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Margaret Millar started her brilliant writing career with novels featuring two very different detectives: the psychologist Dr. Paul Prye and Inspector Sands of Toronto’s police department.
The two couldn’t be more different. Dr. Paul Prye is a hero of the Oscar Wildean line whose psychological insight into human nature is rivaled only by his biting sarcasm and penchant for quoting poetry at inappropriate times. The stern Inspector Sands, on the other hand, is as dry and affectless as he is dogged and intelligent.
PSYCHOLOGIST PAUL PRYE
The Invisible Worm (1941)
Margaret Millar’s debut novel introduces psychiatrist Dr. Paul Prye, a cynical man of reason with a penchant for quoting William Blake and making enemies. When Prye finds himself first the suspect in a murder case and then the target of a murderer, he quickly sets his powerful mind to the task of solving the case.
The Weak-Eyed Bat (1942)
The poetry-quoting psychologist Paul Prye finds his lakeside vacation to Muskoka, Ontario, interrupted by nosey locals, and vacation only becomes less relaxing when the free-spirited teenage daughter of a local classics professor disappears.
The Devil Loves Me (1942)
Psychologist-detective Paul Prye is getting married—or at least he would be if one of the bridesmaids didn't collapse in the middle of the ceremony. It's a case of poison—Prye knows because when he goes to look for the ring he find instead a note left by the would-be murderer.
INSPECTOR SANDS
Wall of Eyes (1943)
Millar’s thoroughly stoic hero Toronto detective Inspector Sands uncovers a conspiracy while investigating a years-old car accident after the blind survivor claims that someone is trying to kill her.
The Iron Gates (1945)
Fifteen years ago, Toronto’s Inspector Sands arrived at the Morrow family mansion as a rookie cop assisting in the investigation of the never-to-be-solved murder of Mrs. Morrow. Now the second Mrs. Morrow, Lucille, has gone missing. Sands sets himself to unravel not only the disappearance but the cold case murder as well.
