Craig Rice (19081957), born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, was an American author of mystery novels, short stories, and screenplays. In 1946, she became the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time magazine. Best known for her character John J. Malone, a rumpled Chicago lawyer, Rices writing style was unique in its ability to mix gritty, hard-boiled writing with the entertainment of a screwball comedy. She also collaborated with mystery writer Stuart Palmer on screenplays and short stories, and ghost-wrote several titles published under the byline of actor George Sanders.

The children of a mystery writer play amateur sleuths and matchmakers.

Unoccupied and unsupervised while mother is working, the children of widowed crime writer Marion Carstairs find diversion wherever they can. So when the kids hear gunshots at the house next door, they jump at the chance to launch their own amateur investigation - and after all, why shouldnt they? They know everything the cops do about crime scenes, having read about them in mothers novels. They know what her literary detectives would do in such a situation, how they would interpret the clues and handle witnesses. Plus, if the children solve the puzzle before the cops, it will do wonders for the sales of mothers novels. But this crime scene isnt a game at all; the murder is real, and when its details prove more twisted than anything in mothers fiction, theyll have to enlist Marions help to sort them out. Or is that just part of their plan to hook her up with the lead detective on the case?
The basis for the 1946 film with the same name, Home Sweet Homicide is the novel that launched Craig Rice to literary fame. The book, a comedic crime story that pokes fun at the conventions of the genre, finds the Dorothy Parker of detective fiction at her most entertaining.