Julia Clara Catherine Maria Dolores Robins Norton Birk Olsen Hitchens (December 25, 1907 – August 1, 1973) better known as Dolores Hitchens, was an American mystery novelist who wrote prolifically from 1938 until her death in 1973. She also wrote as D. B. Olsen, a version of her first married name, and under the pseudonyms Dolan Birkley and Noel Burke."Ziff-Davis Fingerprint Mysteries", or "A Complete Set of Fingerprints". Bill Pronzini, Victor Berch & Steve Lewis. March 8 (2006?). MYSTERY*FILE: The Crime Fiction Research Journal (mysteryfile.com). Copyright 2003–2006. With March 11 footnote to section D. B. Olsen. Retrieved 2014-04-08.

Hitchens collaborated on five railroad mysteries—"police procedurals about a squad of railroad cops"—with her second husband, Bert Hitchens, a railroad detective. She also branched out into other genres including Western fiction. Many of her mystery novels centered on a character named Rachel Murdock.

Hitchens wrote Fool's Gold, the 1958 novel adapted by Jean-Luc Godard for his film Bande à part (1964). Her novel The Watcher was adapted for an episode of the TV series Thriller which aired November 1, 1960.

Biography Hitchens was born in Texas on December 25, 1907. She was the daughter of W.H. Robbins and Myrtle Statham, who married in Caldwell County, Texas in 1901."Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973," database, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org: accessed 4 April 2014); Caldwell County, 15 November 1901, W.H. Robbins and Myrtle Statham. In 1910, Dolores (as Julia C. Robbins) and her apparently widowed mother were living with Dolores's paternal grandfather in San Antonio.1910 U.S. census, Bexar County, Texas, population schedule, San Antonio, enumeration district (ED) 0017, sheet 11B, p. 264B, dwelling 206, family 228, Myrtle Robbins, age 27, and Julia C. Robbins, age 2, in the household of J.G. Statham; digital images, Ancestry.com, citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 1531.

Sometime over the next decade, Dolores's mother married a second time, to an unknown Norton, but she was divorced by the time mother and daughter showed up in the 1920 census for Kern County, California.1920 U.S. census, Kern County, California, population schedule, McKittrick, enumeration district (ED) 108, sheet 4A, p. 91 (stamped), dwelling 95, family 96, Julia Norton, 12, in household of Myrtle Norton, 36, divorced; digital images, Ancestry.com, citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 100.

Myrtle married a third time in 1922, to Oscar ( Arthur) Carl Birk."California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," digital images, FamilySearch; 5 August 1922, Orange County. Oscar Carl Birk, age 36, born Kansas, single, Oil Worker; father, William Birk, born [illegible]; mother, Mary House or Hanse, born Mo. Myrtle Robbins Norton, age 36, born in Texas, divorced; maiden name, Myrtle Statham; father, John Statham, born in Florida; mother, Annie Starr, born in Miss. The Birk family was living in Long Beach by 1930 and Dolores apparently assumed her stepfather's surname.1930 U.S. census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule, Long Beach, enumeration district (ED) 1131, sheet 9A, p. 29 (stamped), dwelling 218, family 280, J. Delores Birk, 22, in the household of Arthur and Myrtle Birk; digital images, Ancestry.com, citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 130.

Hitchens married, in about 1934, Beverley S. Olsen, a radio operator on a merchant vessel, and their 1940 household included the widowed Myrtle Birk.1940 U.S. census, Los Angeles County, population schedule, Long Beach, enumeration district (ED) 59-137, sheet 11B, p. 1014B, visited no. 316, Myrtle Birk, Mother-in-law, in the household of Beverley S. and Dolores B. Olsen; digital images, Ancestry.com, citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 370. In this census, Dolores was identified as a writer who worked from home.

It is not known whether Dolores divorced Olsen or was widowed, but she apparently married Hubert A. Hitchens, a Railroad Police, by the early 1940s, as they had a child together in 1942."California Birth Index, 1905-1995," database, Ancestry.com; father's name Hitchens, mother's name Birk. No further information is provided here as it is not known whether this child is still living.

Dolores died in Orange County, California on August 1, 1973,Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nev.), 8 August 1973, p. 31, col. 3, digital images, Ancestry.com and Hubert died in Riverside County in 1979."California, Death Index, 1940-1997," database, Ancestry.com; Hubert Allen Hitchens, born on 21 June 1897 in Virginia and died on 3 April 1979 in Riverside County.

Publications

As Dolores Hitchens

Jim Sader mysteries Sleep with Strangers (Doubleday: The Crime Club, 1955); U.K. edition, London: Macdonald, 1956 Sleep with Slander (Doubleday CC, 1960); UK: London: T.V. Boardman & Co., 1961, American Bloodhound Mystery no. 345 Simon & Schuster issued trade paperback editions in 1989 (Sleep with Strangers, ; Sleep with Slander, ).

By Dolores and Bert Hitchens F.O.B. Murder (Doubleday CC, 1955); UK: 1957, American Bloodhound no. 154 One-Way Ticket (Doubleday CC, 1956); UK: 1958, American Bloodhound no. 193 End of Line (Doubleday CC, 1957); UK: 1958, American Bloodhound. no. 216 The Man Who Followed Women (Doubleday CC, 1959); UK: 1960, American Bloodhound no. 332 The Grudge (Doubleday, 1963); UK: 1964, American Bloodhound. no. 466

Standalone books Stairway to an Empty Room (Doubleday CC, 1951) Nets to Catch the Wind (Doubleday CC, 1952) — also Widows Won't Wait (NY: Dell Publishing, 1954) Terror Lurks in Darkness (Doubleday CC, 1953) Beat Back the Tide (Doubleday CC, 1954); UK: Macdonald, 1955 — abridged as The Fatal Flirt (NY: Joseph W. Ferman, Bestseller mystery no. 184) Fool's Gold (Doubleday CC, 1958); UK: 1958, American Bloodhound no. 234 The Watcher (Doubleday, 1959); UK: 1959, American Bloodhound. no. 279 Footsteps in the Night (Doubleday CC, 1961); UK: 1961, American Bloodhound no. 366 The Abductor (Simon & Schuster, 1962); UK: 1962, American Bloodhound no. 385 The Bank with the Bamboo Door (Simon & Schuster, 1965); UK: 1965, American Bloodhound no. 504 The Man Who Cried All the Way Home (Simon & Schuster, 1966); UK: London: Robert Hale, 1967 Postscript to Nightmare (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1967) ; UK title, Cabin of Fear (Michael Joseph, 1968) A Collection of Strangers (Putnam, 1969) ; UK title, Collection of Strangers (Macdonald, 1970) The Baxter Letters (Putnam, 1971) ; UK: Hale, 1973 In a House Unknown (Doubleday CC, 1973) ; UK: Hale, 1974

Plays A Cookie for Henry: one-act play for six women (NY: Samuel French, 1941), as Dolores Birk Hitchens

As D. B. Olsen Rachel Murdock mysteries Cat Saw Murder (Doubleday, 1939) Alarm of Black Cat (Doubleday, 1942) Catspaw for Murder (Doubleday, 1943); aka Cat's Claw The Cat Wears a Noose (Doubleday, 1944) Cats Don't Smile (Doubleday, 1945) Cats Don't Need Coffins (Doubleday, 1946) Cats Have Tall Shadows (Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1948) The Cat Wears a Mask (Doubleday, 1949) Death Wears Cat's Eyes (Doubleday, 1950) Cat and Capricorn (Doubleday, 1951) The Cat Walk (Doubleday, 1953) Death Walks on Cat Feet (Doubleday, 1956)

Prof. A. Pennyfeather mysteries Shroud for the Bride (Doubleday, 1945); aka Bring the Bride a Shroud Gallows for the Groom (Doubleday, 1947) Devious Design (Doubleday, 1948) Something About Midnight (Doubleday, 1950) Love Me in Death (Doubleday, 1951) Enrollment Cancelled (Doubleday, 1952); aka Dead Babes in the Wood

Lt. Stephen Mayhew mysteries The Clue in the Clay (New York: Phoenix Press, 1938) – her first book published under any name; also NY: Bartholomew House, 1946, A Bart House Mystery no. 35, ASIN B000HU0N64 Death Cuts a Silhouette (Doubleday, 1939) The Ticking Heart (Doubleday, 1940)

As Dolan Birkley Blue Geranium (Bartholomew House, 1944) The Unloved (Doubleday, 1965)

As Noel Burke Shivering Bough (E. P. Dutton, 1942)

Notes

References

External links Hitchens bibliographical data at Fantastic Fiction D. B. Olsen at Fantastic Fiction

(1938–1962) (1965) (cites 1944 publication)