Friday, March 14, 2014

Beyond This Point Are Monsters (1970), by Margaret Millar

One of the few titles by one of my favorite crime authors, Margaret Millar, that I had not read until this week is Beyond This Point Are Monsters (1970).  I decided to rectify this gap in my reading and I expect to get my post on the book uploaded by tonight.

Suffice it to say for now that the book has all the human interest, intriguing mystery and compelling narrative that is characteristic of the splendid author, who was one of the great twentieth-century writers of what was termed "psychological suspense."

In her recent anthology of tales by twentieth-century women crime writers, Sarah Weinman calls the type of book Millar wrote "domestic suspense." Whatever we call it, it is great stuff. Not to mention possibly Millar's single best book title--who could fail to be intrigued by it? Come take a trip with me this weekend into the unknown depths of the human psyche....


8 comments:

  1. I remember liking this one quite a bit actually - it is very typically a Millar book, which at that stage had become scarce ( it was her first book since THE FIEND in 1964) - look forward to the full review chum.

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  2. I think this was the very first Millar book I read back in my teen years. Of course I chose it for the title! :^D

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  3. For some reason I keep avoiding reading Millar. You'd think that the fact that my beloved Polygonics International reissued several of her books would get me going....

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    1. She's very psychological, but she has the construction skill of Christie. An enticing combination I find, Tony!

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  4. The term "domestic suspense" is s turn-off to me, but I've heard good things about Millar's writing.

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    1. Hi Kelly. Well, I think in Millar's case "domestic suspense" might be a but confining. Here, after all, a great deal of the novel takes place in a courtroom, and there is a lot of detail about migrant labor on California farms. Whatever we call it though, I love her work.

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