Yesterday I went for my first morning walk yesterday in over a year. Actually felt quite good, even though it did knock the stuffing out of me.. lol.. Talk about not being in shape. That's my 2021 resolution, to start going on my walks again, at least twice a week.. 😰
I received a new book in the mail yesterday, a new author for me. I'll provide the synopsis for that book and then I'll resume my look at my favorite authors. Today an excellent mystery writer who I only discovered early in the 2000's.
New Books
1. A Deadly Affection by Cuyler Overholt (Dr. Genevieve Summerford Mystery #1)
"In 1907 New York, a psychiatrist must prove her patient's innocence...or risk being implicated in a shocking murder
As
one of the first women practicing in an advanced new field of
psychology, Dr. Genevieve Summerford is used to forging her own path.
But when one of her patients is arrested for murder-a murder Genevieve
fears she may have unwittingly provoked-she is forced to seek help from
an old acquaintance.
Desperate to clear her patient's name and
relieve her own guilty conscience, Genevieve finds herself breaking all
the rules she's tried so hard to live by. In her search for answers,
Genevieve uncovers an astonishing secret that, should she reveal it,
could spell disaster for those she cares about most. But if she lets her
discovery remain hidden, she will almost certainly condemn her patient
to the electric chair."
My Favorite Authors - Margaret Millar
I discovered Margaret Millar early in 2000, with Rose's Last Summer and Ask For Me Tomorrow. Canadian born Millar lived from 1915 - 1994. She was an award winning mystery writer. Of interest she was married to another noted mystery writer, Ross MacDonald (Lew Archer creator). After reading the first two books I began to search for her other stories. It was a slow process trying to find any of them but over the past years, I've managed to read 10 of her stories and enjoyed them all. For the purpose of this BLog post I'll look at the last six of her novels I've read.
Margaret Ellis Millar
"The more I read the books of Margaret Millar, the more I appreciate and enjoy her writing. How Like an Angel was an excellent mystery. It starts off with Joe Quinn, a private investigator, who has lost his money gambling in Vegas, getting a ride to a town in Southern California, to try and get some money from a friend. He is dropped near a religious commune and, from this point, the mystery begins.
Quinn is paid by one of the members, Sister Blessed try and locate Patrick O'Gorman. He doesn't know why and originally he plans to take the money back Vegas to gamble with. But he finds that he likes Sister Blessed and, instead he heads off to O'Gorman's last known location to try and find out about the man.
The story involves murder and embezzlement. The mystery deepens as Quinn begins to question more people. This may sound a big convoluted, but actually, Millar writes in such a clear-headed manner, that everything falls into place easily, even with a nice surprising ending. I love how she lays out the plot and I love how each character sounds realistic and how she draws you into their characters.
Quinn grows and becomes more and more likeable as the story develops and I liked so many of the characters; from Sister Blessed to Margaret O'Gorman and Willie King. No matter the importance of the role they play, they are fleshed out and interesting. Excellent story and a nicely written mystery. (4 stars)"
"I discovered Canadian mystery writer Margaret Millar a few years ago and since that time I've been hunting down her books. She is such a great writer. A Stranger In My Grave was originally published in 1980. While it wasn't necessarily my favorite of her books so far, I still enjoyed it immensely.
Daisy Harker has been having dreams where she is looking at her grave stone showing Dec 2nd 1955 as the day she died. Of course, she is still alive, or she wouldn't be having the dreams. ;0) The dreams have disconcerted her very much and she is not given any real support by her husband, Jim or by her mother Ada. A chance occurrence, the arrest of her absent father provides Daisy with the opportunity to find out the significance of what might have happened on Dec 2, 1955. Her father, while visiting San Felice, is arrested in a bar fight and the detective / bail bondsman who gets him out of jail, contacts Daisy to pay the bail.
Daisy hires Steve Pinata to check into events of Dec 2 to see what it might signify to Daisy's dreams. This begins a somewhat meandering detective investigation into Daisy's life. It turns out that the headstone she sees in her dream does exist but there is a different name on it, that of a man Carlos Camilla, who supposedly committed suicide on the same day. Daisy doesn't know him but does he have some relationship to her?
As I mentioned, it's a slow paced story but as it progresses we begin to find out secrets, connections that keep your interest up as you wait to see how everything will tie together. Margaret Millar has a sparse, at times unemotional style, but she gathers in your interest and attracts you to her characters. I enjoy her story-telling so very much and she has so far not disappointed in any way. I recommend you explore this fantastic writer and also the stories of her husband, Ross MacDonald. (4 stars)"
"Beyond This Point Are Monsters by Margaret Millar was originally published in 1970. I've been focusing on her work for a little while, having now finished 4 of her books over the past month. This one, while interesting, was my least favorite.
The concept was excellent. Basically it's been a year since Robert Osborne disappeared one night, suspicion being that he was murdered. But Robert's body was never recovered, just lots of evidence (blood for example) that something bad happened. His mother doesn't believe he is dead, thinking that he will still turn up. His young wife, Devon, isn't sure but is ready to move on.
The story is told via the means of a hearing, organized by the family lawyer, who is trying to get Robert declared dead so that Devon can be listed as executrix of the estate. The estate is farmland in southern California. The suspects of the purported murder are / were itinerant farm workers from Mexico hired to pick the tomato crop. After Osborne disappeared, the workers did as well.
The lawyer, Franklin Ford, presents his case, calling a variety of witnesses to describe Robert Osborne's last day, the day he disappeared. It's an interesting way to do this and we get to know the various people involved, Devon, her neighbour Leo Bishop, the farm employees. We also find out about other incidents in the past, the death of Bishop's wife, who may at one time have had relations with young Robert and also the death of Robert's father. It makes for a rich story, an interesting combination of fact and emotion. Millar's story - telling is often sparse but she packs an awful lot into the story at the same time.
I had some issues with the ending as I don't always like it when the author leaves the result to your imagination; did this happen or that? So that satisfaction of a firm resolution wasn't the case in this story, at least to me anyway. But still there is something intelligent about Millar's stories that keep you thinking and also generally surprises you as things come to a conclusion. (3.5 stars)"
"Taste of Fears is the 2nd book I've read this month by Canadian / American mystery writer Margaret Millar. It's also the 2nd of her two books featuring Toronto Police Inspector Sands. I keep saying this after I've read one of Millar's stories, but she is a fantastic mystery writer and story teller.
The story is set in Toronto Canada in the 1940s. Lucille Morrow is married to gynecologist Andrew Morrow and lives with him, his sister Edith and his two grown children, Martin and Polly. Lucille is Andrew's second wife. His first wife, Mildred, who was also a friend of Lucille, was murdered 15 years ago (ish) and after a time, Andrew married Mildred. The murder was never solved.
Andrew and the two children are going to pick up Giles, Polly's fiance, and on their return, stop to assist in recovery efforts from a train crash. The next day, a shabby man delivers a package to Lucille, while the others are out of the house. This package distresses Lucille terribly and when the others return, she has disappeared. The police become involved, including Inspector Sands, when Andrew reports her missing. Lucille is found at a bar, and because of her mental condition, she is put into Penwood Institution for psychiatrist treatment. It becomes apparent that she wants to stay because she feels safer there.
That is the gist of the story, which progresses as Inspector Sands continues the investigation; looking once again at the original murder of Mildred, plus looking into other deaths (murders?) that occur during the course of this story. Millar is skilled at throwing out diverse threads that seem to sit there; the death of a junkie, the train crash, etc and leaving them there for you to ponder until she slowly brings them all together into a satisfying conclusion.
As the other stories by Millar that I've enjoyed, she does not keep the story-telling focused on one particular character. We get perspectives from all of them, from the main characters like Sands, Lucille, Edith, etc all the way down to minor characters like the two maids that work for the Morrows, or the nurse at Penwoods, etc. This adds to the richness of the story and lets you see what the others are feeling or thinking.
I can only say that the more I read of Millar's works, the more I appreciate her ability in spinning a great yarn and developing a mystery that will both entertain you and keep you thinking. (4.5 stars)"
"I've been focusing on the books of Margaret Millar this month as I had four unread ones on my bookshelf. I've enjoyed each book I've read, Millar is a wonderful mystery writer and story-teller. The Fiend, published in 1964, is another excellent example of her writing skill. (NB. The title is at the same time somewhat misleading and also perfect)
Jessie is a 9-year old girl living in San Modesto CA. We see her playing in the park with her best friend Mary Martha. Charles Gowen sits in his car watching them. Jessie burns her hands playing on the monkey bars and the playground monitor sends them home. What do we learn about them and others in the next pages? Charles Gowen lives with his brother Ben and was once in trouble for something involving young girl(s). Mary Martha lives with her mother, who is separated from her husband, Sheridan, and fears that he is stalking them. She sees Charles's green car and fears that it is Sheridan. Jessie lives down the road with her parents, the Brants. They seem a normal family. Their neighbors, the Harringtons, are childless and Victoria spends an inordinate time and money on Jessie, to the chagrin of Jessie's mom and of Victoria's dad.
Charles thinks Jessie lives in Mary Martha's house and he sends an anonymous letter to Mary's mom Kate Oakley, advising her to take better care of her daughter, that the girl is reckless and might get hurt. This starts a chain of events and actions that make for a fascinating story. We get to delve into the lives of this group of people and learn their problems and weaknesses. When the unthinkable happens (I'll let you find out for yourself), their lives will be placed under a microscopic examination and I think you'll be surprised at the results.
As always, strong story-telling, great, fascinating, fully developed characters. It wasn't perfect and maybe not as complete as others of her stories, but still an entertaining, tense story. (4 stars)"
"Wall of Eyes is the 7th book by Margaret Millar that I've enjoyed. The more books by Millar that I read the more I discover what a great mystery writer and just plain author that she is. Wall of Eyes was her 4th book published in 1943. What an entertaining, rich story!
Basically, the Heath family, father, son John, daughters Alice live under blind daughter Kelsey's power in their home in Toronto. Also living there is Philip James, Kelsey's fiancé and the hired help. Two years ago, Kelsey caused a car accident, blinding her and killing brother John's girl friend. Since that time she has deteriorated and Alice finally goes to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Loring asking him to try and help Kelsey.
Quickly after this meeting, Kelsey tries to kill herself with morphine and then the same night is murdered. This action begins an investigation by the Toronto police, led by Inspector Sands. This investigation will also ultimately lead back to the original car crash; are they related events.
It's a simple case, so it seems but the more you delve into it, the more intricate and fascinating it becomes. The story isn't told from any one specific perspective, but like Millar's The Soft Talkers, even minor characters get to have a say. I liked these small details very much; for example when we see the female police detective at the hospital and Sands refers back to an earlier case where this detective is interested.
The story seems at times to be sparse and matter of fact but there are also lovely descriptive moments that give you a clear picture of the events and thoughts of the characters; e.g. 'Ida's breasts rode her in cross-rhythm like twin riders on a galloping horse'.
There are nice little details that made the story more interesting and help provide a picture of the time the story was written. I particularly enjoyed the beginning of Chapter 14 where there is a radio alert for one of the murder suspects. It really tickled my fancy '... in cooperation with the police department, the makers of Crispcrunch, the ideal new breakfast food that is teeming with vitamins and good flavor, are broadcasting this description of a dangerous criminal....' It had a nice surreal touch to it.
The mystery seems straight forward as you progress but more and more gets added to the story and the list of suspects grows. The final solution was a surprise but not an unrealistic one. It was deeply satisfying. I liked the setting of Toronto, having lived there for my university years. I liked the story, the characters (Inspector Sands is fantastic), everything about this story. I am so very glad that I finally discovered Margaret Millar's mystery writing. She is one of the very best. It matters not one bit that her stories were written 50+ years ago. (5 stars)"
So there you have it, an example of Millar's talent and story-telling ability. And that is without mentioning my favorite story of hers, The Soft Talkers (1957), which I put in my list of Top 100 books at #16. (Check this link). I still have one of her books, The Murder of Miranda (1970), to read. The complete list of Millar's books is available at this link.
Enjoy your reading and weekend. Stay safe. 😷
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