The Mystillery blog
Monday, October 14, 2024
Escape the Night by Mignon G. Eberhart, 1944
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Terror by Twilight by Kathleen Moore Knight, 1942
Major characters:
- Benjamin K. Embrie, wealthy patriarch
- Sam Embrie, his brother
- Countess Adelaide von Reisenau, his sister
- Count Hans von Reisenau, his brother-in-law
- Brooke K. Embrie, his disinherited son
- Adele Embrie Bourne, his missing daughter
- Arthur Bourne, Adele's husband
- Judith Maine, Arthur's secretary and in line to be wife #2
- Deborah Bourne, daughter of Arthur and Adele
- Adrian Ambrie, Deborah's second cousin
- Remsen Gray, reclusive neighbor
- Dan Murphy, chauffeur
- Donal Craigie, butler
- Janet Craigie, housekeeper, wife of Donal
- Margot Blair, of Norman and Blair, Public Relations
- Corey Graham, newspaper liaison for Norman and Blair, Public Relations
Locale: The Berkshires of western Massachusetts
Synopsis: Millionaire Benjamin K. Embrie hires public relations outfit Norman and Blair, paying a handsome monthly fee just to keep them ready if needed. He then approaches Margot Blair to serve as a support for his sheltered granddaughter, Deborah Bourne, buying her clothes and other things as needed; as her mother Adele Bourne has been missing for years and is presumed dead. Margot gets invited to his home Thistle Hills in the Berkshires to meet Deborah. Embrie dies while she is en route.
Margot meets Deborah and finds it is believed she suffers from a periodic violent mania, in which it is believed she was responsible for some pet deaths. Embrie's will benefits his family equally, but it turns out that he was on the verge of signing a new will, leaving everything to Deborah. When his death is found to be by poison, suspicion rests on the family members; who are all trying to point the finger at Deborah instead.
Margot teams up with her newspaper liaison, Corey Graham and butler Donal Craigie to investigate who killed Embrie, and whether Deborah really has a mania or not.
Review: This has the standard formula of the victim being murdered just prior to signing a new will. (Moral: Don't tell anyone until after you sign it).
The story is about the relatives "gaslighting" Deborah - making her think she is insane, in order to get her found incompetent to inherit under a will.
I didn't care for the two instances of killing pets. This dampened my enjoyment of the story. I have read most of K.M. Knight's stories, this is the only one which has that.
I was not able to figure out Adrian Embrie's relationship until the end. He is identified as Deborah's distant cousin, he wanted to marry Deborah, and his parents are named but not connected up to family until at the end it is mentioned he is Sam's grandson (making him a second cousin to Deborah).
Also note the "twilight" in the title does not reference literal twilight, but rather the medical treatment known as "twilight sleep" which is a plot element. An AI inquiry defined this as: "Twilight sleep, also known as Dämmerschlaf, is an amnesic state characterized by insensitivity to pain, which can occur with or without the loss of consciousness. This technique was primarily developed for use during childbirth and involves the administration of a combination of drugs, specifically morphine and scopolamine. The purpose of twilight sleep is to manage pain during labor while allowing the patient to remain in a semi-conscious state."
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Siren in the Night by Leslie Ford, 1943
- Loring Kimball, philanthropist
- Lucy Kimball, his second wife
- Amelia Kimball, his stepdaughter
- Thorne Kimball, his daughter
- Nat Donahue, indebted to Loring
- Ilya Donahue, his nasty wife
- Prentiss Vale, architect
- Dr. & Mrs. Norton
- The Butts family, Mr. & Mrs and son Freddie
- Grace Latham, narrator
- Col. John Primrose
- Jim Brodie, newspaper feature writer
- Grace Latham & Molly Macintyre
- Nat & Ilya Donahue
- Mr. & Mrs. Prentiss Vale
- Loring Kimball
- Dr. & Mrs. Norton
- Mr. & Mrs. Butts and son Freddie
Saturday, September 21, 2024
The Robineau Look by Kathleen Moore Knight, 1955
- Cynthia Robineau, our protagonist
- William H. Thorne, her employer
- Bertram "Bert" Robineau, her uncle
- Florence Robineau, her aunt
- Earle Robineau, her cousin (son of Bert and Florence)
- the modest bayou home of Bert, Florence, and Earle
- Avallon Church, a remote, deteriorating chapel and grounds
- Avallon Hall, a plantation-style mansion
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
The Skeleton in the Clock by Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr), 1948
- John Stannard, a lawyer
- Ruth Callice, bookshop owner
- Martin Drake, artist
- Jennifer "Jenny" West
- Richard Fleet, Jennifer's fiancé
- Sophia, Dowager Countess of Brayle; Jennifer's grandmother
- Aunt Cecily, Lady Fleet (Jennifer's "aunt" by courtesy only - no relation)
- Enid Puckston, innkeeper's daughter
- Dr. Hugh Laurier
- Sir Henry Merrivale
Sunday, September 15, 2024
The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife by Erle Stanley Gardner, 1945
- Jane Keller, owner of an island, a widow
- Martha Stanhope, her sister, a landlord
- Marjorie Stanhope, Martha's daughter
- Frank Bomar, Marjorie's fiancé
- Lawton Keller, Jane's brother-in-law
- Scott Shelby, holding an oil lease on the island
- Marion Shelby, his wife
- Ellen Cushing, real estate agent, Shelby's "girlfriend"
- Parker Benton, millionaire
- Perry Mason, attorney
- Della Street, his secretary
- Paul Drank, his investigator