MARGARET MILLAR

Four legendary novels of suspense from MWA Gradmaster, Margaret Millar The four novels in this collection represent, in many ways, Margaret Millar at her zenith. They straddle one of the most tumultuous decades of the 20th century and display her uncanny ability to craft truly disturbing suspense fiction while still addressing social issues. Complex discussions of feminism, child abuse, and racism blend seamlessly into four of the most chilling tales ever told. In A Stanger In My Grave (1960) a young housewife named Daisy Harker's world is upended when a blank spot in her memory and a reoccurring nightmare link her to an unsolved murder and a decades-old conspiracy. California cultists, duplicitous damsels in distress, and dangerously high stakes conspire against Joe Quinn, a private eye who is beginning to feel more like a knight-errant in the often humorousHow Like an Angel (1962). A young girl is at risk in The Fiend (1964), Millar's tense and disturbing page-turner that reveals a web of domestic abuse among a disparate cast of middle class Americans. The investigation into the disappearance of a wealthy California rancher brings to light the secrets of a whole community inBeyond This Point Are Monsters (1970), a haunting and complex masterpiece of suspense

En un apacible rincón de la costa californiana, Daisy y su marido Jim viven tranquilos y felices desde hace nueve años. Pero Daisy empieza a tener pesadillas en las que ve su propia tumba, con las fechas de su nacimiento y de su muerte, ocurrida ya hace cuatro años, segun reza la inscripcion. Cuando descubre que la tumba realmente existe, se obsesiona con reconstruir el dia en supuestamente habria muerto. Lo que encuentre en su busqueda podria resultar incluso mas perturbador. Millar, experta en retratar pequeñas comunidades donde la vida parece discurrir placidamente pero bajo cuya aparente tranquilidad se esconden el miedo y el racismo, la violencia, los celos y la frustracion, desarrolla en este libro una historia de intriga y terror fuera de lo habitual.

En un rancho a las afueras de una ciudad californiana fronteriza con México, el tiempo se ha detenido durante el último año, desde el día en que Robert Osborne, el ranchero de veinticuatro años, salio a buscar a su perro y nunca volvio a casa. Se encontro una gran cantidad de sangre en el suelo del comedor de los jornaleros mexicanos, pero el cuerpo de Robert nunca se recupero.Devon, su viuda, anhela seguir con su vida mientras que la madre de Robert no puede aceptar que su hijo este muerto y el rancho languidece ya que, hasta que no sea declarada la muerte de Robert, Estivar, el capataz, no puede tomar decisiones.Ahora, por fi n, se celebra la vista para declarar la muerte presunta de Robert y, a medida que los testigos declaran ante el juez, aparecen secretos y turbiedades del pasado: una historia de amor e infidelidad, un suicidio sospechoso, el alcoholismo, relaciones familiares fallidas, la indigencia, el abuso, embarazos clandestinos e, incluso, viejos rumores de asesinatos.Mas alla hay monstruos, advertian los mapas del medievo de los territorios inexplorados, que los cartografos suponian poblados con criaturas extrañas y seres monstruosos. Al escudriñar en el alma y las relaciones humanas mas alla de lo inmediato, Millar se sumerge en lo ominoso, lo irracional y la amenaza y nos muestra que todos tenemos monstruos, pero tenemos que darles algun otro nombre o hacer como que no existen.Un juzgado de California [es] el espacio urbano que sirve a la asombrosa escritora Margaret Millar para dibujar un mapa del infierno, es decir, del alma humana enfrentada a sus propios limites y de los peligros que entraña la busqueda de la verdad, la inmersion a pleno pulmon en los rincones mas oscuros de nuestra historia.Hector Malverde, Guia de la novela negraInjustamente olvidada, [Millar] escribe personajes psicologicamente mas complejos que Christie, pero usa la misma bolsa de trucos y tiene grandes y sorprendentes finales.Alex Michaelides, Guardian Book ClinicNo hay nada mas negro que esto.Daily Mail

In this suspenseful masterpiece about corrupted love, Rupert Kellogg's wife, Amy, goes missing after an ill-fated trip to Mexicoand Rupert becomes the focus of a paranoid investigation.Amy Kellogg is not having a pleasant vacation in Mexico. Shes been arguing nonstop with her friend and traveling companion, Wilma, and she wants nothing more than to go home to California and the Bay Area. But an uncomfortable stay in a Mexican hotel takes a nightmarish turn when Wilma is found dead on the street below their rooman apparent suicide. Rupert Kellogg has just returned from seeing his wife Amy through the difficulties surrounding the apparent suicide of her friend in Mexico. But Rupert is returning alonewhich worries Amys brother. Amy was traumatized by the suicide, Rupert explains, and has taken a holiday in New York City to settle her nerves. But as gone girl Amys absence drags on for weeks and then months, the sense of unease among her family changes to suspicion and eventual allegations lead to a paranoid investigation.

El joven Robert Osborn es un próspero ranchero de California, felizmente casado con Devon, una mujer guapa y devota. Una noche, Robert sale a buscar a su perro por los alrededores de su casa y no vuelve a saberse de el. Devon Osborn esta convencida de que su marido ha muerto, pues la policia encontro restos de sangre en un barracon, y una posible arma del crimen en los aledaños. Pero la madre de Robert, una mujer de voluntad de hierro, esta segura de que su hijo sigue con vida y esta mas que dispuesta a demostrarlo. Ambas mujeres se reunen en un juzgado de California, decididas a aclarar el misterio del paradero de Robert. La busqueda de la verdad hara pasar a Devon por una experiencia absolutamente pavorosa. El titulo de esta novela es un ejemplo de una de las mayores virtudes de Margaret Millar como novelista: su capacidad para reconocer los abismos de la mente humana, que incluso la persona de aspecto mas normal puede albergar. Mas alla hay monstruos explora e identifica, por un lado, los recovecos monstruosos de la psique humana, pero por otro, y esto es lo que hace de Millar una excepcional escritora, tambien explora y reconoce los aspectos buenos. Esta cualidad se pone de manifiesto en el comprensivo e imaginativo retrato que la autora hace de los personajes de este libro, adentrandose en lo mas hondo de su ser con una empatia y naturalidad insolitas.

A rediscovered classic of American noir - a suspenseful masterpiece about corrupted love, from one of crime writings greatest talentsWilma Wyatt died when she hit the pavement - on that, and on nothing else, the eyewitnesses agree. Now her body lies lifeless in the street outside her Mexico City hotel, but a story of blackmail, missing persons and murder, stretching all the way to San Francisco, is only just the beginning.Back in California, private detective Elmer Dodd looks for answers, but this is a mystery that grows more twisted with every turn, and blood will be spilled again before he gets to the truth.The Listening Walls is a suspenseful masterpiece about corrupted love, from a master of American noir.Margaret Millar (1915-1994) was the author of 27 books and a masterful pioneer of psychological mysteries and thrillers. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she spent most of her life in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband Ken Millar, who is better known by his nom de plume of Ross Macdonald. Her 1956 novel Beast in View won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In 1965 Millar was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year Award and in 1983 the Mystery Writers of America awarded her the Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement. Millars cutting wit and superb plotting have left her an enduring legacy as one of the most important crime writers of both her own and subsequent generations.

A rediscovered classic of American noir from one of crime writings greatest talents"In the whole of crime fictions distinguished sisterhood, there is no one quite like Margaret Millar"GuardianVirginia Barkeley is a nice, well brought-up girl. So what is she doing wandering through a snow storm in the middle of the night, blind drunk and covered in someone elses blood?When Claude Margolis body is found a quarter of a mile away with half-a-dozen stab wounds to the neck, suddenly Virginia doesnt seem such a nice girl after all. Her only hope is Meecham, the cynical small-town lawyer hired as her defence. But how can he believe in Virginias innocence when even she cant be sure what happened that night? And when the answer seems to fall into his lap, why wont he just walk away?"One of the most original and vital voices in all of American crime fiction"Laura Lippman, author of SunburnMargaret Millar (1915-1994) was the author of 27 books and a masterful pioneer of psychological mysteries and thrillers. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she spent most of her life in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband Ken Millar, who is better known by his nom de plume of Ross Macdonald. Her 1956 novel Beast in View won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In 1965 Millar was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year Award and in 1983 the Mystery Writers of America awarded her the Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement. Millars cutting wit and superb plotting have left her an enduring legacy as one of the most important crime writers of both her own and subsequent generations.

A nightmare becomes a terrifying reality in this rediscovered classic of American noir from one of crime writings greatest talentsA nightmare is haunting Daisy Harker. Night after night she walks a strange cemetery in her dreams, until she comes to a grave that stops her in her tracks. Its Daisys own, and according to the dates on the gravestone shes been dead for four years.What can this nightmare mean, and why is Daisys husband so insistent that she forget it? Driven to desperation, she hires a private investigator to reconstruct the day of her dream death. But as she pieces her past together, her present begins to fall apart...Margaret Millar (1915-1994) was the author of 27 books and a masterful pioneer of psychological mysteries and thrillers. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she spent most of her life in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband Ken Millar, who is better known by his nom de plume of Ross Macdonald. Her 1956 novel Beast in View won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In 1965 Millar was the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year Award and in 1983 the Mystery Writers of America awarded her the Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement. Millars cutting wit and superb plotting have left her an enduring legacy as one of the most important crime writers of both her own and subsequent generations.

El mundo puede llegar a ser terrorífico más allá de las cuatro paredes de una habitación de hotel. La jovenHelen Clarvoe tenía muy claro que su seguridad personal dependía de aquella reclusión voluntaria, hasta que recibio lallamada mas estremecedora de su vida: Evelyn Merrick, una supuesta ex compañera de colegio, le contaba que habia tenidouna vision onirica en la que Helen aparecia Helen sangrando y mutilada tras haber sufrido un terrible accidente.Aterrorizada y confusa, Helen decide pedir ayuda a su viejo amigo Paul Blackshear para que investigue quien es Evelyn ypor que ha pretendido asustarla con taldicha llamada. Paul, que decide echarle una mano, pronto comienza a seguirpistas que le conducen a un submundo de delincuencia, abuso de drogas y pornografia, algo que no solo implica a ladesconocida Evelyn, sino tambien a su propia amiga Helen.