Helen Holly Roth-Franta^[1] (born March 30, 1916) was an American writer who authored novels and short stories in the genres of spy fiction and detective fiction. She also published works under the pseudonyms P.J. Merrill and K.G. Ballard. Roth published twelve novels in her lifetime and many short stories, one of which was nominated for an Edgar Award.

In 1964, Roth disappeared off the coast of Morocco while sailing on a ketch with her husband and is presumed deceased.

Holly Roth was born Helen Marjorie Roth in Chicago, Illinois, on March 30, 1916, to Benjamin Roemer Roth and Frances Ethel Ballard Roth.^[2][3][4] Her parents were traveling at the time, and stopped in Chicago for her birth.^[5]

Roth was raised in the United States and Europe, primarily between Brooklyn and London, on account of her father's business.^[6] She attended a variety of schools in both locations,^[5] and was also educated by private tutors.^[6] Despite the constant travel, she regarded herself as a New Yorker^[6] and graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn.^[1] Roth attended many colleges before earning a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.).^[6] Her first husband died in a train accident.^[1]

Roth began her career working as a fashion model before shifting to writing, working as a writer and editor for newspapers and magazines.^[4][6] She contributed to publications such as Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, The American Journal of Surgery and the New York Post.^[7]

Roth debuted as an author with two novels serialized in periodicals.^[4] Her debut novel, The Content Assignment (1954), was first serialized in condensed form under the title The Girl Who Vanished in the May 16 and May 23, 1953, issues of The Saturday Evening Post.^[8][9][10] Her third novel, The Sleeper (1955), was first serialized in condensed form under the title Rendezvous with a Traitor in the June 25 and July 9, 1954, issues of Collier's.^[11][12][13] Roth began writing detective fiction in 1957 with a series of two novels following Detective Inspector Richard Medford: Shadow of a Lady (1957) and Too Many Doctors (1962); the latter novel is set on a ship off the European coast and centers on a young woman who falls overboard and loses her memory. In 1959, she published The Slender Thread under the pseudonym P.J. Merrill. Under the pseudonym K.G. Ballard, she published four detective novels, including Trial by Desire (1960).^[14][4][1] Roth served as secretary of Mystery Writers of America in the 1950s.^[15]

Roth's short story, "Who Walks Behind" (EQMM, September 1965), was nominated for the 1966 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story.^[16][17]

Roth's fiction was reviewed in many publications during her lifetime, but her work is largely considered to be critically overlooked.^[4]

Her works were assessed many times in Kirkus Reviews, where The Content Assignment was evaluated as a "catchy lead off to a good lead on."^[18] Kirkus praised Roth's "suspense and susceptibility" in their review of The Slender Thread (1959).^[19] Kirkus also praised Roth's "smooth handling of more complicated than believable liens and loyalties" in Bar Sinister (1960).^[20] Roth's final story, "The Game's the Thing" (1966), was called "a psychological startler that bears a remarkable resemblance to Dr. Berne's interpretations."^[21]

In 2011, writing for The Independent, author Christopher Fowler wrote that "if the plots seem far-fetched, her ability to turn up the tension is unquestionable."^[4]

Safi

Location of Safi in Morocco.

In 1960, Roth married Josef Franta, a Czechoslovak national who traveled on a Swiss passport. According to her brother Frank, Holly had met Franta in Geneva, where he was working with the International Labour Organization (ILO). The same year, Franta purchased a 49-foot wooden ketch named the Visa for $8,500. It was built in 1912 in Norway and weighed 25 tons. He later put the vessel into Roth's name, and Roth spent $20,000 on renovations. Frank reports that, while Roth had been living in Paris and Majorca for several years, she lived aboard Visa with her husband during the last year of her life. Frank last saw his sister in 1960, just before the marriage.^[1][22]

In a letter to Frank dated March 30, 1964, Roth wrote that Franta was having difficulty entering the United States, claiming that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was keeping a lengthy blackmail file on him.^[1][22]

On October 8, 1964, Roth and Franta departed Gibraltar aboard Visa for the Canary Islands. Two days later, Visa ran into a storm at sea. On October 11, Roth disappeared. Franta claimed they were twenty miles north of Safi when, at approximately 4 a.m., a force suddenly shook the boat while Roth was above deck and Franta below, knocking him against the wall. Making his way above deck, Franta saw a 145-foot-long ship sailing away from Visa. He believed he saw a body wearing a life jacket in the water and called out for Roth, receiving no answer. He steered Visa toward the area and threw out a buoy, but the line fouled the propeller. Franta twice tied a line to himself and went into the water to retrieve Roth, but was unsuccessful in both attempts.^[1][22]

Returning to Visa, he fired flares and a gun to attract fishing boats he had seen earlier. He then used the radio and made contact with Radio Safi. Around noon, a Spanish fishing trawler called the Santa Africana hove to, put two men aboard Visa and took her in tow to Safi. Several fishing craft and a Spanish coastal freighter searched the area for where Roth was presumed to have gone overboard. Frank received a copy of Franta's statement along with a "Presumptive Report of the Death of an American Citizen", dated October 15 and signed by Robert G. Adam, the American vice consul in Casablanca. The report lists Roth's cause of death as "accidental, presumed lost at sea and drowned."^[1][22]

On November 23, 1964, a source at the U.S. State Department stated that the investigation into Roth's disappearance had not been closed.^[1] On November 25, the Associated Press (AP) reported that Moroccan police had listed her death as accidental and that the inquiry was officially closed. Authorities permitted Franta to leave Morocco at any time, but he stayed in Safi trying to sell Visa.^[22] According to Franta, an underwriter estimated the damage to Visa at $5,600.^[1] Roth's body has never been found.^[22]

Julian Muller of the publishing company Harcourt, Brace & World, a friend of Roth who had been given power of attorney, described Roth as "tall, attractive, a rare person, kindly, imaginative and much beloved by everybody she knew. She had a great love of literature and letters and her speech and writing reflected it. She was a person of broad interests and highly articulate."^[1]

Roth's short novel, The Girl Who Saw Too Much (August 1956, The American), was adapted for television by Robert J. Shaw and broadcast on the August 29, 1956, episode of Kraft Television Theatre, starring Betsy Palmer.^[23]

A story by Roth was adapted by Jerry Sohl as an episode of General Electric Theater. The episode, titled "So Deadly, So Evil", was broadcast on March 13, 1960. The cast included Ronald Reagan and Peggy Lee.^[24]

The Sleeper was adapted by Charles Sinclair as an episode of 77 Sunset Strip. The episode, titled "Genesis of Treason", was broadcast on April 29, 1960.^[25]

Her work also appeared on Moment of Fear.^[1]

At the time of her death, two of Roth's works had been purchased to be adapted into film, but neither were produced.^[1]

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea