Collected Millar: The First Detectives: The Invisible Worm; The Weak-Eyed Bat; The Devil Loves Me; Wall of Eyes; The Iron Gates

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.

Margaret Millar (1915-1994) was the author of 27 books and a masterful pioneer of psychological mysteries and thrillers. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she spent most of her life in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband Ken Millar, better known under the nom de plume of Ross MacDonald. Her 1956 novel Beast in View won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In 1965 Millar was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year Award and in 1983 the Mystery Writers of America awarded her the Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement. Millar’s cutting wit and superb plotting have left her an enduring legacy as one of the most important crime writers of both her own and subsequent generations.