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Helen McCloy

ヘレン・マックロイ

Helen McCloy

Pen Names: Helen Clarkson（Pseudonym used for some works）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1904-06-06 （New York City）
Died
1994-12-01 （Woodstock, New York） age 90
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Brooklyn, New York → Paris (studied at the Sorbonne) → The Catskills, New York → Woodstock, New York

Career

Occupations
novelist, literary critic, art critic, journalist
Active Years
1927-1980
Affiliations
Mystery Writers of America, Torquil Publishing Company, Halliday and McCloy (literary agency)
Memberships
Mystery Writers of America
Influenced By
Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), John Dickson Carr
Influenced
Later mystery writers (not specifically enumerated)

Education

Brooklyn Friends School
Period: 1910s–1920s
Year of Graduation: 1922
Country: United States
Educated in a Quaker-run school
Sorbonne (University of Paris)
Period: 1923（留学・研修）
Country: France
Studied in France in 1923; degree attainment unknown

Awards

Edgar Award (for criticism)
1954
Category: 批評
Organization: Mystery Writers of America
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Dance of Death

1938 Mystery

Helen McCloy's first novel introducing Dr. Basil Willing, a detective-style mystery.

psychology of crimedetective fiction

The Goblin Market

1943 Mystery

Reporters from rival wire services investigate the death of a predecessor in a fictional South American country against the backdrop of World War II.

news reportingwartime influence

Panic

1944 Mystery / Suspense

Set in a remote Catskills cottage; notable for use of cryptanalysis in the plot.

cryptographyisolated settingpsychology

Through a Glass, Darkly

1950 Supernatural puzzler / psychological mystery

A supernatural puzzle in the tradition of John Dickson Carr, dealing with the doppelganger phenomenon but resolving toward psychological/realistic explanations.

doppelgangersupernatural puzzlepsychological analysis
Adaptations
  • [newspaper serial] Through a Glass, Darkly (serial) (1949)

Mr. Splitfoot

1968 Gothic / Mystery

Dr. Basil Willing and his wife shelter at a remote New England house and encounter a haunted room; title references the Devil and symbolizes human duality.

gothic elementsduality of human natureapparently supernatural phenomena

The Impostor

1977 Psychological suspense

A woman awakens after a car crash to find her reality denied at a psychiatric clinic; she accepts an impostor to escape. Uses a cryptological double bluff in the plot.

imposturepsychiatrymemory and identity

Bibliography

  • Dance of Death (1938)
  • The Man in the Moonlight (1940)
  • The Deadly Truth (1941)
  • Who's Calling (1942)
  • Cue for Murder (1942)
  • The Goblin Market (1943)
  • Do Not Disturb (1943)
  • Panic (1944)
  • The One That Got Away (1945)
  • She Walks Alone (1948)
  • Through a Glass, Darkly (1950)
  • Alias Basil Willing (1951)
  • The Long Body (1955)
  • Two-Thirds of a Ghost (1956)
  • Mr. Splitfoot (1968)
  • Burn This (1980)
  • The Impostor (1977)
  • The Smoking Mirror (1979)
  • The Last Day (as Helen Clarkson) (1959)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
classical detective techniqueemphasis on psychological suspensetendency to provide rational explanations for seemingly supernatural elements
Recurring Motifs
doppelgangerimposture and disguisepsychoanalytic elementspsychic/psychological fingerprints of crime

Legacy

Helen McCloy was a 20th-century American mystery writer known for combining psychological insight with classical detective technique. She served as the first female president of the Mystery Writers of America and was recognized for her criticism. Her works often present seemingly supernatural atmospheres while providing rational explanations, influencing peers and later mystery writers.

Academic Societies

  • Mystery Writers of America

In Popular Culture

  • Inclusion in recommended lists by critics such as H.R.F. Keating (e.g., Mr. Splitfoot)

Quotes

  • “Every criminal leaves psychic fingerprints, and he can't wear gloves to hide them.”
    Source: Belief expressed by Dr. Basil Willing in her work (first seen in Dance of Death, 1938) (1938)

Trivia

  • She became the first woman to serve as president of the Mystery Writers of America in 1950.
  • Received an Edgar Award in 1954 for criticism from the Mystery Writers of America.
  • Married Davis Dresser (known as Brett Halliday) in 1946; they founded Torquil Publishing Company and a literary agency together.
  • Wrote under the pseudonym Helen Clarkson (The Last Day, 1959).
  • Her first novel was Dance of Death (1938).