Mavis Doriel Hay (1894–1979), also known as M. Doriel Hay, was a British author of detective fiction and of non-fiction works on handicrafts.

Life

Hay was born in

Potters Bar Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882. In 2022 the population was ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 12 or 13 February 1894 and attended St Hilda's College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

from 1913 to 1916. Throughout her life, she was interested in the industries and handicrafts of rural Britain. In the late 1920s, she collaborated with Helen Elizabeth Fitzrandolph on a series of works, sponsored by the Agricultural Economics Research Institute of Oxford University, surveying the rural industries of England and Wales. Later in life, under her married name, Mavis Fitzrandolph, she published several works on crafts, particularly

quilting Quilting is the term given to the process of joining a minimum of three layers of fabric together either through stitching manually using a needle and thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialised longarm quilting system. A ...

. In the mid-1930s, during the Golden Age of British detective fiction, Hay published three

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

novels, ''Murder Underground'', ''Death on the Cherwell'', and ''The Santa Klaus Murder''. ''Murder Underground'' received a positive review in the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' from

Dorothy Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

, who opined that " is detective novel is much more than interesting. The numerous characters are well differentiated, and include one of the most feckless, exasperating and lifelike literary men that ever confused a trail."Quoted in Carol Westron: Writing Blog, "Mavis Doriel Hay", http://carolwestron.blogspot.com/2015/08/mavis-doriel-hay.html (2015). Hay's second novel, ''Death on the Cherwell'', appeared in the same year as Sayers' ''

Gaudy Night ''Gaudy Night'' (1935) is a mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the tenth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, and the third including Harriet Vane. The dons of Harriet Vane's '' alma mater'', the all-female Shrewsbury College, Oxford (based on S ...

'' and, like ''Gaudy Night'', was set in a women's college at Oxford. The three novels were reprinted in 2013-14 in the "British Library Crime Classics" series. Hay married Archibald Menzies Fitzrandolph, the brother of her collaborator in the rural industries survey, in 1929. He was killed in a flying accident during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Hay continued to reside in Box,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

until her death on 26 August 1979, at the age of 85.

Selected bibliography

Mysteries

*''Murder Underground'' (1934–35) *''Death on the Cherwell'' (1935) *''The Santa Klaus Murder'' (1936)

Non-fiction

*''Rural Industries of England and Wales'' (with Helen Elizabeth Fitzrandolph) (1929) *''30 Crafts'' (as Mavis Fitzrandolph) (1950) *''Landsman Hay: The Memoirs of Robert Hay, 1789-1847'' (editor) (1953) *''Traditional Quilting: Its Story and Practice'' (as Mavis Fitzrandolph) (1954) *''Quilting'' (as Mavis Fitzrandolph) (1972)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay, Mavis Doriel 1894 births 1971 deaths Alumni of the University of Oxford British women novelists 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British women writers People from Potters Bar