems to be stalking her, there's an appearance by her two attackers who escaped New York on bail, and she finds herself in the middle of tensions involving the Irish Republican Army and a splinter group. Underlying it all is a NYC gangster who watches over Julie as a protective, yet violent, avenging guardian angel. The plot threads ultimately do tie together into a hopeful but bittersweet conclusion.

Salisbury once contributed the chapter "Background and Atmosphere" to the Writer's Digest Mystery Writer's Handbook in 1975, and she is certainly adept with creating atmosphere in The Habit of Fear, first in the seedy side streets, police precincts and courts of New York and then in the bucolic but war-torn landscapes of Dublin, Wicklow, Ballina and Sligo:

Julie climbed the narrow street to where the village came to an abrupt end at a gate to the ruins. The wind gusted fiercely. The river became rapids alongside the ruins and rushed noisily down the hillside. Looking down, she could see boats at anchor, heaving in the heavy waters. Beyond the inlet was the Atlantic, blue and white-capped and dappled with dark patches where the clouds threw their shadows. As she went on, she could see the coast road with an occasional cottage and bits of color where the stacked turf was tucked around with plastic tarps.

Her characterizations are also rich and multi-layered, with no character completely evil or saintly. In an interview with Don Swaim on the CBS Radio studio show "Wired for Books", she talks about this novel and her writing and how she created the character of Julie Hayes during a period when the author herself was in therapy (note: the interview contains spoilers). She made Hayes a defender of street people due to Davis' own walking through city areas frequented by prostitutes, where she said she was accepted as "this little old lady with white hair in a raincoat", talking to various people from all walks of life.

Unfortunately, in the interview, she indicated there were a couple of additional Julie Hayes books that were in the works, but alas, that was apparently not to be.

Comments

[Patti Abbott]

This is a name that has never been mentioned before-thanks for remembering her.

[George Kelley]

I have a few Dorothy Salisbury Davis novels in my Read Real Soon stack. I'll have to move them up after reading your review.

[BV Lawson]

Like many other fine authors, it's a shame that Davis isn't better known among the general public, and despite her protestations to the contrary about creating good series characters, Julie Hayes was a strong contender. Among her others, it's hard to know where to start, since everyone seems to have their own different favorite...

[Martin Edwards]

Very interesting. I don't know this book, but you've made me want to find it.

[BV Lawson]

Few of her books are still in print, but my local public library had a copy. Another reason it will be good to have publishing-on-demand or ebooks for older titles by authors so they'll always be available.