Tag: Celia Fremlin

Review 2725: The Long Shadow

~ whatmeread ~ 9 Comments

I clearly liked Celia Fremlin’s Uncle Paul, but her books get better and better. I bought this book to schedule it around Christmas, because it is a seasonal novel; however, somehow that didn’t happen. It’s marketed as a mystery, but it’s more of thriller that builds slowly but doesn’t seem slow when you read it.

Imogen has been a widow for two months after her scholar husband was killed unexpectedly in an automobile accident. Although the charismatic Ivor was revered by many, she knew him for an attention-seeking egotist who treated his family badly. She feels that she would be all right if she could just be left alone, but instead people are giving her the attention they think she needs in her bereavement.

When finally the last person has left, Imogen isn’t alone for more than a few minutes when her stepson Robin arrives planning to stay for a while. Imogen is fond of him, but he is also selfish and hasn’t been able to hold down a job.

Imogen has just had a disturbing experience. Her friend Myrtle talked her into attending a party where she met a student named Teri. Teri accused her of murdering Ivor and said he has proof, even though Imogen was at home when the accident happened 200 miles away. Imogen knows the accusation is nonsense, but she is unnerved.

Could things get worse? They could! Imogen’s stepdaughter Dot arrives with her husband and two boys for the holidays, uninvited, as is Ivor’s second wife Cynthia, who arrives from Bermuda. Imogen hasn’t even met Cynthia, who is clearly hoping for some kind of financial settlement from Ivor’s estate. Finally, Robin brings home a surly girl, a student named Piggy.

Once all these people are assembled in the house, strange things begin happening. First, on Christmas Day one of the boys claims to have seen grandfather dressed as Father Christmas in Ivor’s study. Then one of the boys dreams of a face hovering over his. Papers are disturbed, messages appear from the grave, and Teri is hanging around trying to blackmail Imogen. Imogen never seriously considers a haunting, but something is clearly going on.

I could have wished for Imogen to be a little less polite and passive, but if she hadn’t been, we wouldn’t have such a good story. She is too empathetic, feeling sorry for people who are taking advantage of her.

There’s no way for the reader to figure out what’s going on, but getting to the solution is lots of fun. The writing is witty, especially the observations Imogen makes to herself about other characters’ behavior.

Related Posts

The Hours Before Dawn

Uncle Paul

Murder After Christmas

Review 2663: The Hours Before Dawn

~ whatmeread ~ 11 Comments

Boy, if you like a good thriller, this Celia Fremlin is terrific! I wonder why I never heard of her before. Since the summer before last, I had been trying to find a reasonably priced copy of her Uncle Paul. In May, another blogger told me she had found one, so I looked again and ended up with a set of three novels. One more to go!

Louise is exhausted. She has a young baby, Michael, who won’t sleep through the night and two girls, ages six and eight. In with the times, her husband, Mark, isn’t much help and even complains about the baby and the untidy house. Louise also has some objectionable neighbors. Mrs. Philips, who shares a wall, complains every day about the noise her children make. Mrs. Hooper has a talent for roping Louise into things she doesn’t want to do, like taking care of her baby, Christine. Mrs. Morgan is always condoling with her and criticizing the others, but Louise knows she does the same with the others.

Louise and Mark have decided to rent a room on their top floor, but Louise is surprised when Mis Brandon shows up to take it. She looks too prosperous and respectable to need to rent someone’s room, and there is something intense about her. But she teaches school at a local primary and is too respectable for Louise to turn away.

Louise begins to have strange dreams, but there are also some odd events that occur, and Louise is so tired, she thinks she may be imagining things. Tony Hooper, a young boy, tells her Miss Brandon is a spy, because he saw her going through Mark’s desk as well as his own mother’s. Then one night Louise takes Michael out for a walk so as not to disturb Mrs. Philips and falls asleep on a park bench. When she awakens, Michael and his pram are gone. She goes to the police and incoherently tells them her story only to find Michael and his pram at home, the baby asleep in his bed.

Now she feels she is branded not just a poor housewife but a lunatic. Mark is angry with her because he thinks she is jealous of Miss Brandon on his behalf. But Louise is determined to investigate her lodger.

This is a terrific little thriller that builds suspense throughout and ends with a bang. I’m really enjoying these books.

Related Posts

Uncle Paul

Lady Living Alone

The Circular Staircase

Review 2645: #RIP XX! Uncle Paul

~ whatmeread ~ 9 Comments

Why have I never heard of Celia Fremlin before? This book is great! When I first read a review of it last year, I could only find an expensive used copy, but another blogger this year (sorry, I don’t remember who) set me looking again, and I found an inexpensive set of three novels, including this one.

Meg gets an urgent message from her older sister Isabel asking her to drop everything and come see her at a vacation caravan site on the seaside. The telegram simply tells her that Mildred, their much older half-sister, is in trouble.

After talking it over with her friend, Freddy, Meg travels to the run-down caravan park to learn that Mildred’s problems have to do with Uncle Paul. Fifteen years ago, when Meg was a child, Mildred married Uncle Paul, and they spent their honeymoon in a cottage just a few miles away. It turned out, however, that Uncle Paul was not only already married but he was wanted for attempted murder of his wife for her money, and Mildred was also wealthy.

Now it is the end of Uncle Paul’s 15-year sentence. Mildred seems to think he will be coming to get his revenge, but she has perversely rented their old holiday cottage.

Both of Meg’s sisters seem permanently distressed. Isabel worries constantly about her husband Philip’s reaction to everything, while Mildred is often alarmed enough to scream. Meg talks Mildred into returning to town and looking for different lodging, which she finds for her at a comfortable hotel. She also finds Freddy there.

Her sisters’ alarm seems to be contagious, though. When she arrived at the cottage, she found Mildred all aquiver because she had been hearing footsteps—Uncle Paul’s footsteps. Isabel is hardly less nervous. And Meg learns that she may also be in danger, because she was the one who recognized Uncle Paul in an old newspaper.

Fremlin manages to work a good deal of suspense from what seems like trivial incidents, and from fears that Uncle Paul could be any of several men around. But just when I was deciding that everything was in their heads, things got going.

This book reminded me of a lot of Mary Stewart’s combinations of suspense and a bit of romance that I’ve always loved. The writing style is sprightly, the dialogue is witty, and the characters are vivid. Finally, Meg is an engaging, intelligent heroine.

Related Posts

The Unforgotten

Touch Not the Cat

The Lace Reader