Lady in Lilac

It was a strange impersonation—one young girl with an air of dauntless gallantry assuming the name and personality of that other girl, who was so done in, so beaten in spirit! Begun half in jest and a dare, this transition led the tired girl (she thought) to obscurity and quiet. It brought the adventurous one to a sumptuous room at the Waldorf, a new lilac gown and dinner with a glamorous, unknown escort. Before she knew it, she had been brought face to face with grim Death, where a man lay on the rug before her—a smoking gun in her hand and his blood staining the toe of her new lilac slipper. . . .

Here is a swift, staccato mystery which moves with breathless pace and bewildering surprises.

Lady in Lilac was the Red Badge Prize Mystery for 1941.