Recommended reading - The So Blue Marble, by Dorothy B. Hughes (1940):

The So Blue Marble

By Dorothy B. Hughes.

Introduction by Otto Penzler.

Published by American Mystery Classics.

First published 1940.

ISBN-10: 1613161050

ISBN-13: 9781613161050

Description:

The debut by one of the great American suspense writers will suck you in even as it makes you keep asking, "Did I just read that?" – Kirkus.

Nonstop action, with menace and daring exploits bursting through the smooth veneer of upper-class life.. Readers new to this forgotten classic are in for a treat. – Publishers Weekly.

You will have to read [The So Blue Marble] for yourself, and if you wake up in the night screaming with terror, don’t say we didn’t warn you. – The New York Times Book Review.

Extraordinary . . . [Hughes’s] brilliant descriptive powers make and unmake reality. – The New Yorker.

The society pages announce it before she even arrives: Griselda Satterlee, daughter of the princess of Rome, has left her career as an actress behind and is traveling to Manhattan to reinvent herself as a fashion designer. They also announce the return of the dashing Montefierrow twins to New York after a twelve-year sojourn in Europe. But there is more to this story than what’s reported, which becomes clear when the three meet one evening during a walk, and their polite conversation quickly takes a menacing turn. The twins are seeking a rare and powerful gem and they believe it’s stashed in the unused apartment where Griselda is staying. Baffled by the request, she pushes them away, but they won’t take no for an answer. When they return, accompanied by Griselda’s long-estranged younger sister, the murders begin...

Drenched in the glamour and luxury of the New York elite, The So Blue Marble is a perfectly Art Deco suspense novel in which nothing is quite as it seems. While different in style from her later books, Dorothy B. Hughes’s debut highlights her greatest strengths as an author, rendered with both the poetic language and the psychology of fear for which she is known today.

Margaret Atwood, on reading:

I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most.

– Margaret Atwood.

On this day in movie history - Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025):

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

documentary directed by Laurent Bouzereau,

based on the novel by Peter Benchley,

released in the United States on July 10, 2025.

Music by Blake Neely.

Cast:

Emily Blunt, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Jordan Peele, J.J. Abrams, Steven Soderbergh, James Cameron, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Cameron Crowe, John Williams, Lorraine Gary, Greg Nicotero, Jeffrey Voorhees, Jeffrey Kramer, Ian Shaw, Carl Gottlieb, Jonathan Filley, Joe Alves, Wendy Benchley, Tracy Benchley Turner.

On this day in movie history - The Drowning Pool (1975 movie & novel):

The Drowning Pool

directed by Stuart Rosenberg,

written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, Lorenzo Semple Jr. and Walter Hill,

based on the novel by Ross Macdonald,

was released in the United States on July 10, 1975.
Music by Michael Small.

Cast:

Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Richard Derr, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Gail Strickland, Melanie Griffith, Linda Haynes, Andre Trottier, Richard Jaeckel, Paul Koslo, Joe Canutt, Andrew Robinson, Coral Browne, Helena Kallianiotes.

Recommended reading:

The Drowning Pool

By Ross Macdonald.

Crime fiction.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0679768068

ISBN-13: 978-0679768067

Published 1950.

Description:

When a millionaire matriarch is found floating face-down in the family pool, the prime suspects are her good-for-nothing son and his seductive teenage daughter. In The Drowning Pool, Lew Archer takes this case in the L.A. suburbs and encounters a moral wasteland of corporate greed and family hatred – and sufficient motive for a dozen murders.

Born on this day – Kelley Mack:

Kelley Mack

Actress

Producer

Writer

July 10, 1992 – August 2, 2025

Credits:

9-1-1 (2019); A Knock at the Door (2016); Annie & Peter (2018); Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021); Chicago Med (2022); Coventry (2018); Delicate Arch (2024); Eclipse (2025); EverReady (2016); Exposure (2017); Grayson: Earth One (2015); Long Distance Trip (2018); Lulu (2021); Maximum Ride (2016); Monday Morning Critic Podcast (2019); Mr. Manhattan (2024); My Own Silence (2024); Nasty Habits (2017); Not Your Average Joe (2016); Positive (2015); Profile (2018); Safe and Sound (2015); Schooled (2020); Shot in the Dark (2021); Simón (2018); Slices of Life VR (2017); Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018); Stage 5 (2017); Star Wars Speed Dating: Behind the Scenes (2013); The AM Archives (2019); The College Tapes (2020); The Elephant Garden (2008); The Kingdom (2014); The Lost (2016); The Perfect One (2016); The Treehouse (2012); The Ultimate Gift (2006); The Walking Dead (2018–2019); Universal (2025); Unscrewed (2016); Unusual Suspects (2015); Vincent (2019); Violet (2019); Wheels on the Bus (2016).

Born on this day – Rebekah Del Rio:

Rebekah Del Rio

Singer

Songwriter

Composer

Actress

July 10, 1967 – June 23, 2025

Credits:

Songs:

11:11 One One One One; A Long Goodbye; Adios; All My Life; Before We Say Goodbye; Betty Blue; Crying; Damned; Delicious Mistake; Dindi; El Amor; En mi Cielo; Fragilidad; Hallelujah; I Just Want You to Be Loved; Lean On; Llorando; Los bilbilicos; Love Hurts, Love Heals; No Stars; Siempre y por siempre; Superstar; Temporary; The Star Spangled Banner; Tus ojos tristes.

Movies and television:

2307: Winter's Dream (2016); Before We Say Goodbye (2010); Black Tie Nights (2004); David Lynch's Festival of Disruption (2018); Death Wish: The Face of Death (1994); Mia Sarah (2006); Mulholland Drive (2001); On Any Saturday (2006); Prison Break (2008); Quattro Noza (2003); Rabbits (2002); Sin City (2005); Southland Tales (2006); The Music of David Lynch Benefit Concert (2015); This Teacher (2018); Twin Peaks (2017).

Born on this day – Sue Lyon:

Sue Lyon

Actress

July 10, 1946 – December 26, 2019

Credits:

100 Years at the Movies (1994); 7 Women (1965); Allen Ludden's Gallery (1969); Alligator (1980); Arsenic and Old Lace (1969); But I Don't Want to Get Married! (1970); Century of Cinema (1995); Charlie Rose (1999); Cinéma cinémas (1987); Corazón de... (2006); Crash! (1976); Dennis the Menace (1960); Don't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready (1971); End of the World (1977); Evel Knievel (1971); Fantasy Island (1978); Four Rode Out (1969); Game of Murder (1973); Hollywood and the Stars (1964); Hollywood: The Great Stars (1963); Inside Edition (2015); It's Your Bet (1972); James Mason: The Star They Loved to Hate (1984); John Huston: The Man, the Movies, the Maverick (1988); Kubrick by Kubrick (2020); Kubrick Remembered (2014); Lolita (1962); Lolita, méprise sur un fantasme (2021); Love, American Style / Segments: Love and the Extra Job; Love and the Bed (1969–1974); Mantrap (1971); Men at Law (1970); Murder in a Blue World (1973); Night Gallery / Segment: Miss Lovecraft Sent Me (1971); On the Trail of the Iguana (1964); Police Story (1978); Room 237 (2012); Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (2003); Showbiz Kids (2020); Smash-Up on Interstate 5 (1976); TCM Remembers 2020 (2020); The 20th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1963); The 35th Annual Academy Awards (1963); The 38th Annual Academy Awards (1966); The Astral Factor (1978); The Bob Hope Show (1971); The Dennis Wholey Show (1969); The Flim-Flam Man (1967); The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1969); The Irv Kupcinet Show (1971); The Joey Bishop Show (1967); The Loretta Young Show (1959); The Match Game (1969); The Mike Douglas Show (1969–1974); The Night of the Iguana (1964); The Sig Sakowicz Show (1971); The Virginia Graham Show (1970); The Virginian (1970); Tomorrow Coast to Coast (1973); Tony Rome (1967); Towing (1978); What's My Line? (1964).