Currently, editors of different genres are doing important work to save classic crime novels and authors. This is not just a reprint of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel Sherlock Holmes; From Brown, Chesterton’s Father; Agatha Christie’s hero Hercule Poirot; Edgar Allan Poe’s creature, Auguste Dupin; from the ever-young Arsenio Lupin, Maurice Leblanc or George Simenon’s eternal commissar Maigret. In reality, we’re talking about lesser-known heroes of today’s crime fiction, such as SS Van Dine’s Detective Philo Vance, Josephine Tey’s Scotland Yard investigator Alan Grant (who we’ve already mentioned in these pages) and the psychiatrist-turned-Detective Basil. Willing was created by Helen McCloy, with whom she wrote thirteen novels. Some critics mention only twelve, as they ignore the 1980 novel Burn This, which has a light plot that does not refer to psychology, as is customary in his texts, and is in the vein of concluding a procedural.
It all started for Helen McCloy in 1923 when she went to study at the Sorbonne in Paris. After completing her education, she worked at William Randolph Hearst’s Universal News Service. He later became an art critic for International Studio and other magazines and a contributor to the London Morning Post. She returned to the United States in 1932 and wrote columns for Connecticut newspapers, and in 1950 she became the first female president of the Mystery Writers of America. For his criticism, he received the Edgar Award from the same organization in 1954.
McCloy had read the Sherlock Holmes stories as a young man and began writing the saga of psychiatrist Basil Willing in the 1930s. The most prominent of these was his eighth book, Through a Glass, Darkness, first published in Spain by Hoja de Lata with the title A veiled reflection in glass. In the plot, the author returned to the phenomenon of doppelgangers in the figure of teacher Faustina Crayle, who is fired in the middle of the lesson and supported only by her colleague Gisela, who notices the anxiety that her friend causes in others. Being able to reveal your personality and appear in two places at the same time scares everyone. That’s why Gisela meets with her fiancé, Dr. He tells Basil Willing about this strange incident.
The first novel in the epic was The Dance of Death (1938), now published as Under the Snow, and begins with the discovery of a body buried under snow on a Manhattan street. It was determined that the body belonged to a girl who made a notch on coated paper from a magazine photo. But the young woman was at a party the night she died, so logically it couldn’t be her, no matter how similar she is. The situation changes when a young woman who looks very similar to the deceased wants to talk to the prosecutor. He wants to report the disappearance of his cousin Kitty. So he tells a strange story: Kitty felt bad before the presentation party and suggested that he take her place. In this way, McCloy explores identity theft, whether forced or voluntary, which also features in other novels of the time, such as Anthony Gilbert’s The Woman in the Red Dress or Josephine Tey’s Brat Farrar.
The murder investigation will be conducted in two directions: a classic investigation led by Inspector Foyle (evidence, alibis…); the second is the subject of the novel of that time, analysis of the psychological interpretation of the behavior of suspects, psychiatrist Bill Willing. Over the years, some of this character’s words have become famous: “Every criminal leaves his own psychic fingerprints.” […]. And you can’t wear gloves to hide them. If anyone is wondering whether this was actually said by Willing, we should let them know that it is true and can be found on page 27 of Under the Snow.