A Stranger in my Grave

A Stranger in my Grave / Margaret Millar
NY: Soho, 2018, c1960.
354 p.

I have to parcel out Margaret Millar's books so I don't run through them too quickly! I only have a few left unread now. But this one was one I picked up recently, set in California like many of her stories, and focused on the psychological state of Daisy Harker, a young woman convinced that there was something important happening on a date that she sees on a tombstone in a dream, a tombstone with her name on it.

Daisy is a young married woman and her mother lives in a small house on their property, but is always in the house, picking at her as much as her husband does. They don't listen to her, tell her not to be hysterical, and seem to communicate more with each other than either does with Daisy. 

But this time Daisy isn't going to take it. She goes out on her own and finds a private detective to help her figure things out. Stevens Pinata is a mystery in his own right; raised as an orphan, he doesn't know his own real name or even ethnicity. He's a cipher. But he has ethics, and when Daisy asks him to help her find out what happened on Dec 2, 1955, the day that she thinks was the day of her death, he at first demurs - but then decides to help her. They spend time at the library, examining records and newspapers, which is quite a delight. But they also cause gossip, as this young white housewife is seen by older ladies walking down the street with a brown person. 

As always, Millar delves into the psychological elements of a story, the "why" that drives it. Daisy's father is a no-good drunk, who her mother had separated from years before. But Daisy still gets letters from him now and again, and this becomes part of the mystery. 

How all these characters, as well as the occupant of the real tomb, are connected, comes clearer to the reader page by page. The plot is convoluted, full of strange characters and odd behaviours and obsessions. Daisy is the linchpin to all of it, even if she doesn't know it, and her insistence on following the eerie guidance of her dream unravels it all.  

I thought it was fascinating, delving into this one woman's repressed memories as she fights against all social conditioning and the efforts of her husband and her own mother to keep her childish and innocent. Millar openly includes many issues: sexism, racism, alcoholism, even religion, and how they all twist people in different ways. This story depends heavily on the schisms around race and class, and doesn't pretty anything up. 

This was compelling reading, but a bit more complicated plotwise than some of her others I've read. There were a lot of angles going on. And the one false note for me was the unconvincing romance that becomes apparent in the last pages. But Daisy isn't going back to the way things were before, after shaking off her willful blindness through her investigations, that is one certainty that you can close this book with. It's a haunting drama with some powerful moments. 

An Air That Kills

Soho's Ebook Cover

An Air That Kills / Margaret Millar
New York: Soho Press, 2016, c1957.
112 p.

Many people may know by now that I adore Margaret Millar's writing. I've collected what I could of her titles -- they were very hard to find, until now.

I was thrilled to see, a couple of months ago, that Soho Press (based in NY) was republishing all of her work in a collected set. How exciting! I immediately put all of the available volumes on order, and am eagerly awaiting the chance to order the final volume. They are being released in a staggered timeline -- about every two months.

The first volume is already available, and in fact my copy is already at bedside; it's the collection of her best known work, of which I've previously read two (including her stunning The Beast in View -- if you only read one of her works, it has to be that one). They are also releasing each work separately as an ebook with these retro covers if you prefer that format. But I couldn't resist the set: when you've bought them all, look what happens!

Anyhow, I decided to start with An Air That Kills, as it has the unusual setting of Toronto and northwards to Georgian Bay. Unusual for her, because although she was born and raised in the Kitchener Waterloo region, she and her husband Kenneth Millar (better known as mystery writer Ross Macdonald) lived much of their life in Santa Barbara, and she set most of her books in California.

The basic story is this: Ron Galloway is heading up to his Georgian Bay lodge for a fishing trip with his close friends, Harry, Ralph, Bill and Joe . He never makes it. Ron's wife Esther is suspicious, Harry's wife Thelma is involved more closely than we first know, and his disappearance is "solved" halfway through the book. But that is only the beginning of the search for the "why" of this story.

Like most of Millar's stories, it's a book that twists and turns, that makes you think it is about one thing which turns out to be something altogether different in the end. She is brilliant at plotting, depending heavily on psychology and character in her stories. And she is a sly writer, throwing in phrases and words that capture someone effortlessly.

For example, a lawyer in one chapter can't understand the inclination for generosity or understanding in his client. As he leaves her house:

He walked stiffly down the broad stone steps of the veranda and crossed the driveway to his car with ponderous dignity, like a penguin crossing an Antarctic waste, never missing the warm places of the world because he did not know they existed.

Volume 1 of the Collected Works

She also takes time to describe minor characters in such a way that they stick in your head and make you wonder about their stories as well. In this book, there is a young Mennonite girl on the way to school who finds a crucial piece of evidence for the investigation of Ron Galloway's disappearance. She has no idea about that, though, and just admires her find.

Aggie was a quiet child of eleven. She behaved decorously at school and obediently at home, and no one ever suspected what an adventurous spirit lurked behind her brown braids and black bonnet, or what itchy feet were buckled inside her canvas galoshes.

Her character is sketched out so thoroughly in just a few paragraphs that I haven't stopped thinking about her, or about her teacher Miss Barabou, who informs the police. 

Miss Barabou sat in the back of the Buick alone, holding herself stiff and resistant to the feeling of adventure that was growing inside her with every turn of the road and every glance at the Constable's face half visible in the rear-view mirror. He's really quite a nice man. Humorous too. Betty said she heard he's a widower, all his children are grown and he lives by himself. He needs a haircut.

This mystery involves friends, betrayals, class divisions, affairs, secrets, and perceptions shifting over and over. It's classic Millar, full of both insights and misdirections. She draws the characters fully, and gives an insular small-town feeling to a Toronto is which everyone knows everything (or will) - which is so important to the story. I will not give anything away except to say these characters are alive and you will be captivated by their motivations and secrets. And if you know Ontario at all, the geography is just an added bonus to read about and recognize.

Can't wait to read the next two stories in this volume now!