Saturday, April 30, 2022

Beast in View: Margaret Millar

Beast in View by Margaret Millar was my pick from the latest Classic Club Spin. I have already read four books by Millar and enjoyed them all, to different degrees. I had avoided this one so far because I thought it would be too tense and scary (for me). It did not live up to my expectations, but it wasn't that tense and scary either. 

Helen Clarvoe is a rich young woman who inherited all of her father's money but lives in a low quality hotel. Her mother and brother live in the family home, but don't have enough money to maintain it. She gets a threatening call from a woman from her past that she does not remember, and calls in her father's old investment counselor to help. That is all the overview of the story that I want to share because I think it is best for new readers to read this story knowing very little about it.

Events get very weird after that and and the author kept me guessing throughout. I guessed what was going on very early in the book, but then was fooled by the author's clever writing into considering other options.

This is a very brief book. My edition was close to 250 pages, but most editions are around 170 pages. The action takes place over a short time, a few days. The story could easily be read in one sitting or in one day. I started it later in the evening and finished it the next morning, and I am a slow reader. The book was published in 1955, and won the Edgar for Best Novel in 1956.

Here is an excerpt from the first chapter, following the threatening phone call:

Miss Clarvoe hung up. She knew how to deal with June [telephone operator at the hotel] and others like her. One hung up. One severed connections.

What Miss Clarvoe did not realize was that she had severed too many connections in her life, she had hung up too often, too easily, on too many people. Now, at thirty, she was alone. The telephone no longer rang, and when someone knocked on her door, it was the waiter bringing up her dinner, or the woman from the beauty parlour to cut her hair, or the bellboy, with the morning paper. There was no longer anyone to hang up on except a switchboard operator who used to work in her father’s office, and a lunatic stranger with a crystal ball.

She had hung up on the stranger, yes, but not quickly enough. It was as if her loneliness had compelled her to listen; even words of evil were better than no words at all.

The entire first chapter is available online, at CrimeReads.


As I noted, I did not find the story that tense but it was very dark. Most of the characters were damaged in some way. Evelyn's mother's treatment of both of her children when they were young and in their adulthood was upsetting. She was not a major character but she had a prominent role. Attitudes toward homosexuality as depicted in this book were archaic, although those attitudes can be found now as well. (I am assuming that those attitudes are not the author's.) Although I did not enjoy reading Beast in View, I thought it was a worthwhile read and very well done. It just wasn't a pleasant read for me. 

I have read other books by Millar, and I liked all of them more than I did this one, even though this one won the Edgar for Best Novel. However, this is a book that I would recommend, for two reasons. First, many reviewers liked it much more than I did. Also, it is a groundbreaking novel, although the plot can be seen as stale and overused now; it is familiar because it as been copied so much. At the time it was very original.



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Publisher:  International Polygonics, 1983 (orig. pub. 1955)
This edition includes a brief Introduction and Afterword by Margaret Millar, written in 1983.
Length:      247 pages
Format:      Paperback
Setting:      Los Angeles, California
Genre:       Mystery, Psychological Suspense
Source:      On my TBR piles since 2016.

24 comments:

Margot Kinberg said...

Millar wrote some compelling stories, I think, Tracy. She had the ability to really weave atmosphere and, yes, to write a dark story.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I have only read one recently (http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2010/07/book-you-have-to-read-iron-gates-by.html and on looking over her list of books, there are a few I never read. Maybe I need to revisit her books. I always thought she was one of the best female crime writers of the mid-20th century.

TracyK said...

Margot, even though I did not like this book as much as others I have read, it did make me want to read more of her books and soon.

TracyK said...

Patti, Iron Gates is one of Millar's books that I have read and I liked it a lot. The way Millar slowly revealed what was really going on was so well done. And I love that cover that was featured in your post.

Lark said...

"Events get very weird after that"...okay, now I'm curious! I wonder if my library has a copy of this one. :)

CLM said...

I have never read this author! It sounds intriguing even if it was not as good as you had hoped.

TracyK said...

Lark, I hope your library has a copy. All her books are a bit weird, but in a way that I enjoy.

TracyK said...

Constance, it is an intriguing story and certainly reveals a lot of about the times too. Millar was a very clever writer. And she lived most of her adult life in Santa Barbara, with her husband Ross Macdonald (or Kenneth Millar).

Rick Robinson said...

The rich one in a cheap hotel, the poor ones in the family home. That’s already weird enough for me! This isn’t an author I care for.

FictionFan said...

I always feel a bit guilty for finding these older books stale sometimes, and have to remind myself, as you say, that they feel that way because they've been copied so often. I've only read a couple of Millar's books - loved one and enjoyed the other one, but not so much. I might leave this one till I've tried a few more of the others...

TracyK said...

Rick, That is very true. There is no explanation why Helen is living in a cheap hotel when she could live in luxury, but the mother and son live in the family home because they have nowhere else to go. I do like Millar's books, but this one wasn't my cup of tea.

We have played the Wingspan game once since we got our box and I am trying to understand the rules. I am sure it comes with time. My son plays with us and is used to board games so has the main ideas down already. A lovely game, I am glad you suggested it and that I finally tried it.

TracyK said...

FictionFan, I have had that experience also. Honestly, the type of crime fiction (suspenseful, usually about domestic situations) was never the type I preferred, although I know I read at least a couple of her books when I was much younger. She did write some books with police inspectors but even those emphasize the psychologic aspects. But now I enjoy them much more. No idea why. I purchased several omnibus volumes of Soho reprints of mysteries so I have plenty to choose from, but alas, the print is very small in those editions.

Rick Robinson said...

We thought it was straightforward. We like the bird facts, artwork, and every game is different.

TracyK said...

I guess we are concentrating on learning the rules of the game first, when we can do certain actions and why, etc. That part seems complicated to me, but I am sure it will all make sense after a while. The artwork is gorgeous.

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

I like to read award books from long ago to see what was thought to be the best of the day. Here is my Classics Club Spin THE SECRET GARDEN

Rick Robinson said...

Darn, no short post. Mine’s up.

TracyK said...

Sorry, Rick. I commented on your blog. I was at jury duty all day Tuesday and I was very tired when I got home. I will try to get one up next week, assuming I don't get on a trial. (Unlikely but you never know.)

TracyK said...

Anne, thanks for coming by to check out my review. When I see that a book won an award years ago, I always find it interesting whether it is still read and appreciated. I think this one has been, but mainly within the group of those who concentrate on mysteries. Even though it is not a puzzle mystery at all.

Christine said...

I read this years and years ago and found it really scary! She is a very accomplished writer. Fascinated to hear that you are on jury service!

TracyK said...

Christine, I agree that Millar was an accomplished writer. When I was younger I thought she was very different but now I realize that there were some other writers that wrote her type of fiction but I just wasn't finding those books.

I am too old for jury duty! (I am 73.) Not really too old and certainly now that I am retired it is less of a problem. I have to go back on Friday.

It was interesting being around that many people in an enclosed space, after all this time avoiding crowds. Masks were required in the jury assembly room (where there was good spacing anyway), but in the courts judges can decide whether they are required or not and my judge did not require them. I stayed masked most of the time, we were really packed in; but I would say that it was half and half as to people being masked.

Todd Mason said...

Yuck, to that last datum. Sorry about that. (When I lived in Philadelphia, I was called up for jury duty about 10 times or so in eight years but never impaneled. Twice in NJ, so far, also never put on, though the defense attorney tried hard to get me this last time. I tell the truth, and prosecutors, particularly, are not too excited about me.)

Hope this week of service has been relatively less taxing, if not already concluded.

I think this is one of Millar's more durable novels...the brevity and Edgar can't hurt. IP was Real Good at martyring trees with their editions (and usually used cartoonishly ugly covers).

Apparently the Millars were Not the parents one would want. Some brilliant writers tend not to be, alas.

TracyK said...

Todd, I haven't been called for jury duty that many times (or I don't remember them all). Maybe 6 or 8 times in the 40 years I have been in Santa Barbara, and I would say 2/3 of them ended in not having to go in at all or the case being settled before we even got into the jury selection process. In two cases I got called into the jury box but rejected based on my answers.

This week was very tiring and I only went in two days. And now have to go back on Monday for more of the jury selection process.

I read the Ross Macdonald biography by Tom Nolan. I thought it was a fantastic read and it covered the relationship with their daughter well. I think they both would have been difficult parents but they did love their daughter.

col2910 said...

I must get to this book sometime soon (this year or next). I've only read the one by her so far which I liked.

TracyK said...

Hi Col, I am no longer getting notifications of comments on blogposts so I have had to find a way to check for new comments. Blogger is so strange sometimes.

I think you will enjoy this one when you read it.