Murder for a Million

WHEN WORLD WAR II THRUST HER INTO A NEW JOB, SHE FOUND IT HAD ALSO THRUST HER INTO DANGER, MYSTERY AND A MILLION DOLLAR RIDDLE!

“Romance-suspense-action, Kelland is exceptional.” –Los Angeles Times

Nancy Youngblood had grown up down the street from Robert Dalhart and known they were right for each since childhood. But Robert just thought of her as a kid sister type. Since World War II had started, Robert fresh out of college had been working as executive assistant to his father who operated the Dalhart Manufacturing Company, an important factory vital to the war effort. Then his father died and Robert was left in charge.

Nancy knew it was her one chance to let Robert discover the love they could share. Since she was heir to 25% of the factory she insisted on becoming Robert's executive assistant, and quickly proved her worth. But Robert was so caught up in his new responsibilities he never noticed Nancy.

That's when sabotage began to stalk the plant, a murdered man who couldn't be identified was found, mysterious shadowy figures began to appear outside her windows at night, and rumors of Nazi activity began to circulate. None of those scared Nancy – but what did scare her was the feeling that Robert Dalhart was being framed for the murder or about to become murder's next victim.

Suddenly Nancy realized that when she had taken on her new job at Dalhart Manufacturing she had also taken on danger, mystery and a million dollar riddle.

Another masterpiece of romantic suspense, written by Clarence Budington Kelland to fulfill the government's request for inspiring stories that showed with the men drafted and gone to war, women could capably take up their jobs and prove equally strong in facing daunting situations.

So successful in portraying life from the 1940s woman's pov (his heroines were always based on his feminist, businesswoman mother), it was published in Woman's Home Companion, Murder for a Million is filled with his signature oddball characters and offbeat dialogue. Among the memorable people readers will meet are:

Miss Hattie and Miss Nellie, twin sisters who were inseparable – until they suddenly started appearing in town one at a time.

Whitelaw Bowen, a man who didn't believe in rules or laws – but genuinely fell in love with Nancy.

Mrs. Knowland and Mrs. Hickman, two nosy neighbors who sat out on the porch all day and never missed a thing that happened (or didn't happen) – they were never left out of the loop on the local gossip because they were always its source.

Rosalind Cheney, the term "dangerous curves" was made for this golden haired New York nightclub siren, who thought she was sitting on top of the world – until she found she was in over her head on murder.

Manton Turner, a long-lost brother who turned out to be a cheap gunman who thought he could terrify any woman with a revolver – till Nancy turned the tables on him.

Detective Clovis, he wished Nancy would stay out of the case – but he never turned down any of the clues she brought him.

Willard Lestrange, this highly-respected businessman wanted to buy the Dalhart Manufacturing Company – did that have anything to do with the labor trouble or sabotage the plant was experiencing or was it the work of Nazi Fifth Columnists?

"When a very serious author turns his hand to murder thrillers, and particularly to as blithe and vivid a heroine as Nancy Youngblood, one must really acknowledge his mastery of the craft. Nancy, a brilliant young woman, being of an investigating disposition, gets herself involved in a complicated mystery of murder and high finance; and only after much trial and tribulation does she land the man of her choice, who had been singled out for many of the most outrageous slings of ill-fortune. A murder mystery far above the average, where the technique of the plot and the quality of the writing are concerned." -The World's Work

FIRST U.S. BOOK PUBLICATION

Clarence Budington Kelland was author of nearly 100 novels of mystery and romantic suspense, had enough careers for several men: attorney, reporter, manufacturer of clothespins, director of a major newspaper group, and more. Kelland became best known as a fiction writer, penning some 100 novels, and selling them as serials to the biggest and highest paying magazines of the time—like the Saturday Evening Post, The American Magazine, Colliers, and Cosmopolitan. Many were immortalized on film, of which the romantic suspense comedy and Oscar-winner, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, is undoubtedly the most famous. Kelland appeared alongside Agatha Christie, Rex Stout and Erle Stanley Gardner in the same magazines, but was the most popular of the four. The New York Times described Kelland’s novels as “lively stories, designed to prick the jaded palate, that keep readers pleasantly entertained” and noted that “Kelland demonstrates the emotions of his lovers with a psychological penetration.” Kirkus Reviews called his novels “Bright and breezy, with plus appeal for murder-mystery addicts.” His magazine publishers kept besieging him for more novels because every time they serialized one of them (typically in 6-8 installments), circulation shot upward. Kelland obliged, and produced far more each year than his publisher (Harper and Row) could keep up with, leaving more than three dozen unpublished in book form when he died. His inimitable characters, trademark dialogue and deftly plotted stories, according to Harper, “made him an American tradition and won him more loyal, devoted readers than almost any other living author.” Kelland, as ever self-depreciating, simply described himself as “the best second-rate writer in the world.” His legions of fans, old and new, would likely disagree. There was nothing second-rate about his work.