Brendan McNally wrote a book about her; the only one I know of. It is called, Traitor's Odyssey: The Untold Story of Martha Dodd and a Strange Saga of Soviet Espionage. (Go ahead, buy it.)
Brendan and I crossed paths this month.
This is his story behind the story...
"Having spent altogether too much of my post-adolescence researching Martha, what parting thoughts do I have on her? Well, for someone as incredibly guilty as she was, she wasn't actually guilty of very much. Her intent was all there. She was ready, willing, and able, but the officers of the New York rezidentura* were too busy trying to steal the atomic bomb to even have the spare moment about how she could be used as a spy. It's like a dirty movie where the character can't manage to get anyone to have sex with them. She did everything she could: hosting fun country weekends for everyone at the Soviet consulate, pool tennis courts, pony rides, open bar... but nothing!
"Dora, the colleague of mine who'd worked for her, called Martha Dodd, 'a nobody trying to be a somebody.' In the end, she died inadvertently at the hands of the secret police, who'd gotten it into their heads that she had gold!
"If they ever make a movie about this woman's life, I hope John Waters directs it."
I am still laughing.
* In the context of espionage, a rezidentura is a Russian intelligence station in a foreign country, often located within an embassy, that serves as a base for a group of agents known as resident spies.
