Rosaleen Wright was the assistant to Luther Grandison, a powerful and charismatic actor, with a voice seeming capable of persuading anyone to do anything. When she committed suicide, hanging herself with a note by her side, no foul play is suspected by anyone but her friend Jane. Recruiting her nephew (who’s the same age as her), she infiltrates the household as Grandison’s new assistant and assumes the identity of the husband of Matilda, a ward of Grandison who was recently lost at sea.

Problems arise when Matilda – Tyl – returns from certain death, only to be persuaded that she has forgotten her quick pre-boat trip marriage. But as Francis and Jane struggle with their investigation and Tyl’s growing suspicion, will the unsuspected murderer strike again?

You might have noticed that I haven’t written a “Plans for 2026” post for the blog. I might write one later, but one thing I do intend to do this year is to read more classic crime fiction from authors who I’ve not tried or only read occasionally. Last year, only 21 out of the 120 books that I read could be considered “classic” crime, so I decided to up that number this year. I’ve already reviewed a Perry Mason title and now we come to this one.

I’ve read one Charlotte Armstrong book to date, The Better To Eat You, and the curse of Book Club struck again. To be fair, the people who recommended it did so based on better books that they’d read, notably this one, so after hearing the praises of this being sung to the heavens more than once, I thought I’d better try it.

And it’s kind of hard to review in much detail, as it’s best read knowing as little as possible going into it. Is it an inverted mystery? Is it a whodunnit or a what-the-hell-is-going-on mystery? Knowing that would, I think, rob the reader of something, so I’m going be quiet about that aspect (the plot) so what else can I talk about?

Well, the reader has to accept we are in that parallel world that a lot of classic crime fiction is set in, where women can be tricked into thinking they might have married someone, where a rich old man can have multiple trusting young women around him, all of which call him Grandy for some reason… If you think about it too hard, the whole set-up smacks of unreality, but if the reader embraces that, they are in for a treat.

The plot keeps moving and twisting as the story goes on, with a switch to a different protagonist at the halfway stage keeping things fresh. There’s some interesting stuff as well as it takes a long time for one character to begin questioning things and even then, they never seem sure until the very end – a climax which, by the way, I found very effective, making use of “Grandy”’s persuasive abilities in a really interesting way.

Fair to say, in reflection, this isn’t my usual cup of tea, but I did enjoy it a lot – it’s a very atmospheric read and builds the tension very effectively. And luckily, it’s recently been reprinted by the American Mystery Classics range, so you can read it too!