Mystery Review: The Only Good Secretary is a fine example of the mystery genre known as domestic suspense or domestic noir. In domestic noir the mystery is usually solved, whether largely or wholly, by the ordinary people involved rather than by some genius detective, hardboiled private eye, or a meticulous police procedural. Seeing the events through the eyes of those directly affected, family, friends, or as here, co-workers, is a refreshing change and more relatable. In many domestic suspense novels, as here, I feel the ghost of Shirley Jackson hovering above, the verisimilitude strong until it takes a turn and the whole world shifts on its axis. This is a well-plotted mystery with surprises as co-workers, roommates, exes, and others (not so much the police) try to figure out who killed the boss's secretary. Another excellent reprint (available as a twofer along with Potts' 1957 mystery The Man with the Cane) from Stark House Mystery Classics. A good lost novel found again, which always makes me happy. [4★]
Poetry Review: Early Poems, a collection from Dover Thrift Editions of Edna St. Vincent Millay's first three books, shows it's still possible to get a lot for a little. The most famous photograph of Millay is on the cover. Her first book, Renascence and Other Poems (1917), was published when Millay was 25. The controversial title poem, more than 200 lines, was entered in a contest when she was just 19 and published the next year. These poems demonstrate Millay's early experimenting, reflect her influences, and often look back to great poets of the past. Her second work, A Few Figs from Thistles, was originally published in 1920, with a second expanded edition released in 1922. This book shows a daring bohemian nature and a confident, independent woman of the Roaring Twenties (the 1920's, of course). The poetry world wasn't quite ready for an in-your-face poetess, but readers were and A Few Figs from Thistles was popular and created a stir. Millay began her mature work with her third book, Second April (1921), which opens with the scintillating "Spring." That poems ends: "Life in itself/Is nothing,/An empty cup a flight of uncarpeted stairs./It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,/April/Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers." The book is filled with a variety of accomplished works, including the six-part "Memorial" and twelve sonnets. Many of the poems are concerned with broken romances, death, and dying. Making the reader reflect and identify. More than just reading the three books, however, is that this collection was only $3.50. What a gift that Dover makes so much great work so easily accessible. I believe the British have something similar to Dover in Wordsworth Editions, and I hope other countries do also. Many thanks to those publishers who make great literature available to those who can least afford it, especially when a good library may not be nearby. Sometimes the whole is greater than the parts. [5★]
Short Story Review: "The Manchester Marriage" is not a story about a United fan married to a City supporter as one might think. Instead it's intended as a tear jerker (if it succeeds depends on whether the reader has a heart of stone). Just a bit of melodrama, with everyone simply human, no villains, nobody doing wrong, and everyone doing their duty as best they can despite the hap of life. To live is to serve. Some characters have to be able to change, and just who does so makes up part of the surprise at the end. The story turns on the twist of a secret with serious legal and psychological consequences. Times change, and what was a matter of life and death in 1858 would be the subject of a screwball comedy with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant in 1940. The first twist was predictable, though the ending not so much, and the resolution was both sad and gratifying. [3★]
Short Story Review: "Eveline's Visitant" is a short ghost story about two cousins who engage in a duel over a nameless woman, which ends in the death of one (André) and a curse on the other (Hector). Even though Hector is instantly remorseful, this is a tale of Gothic horror. If the curse seems unfair, too bad, equity is not be a requisite element of curses. André was a ladies' man, a "favourite of women," who treacherously stole a woman away from his cousin. In revenge, André's ghost seduces Hector's (later) wife, just as he seduced women when alive. At first glance it seems wrong the sweet and much-loved Eveline should suffer for her husband's youthful crime. So often it's the innocent who suffer most and most unfairly. But was she guiltless in her relationship with the ghost? The reader can't help but wonder why Eveline suffers so much trauma that she wastes away and dies. Braddon leaves a suggestion that Eveline entered into some form of supernatural infidelity, in which case she is punished sure enough for her wavering loyalty. There are even intimations of some erotic attachment between the ghost of Andre and Eveline. She confesses that the ghost "plucked all old familiar joys out of my heart, and left in it but one weird, unholy pleasure -- the delight of his presence ... I have striven against this wickedness in vain." Ironically, she asks her husband to curse her for this sin. "Eveline's Visitant" is a tale of the other side of this life, where the world is harsh, evil happens, and mortals suffer. Mary Elizabeth Braddon was famous for writing "sensation novels," her best known being Lady Audley's Secret (1862). [3★]
Short Story Review: "The Mortal Immortal" is a short, supernatural tale about a young man's confrontation with the perils of immortality and the limits of love. As with Frankenstein, Shelley investigates the boundaries of science (alchemy) and the fearful consequences of experimentation. She attempts to find the line where knowledge challenges the natural order and interferes with what is moral or human, and becomes a blessing and a curse. The irony being that in seeking longer life, one becomes removed from normal life. While inventive and engaging, Shelley develops no radical or startling response to these themes. As a fairy tale this would fall into the "be careful what you wish for" category. Notably, this Gothic tale has a contemporary setting with an emphasis on the psychological; Mary Shelley, ever imaginative. [3★]
