Doris Miles Disney (December 22, 1907 – March 9, 1976)
was an American mystery writer. She wrote
47 novels, many of which were best sellers; several were made into feature films or TV movies.
In 14 of her writing years Disney published two novels, and the ''Times'' noted that "Since 1945, one or more of her books has been published each year." Her last novel was published posthumously.
About her novels
Disney's first book (''A Compound for Death'')
[reviewed by the New York Times: ] coincided with her daughter's 1943 birth,
[ and most of Mrs. Disney's main characters were based on acquaintances of herself or her daughter.
Disney had worked in the publicity field and in the insurance business, and three recurring sleuths in her novels were
* postal inspector David Madden
* insurance investigator Jeff DiMarco.][ and
* county detective Jim O'Neill.][
Otherwise, according to her publisher, each novel was "interesting in a somewhat different manner from anything she's tried before."
Disney's '']Family Skeleton
''Family Skeleton'' is an American old-time radio serial drama, "the story of a girl with a dark past and highly uncertain future." It was broadcast on CBS from June 8, 1953, to March 5, 1954.
''Family Skeleton'' focused on Sara Ann Spence and h ...
'' was made into the movie Stella,[ and '']Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate
''Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate'' is a 1971 American made-for-television mystery film directed by Ted Post, starring Myrna Loy, Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, Sylvia Sidney, John Beradino and Vince Edwards, with the screenplay adapted ...
'' was the basis of an American TV film. ''Family Skeleton''/Stella's hero Jeff di Marco included the reuse of Disney's "most famous"[ sleuth for '']Straw Man
A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false o ...
'' in 1951.
Reviews
Her first novel was reviewed by ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'';[ subsequent novels and the films made from them were regularly reviewed.]
Biography
She was born Doris Miles in Glastonbury, Connecticut
Glastonbury ( ) is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is on the banks of the Connecticut River, southeast ...
, and married George J. Disney in 1936. She died in Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg w ...
.
Their daughter Elizabeth Disney Laing, a writer and theatrical actress, was born 1943.
The Disneys' relatives included two of Mrs. Disney's sisters, Elizabeth H. Miles and Mrs. George B. Tolve, and the Disneys had nieces and nephews, some of whom told their aunt of their disliking that she killed off too many women in her stories.[
]
Novels
*''A Compound for Death'' (1943)[
*''Murder on a Tangent'' (1945)
*'' Dark Road'' (1946) (adapted into the 1950 movie '' Fugitive Lady'')
*''Who Rides a Tiger'' (1946)
*''Appointment at Nine'' (1947)
*''Enduring Old Charms'' (1947)
*''Testimony by Silence'' (1948)
*''That Which Is Crooked'' (1948)
*''Count the Ways'' (1949)
*'']Family Skeleton
''Family Skeleton'' is an American old-time radio serial drama, "the story of a girl with a dark past and highly uncertain future." It was broadcast on CBS from June 8, 1953, to March 5, 1954.
''Family Skeleton'' focused on Sara Ann Spence and h ...
'' (1949) (adapted into the 1950 movie Stella)[
*''Fire at Will'' (1950)
*''Look Back on Murder'' (1951)
*'']Straw Man
A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false o ...
'' (1951) (adapted into the 1953 movie '' The Straw Man'')
*''Heavy, Heavy Hangs'' (1952)
*''Do Unto Others'' (1953)
*''Prescription: Murder'' (1953)
*''The Last Straw'' (1954)
*''Trick or Treat'' (1955) (adapted as a 1958 episode of ''Kraft Television Theatre
''Kraft Television Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series running from 1947 to 1958. It began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. It first promoted MacLaren's Imperial Chees ...
'')
*''Room for Murder'' (1955)
*''Unappointed Rounds'' (1956)
*''Method in Madness'' (1957)
*''My Neighbor's Wife'' (1957)
*''Black Mail'' (1958)
*''Did She Fall or Was She Pushed?'' (1959)
*''No Next of Kin'' (1959)
*''Dark Lady'' (1960)
*''Mrs. Meeker's Money'' (1961)
*''Find the Woman'' (1962)
*''Should Auld Acquaintance'' (1962)
*''Here Lies...'' (1963)
*''The Departure of Mr. Gaudette'' (1964)Betrayal
Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. ...
'')
*''Don't Go Into the Woods Today'' (1974)
*''Cry for Help'' (1975)
*''Winifred'' (1976)
References
External links
Bio stub in ''Crime writers''
a categorized list of Disney's 47 books
Biography and brief review of Disney's works
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disney, Doris Miles
1907 births
1976 deaths
20th-century American novelists
American mystery novelists
American women novelists
People from Fredericksburg, Virginia
People from Glastonbury, Connecticut
Novelists from Connecticut
Novelists from Virginia
Women mystery writers
20th-century American women writers