During the Golden Age of detective fiction Marian Gallagher Scott (1892-1943) wrote scores of pulp crime stories and five well-received detective novels. Leaving her job as a typist in Topeka, Kansas, Scott took up acting as a circuit Chautauqua performer, appearing with her husband, Earl, on stages across small-town America. In the late 1920s the couple retired from acting and turned to crime fiction as their occupation. With the flair of a natural entertainer Marian Scott in her mystery novels offers readers exciting stories with interesting characters and intriguing puzzles. Murder mars a small-town New England wedding in the highly-praised Tall Man Walking (1936). Sophisticated psychiatrist Kenneth Borden investigates as the bodies pile up and a lack of material clues stymies the police. A peddler's murder upsets the peaceful environs of Alder Valley, as shameful secrets come to light in The Attic Room (1942). (A Courtney Brade mystery.)