Helen McCloy
Helen McCloy (1904-1994) was an influential American writer known for her contributions to detective fiction. Born in New York City, she was the daughter of a writer and a newspaperman. McCloy had a diverse educational background, studying at the Sorbonne and working in various journalism roles, including as an art critic and a London correspondent for The New York Times. Her literary career began with the publication of her first detective novel, *Dance of Death*, in 1938, which introduced her notable series detective, Dr. Basil Willing, a psychiatrist known for solving intricate crimes.
McCloy's works often encompassed themes of psychology and science, exploring topics such as the subconscious mind and societal issues like fascism. She was also a pioneer in the mystery genre, becoming the first female president of the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) in 1950. Over her career, she received several accolades, including the Edgar Award and the MWA Grand Master title. In addition to her series work, she published standalone novels and contributed to the field of crime writing through her criticism and mentorship. McCloy's legacy continues, as evidenced by the Helen McCloy/MWA Scholarship for Mystery Writing, celebrating her impact on the genre.
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Helen McCloy
Writer
- Born: June 6, 1904
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: December 8, 1994
- Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts
Biography
Born June 6, 1904, in New York City, Helen McCloy was the daughter of Helen Worrell McCloy, a writer, and William McCloy, a newspaperman who became managing editor of the New York Evening Sun. As a girl, McCloy attended a Society of Friends School, part of the Quaker community in Brooklyn. In 1923 and 1924, she studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, remaining in Europe until 1932. From 1927 to 1932, she worked for Hearst’s Universal News Service. She served as art critic for International Studio, wrote for the London Morning Post and Parnassus, and was London correspondent for the fine arts section of The New York Times’s Sunday edition.
In 1946, she married Davis Dresser, who, under the pseudonym Brett Halliday, was well known for his Mike Shayne crime novels. Together, they founded the Torquil Publishing Company, and the Halliday and McCloy literary agency. They had one daughter, Chloe McCloy Dresser, before they divorced in 1961.
McCloy published her first detective novel, Dance of Death (British title, Design for Dying) in 1938. In it, she introduced her series detective, Dr. Basil Willing, a psychiatrist. In the early fiction, Willing is adviser to a New York district attorney, but many later stories take place in Boston, where Willing, a widower, moves to be with his college student daughter, Gisela. McCloy wrote detective fiction in the tradition of Golden Age authors such as John Dickson Carr and Dorothy Sayers, and some of her fiction, like theirs, deals with codes and with murders that take place in supposedly locked rooms. However, her subject matter ranged further than did many earlier mystery writers.
Willing’s detailed knowledge of science and his understanding of the subconscious mind allow him to solve crimes committed in many contexts. In Cue for Murder (1942), the crime takes place onstage during a Broadway production; in The One That Got Away (1945), McCloy analyzed the psychology underlying fascism. Elsewhere, she explored the theme of the psychological double or doppelgänger. H. R. F. Keating, mystery writer and critic, cited one such novel, Mr. Splitfoot (1968), as among the hundred best crime and mystery novels ever published. The ten Dr. Willing short stories were collected for the first time in The Pleasant Assassin, and Other Cases of Dr. Basil Willing (2003). In these stories, McCloy’s material includes student drug use, the apparent mass hallucination that produces the illusion of flying diamonds, murder committed by a deadly biological organism, and a criminal so inept as to elicit sympathy. McCloy also published a number of nonseries crime novels, beginning with Panic (1944), noted for its singularly complicated cryptogram.
In 1945, she was active in the founding of the Mystery Writers of America (MWA), and in 1950, became its first woman president. She helped found a New England chapter of MWA in 1971. The MWA awarded her an Edgar in 1954 for criticism she wrote for a number of Connecticut newspapers. She was named an MWA Grand Master in 1990. The MWA continues to sponsor the Helen McCloy/MWA Scholarship for Mystery Writing. She died in 1994.