Editing Patricia Highsmith (section)

== Established writer ==
Highsmith returned to New York in October 1949 and began writing ''The Price of Salt'', a novel about a lesbian relationship. ''Strangers on a Train'' was published in March 1950 and received favorable reviews in ''The'' ''New Yorker'', ''New York Herald Tribune'' and ''New York Times.''  The novel was shortlisted for the Edgar Allan Poe Prize and Alfred Hitchcock secured the film rights for $6,000. Sales increased after the release of the film.<ref name="Bradford2021" />{{Rp|pages=59–60, 84–85}}

In February 1951, she left for Europe for the publication of the novel in England and France. She stayed for two years, traveling and working on an unfinished novel, "The Traffic of Jacob's Ladder," which is now lost.<ref name="Wilson2003" />{{Rp|pages=168–170, 173–183}} She wrote Skattebol, "I can imagine living mostly in Europe the rest of my life."<ref name="Schenkar2009" />{{Rp|page=149}}[[File:I Patricia Highsmith House, NYC, NY.jpg|thumb|170px|345 E. 57th Street, NYC – Residence of Patricia Highsmith]]

Highsmith was back in New York in May 1953. ''The Price of Salt'' had been published in hardback under a pseudonym the previous May, and sold well in paperback in 1953. It was praised in the ''New York Times Book Review'' for "sincerity and good taste" but the reviewer found the characters underdeveloped. The novel made Highsmith a respected figure in the New York lesbian community, but as she did not publicly acknowledge authorship, it did not further her literary reputation.<ref name="Wilson2003" />{{Rp|page=172}}<ref name="Bradford2021" />{{Rp|page=128}}

In September 1953, Highsmith traveled to Fort Worth where she completed a fair copy of ''The Blunderer'' which was published the following year. In 1954 she worked on a new novel, ''The Talented Mr. Ripley,'' about a young American who kills a rich compatriot in Italy and assumes his identity. She completed the novel in six months in [[Lenox, Massachusetts|Lenox]], [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], and Mexico.<ref name="Wilson2003" />{{Rp|pages=189–194, 197–198}}

''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' was published in December 1955 to favorable reviews in the ''New York Times Book Review'' and ''The New Yorker'', their critics praising Highsmith's convincing portrait of a psychopath.<ref name="Schenkar2009" />{{Rp|page=351}}<ref name="Bradford2021" />{{Rp|page=118}} The novel went on to win the Edgar Allan Poe Scroll of the Mystery Writers of America.<ref name="Wilson2003" />{{Rp|pages=198–199}}Highsmith biographer Richard Bradford states that the novel "forged the basis for her long term reputation as a writer."<ref name="Bradford2021" />{{Rp|page=110}}

Highsmith moved to the affluent hamlet of [[Palisades, New York|Palisades]], New York State, in 1956 and lived there for over two years. In March 1957, her story "A Perfect Alibi" was published in ''[[Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine]],'' beginning a long-term association with the publication.<ref name="Wilson2003" />{{Rp|page=206}}She also completed two further novels, ''Deep Water'' (published in 1957) and ''A Game for the Living'' (1958), and a children's book, ''Miranda the Panda is on the Veranda'' (1958), that she co-authored with Doris Sanders.<ref name="Bradford2021" />{{Rp|pages=118–125}}

In December 1958, Highsmith moved back to Manhattan where she wrote ''[[This Sweet Sickness]]''. The novel was published in February 1960 to generally favorable reviews. From September 1960, she lived near [[New Hope, Pennsylvania|New Hope]], Pennsylvania. There she saw René Clement's ''[[Plein Soleil]]'' (1960), the French film adaptation of ''The Talented Mr. Ripley,''  but she was disappointed by its moralistic ending.<ref name="Wilson2003" />{{Rp|page=224}} She also wrote ''[[The Cry of the Owl]]'' which she completed in February 1962.  Although Highsmith considered it one of her worst novels, novelist [[Brigid Brophy]] later rated it, along with ''[[Lolita]]'', as one of the best since World War II.<ref name="Wilson2003" />{{Rp|pages=216–217, 229–230, 236–240}}

Highsmith spent 1962 shuttling between New Hope and Europe and finishing the novel ''[[The Two Faces of January]]''. She had fallen in love with a married English woman and wanted to live closer to her. In February 1963, she moved permanently to Europe.<ref name="Bradford2021" />{{Rp|pages=136–143}}