The quintessential Hollywood mystery novel—clever, humorous, and thoroughly Hitchcockian—a faded actress’s death sows chaos among a quirky set of characters in the nervous hills of California.
Rose’s best days are behind her. No longer does she star on the silver screen, and her drinking and money troubles have eroded her wealth and societal status. Rose has no friends in the world except for a nosy landlord and her psychologist; her life is all but over. But authorities are still suspicious when she turns up dead in the garden of a wealthy doll manufacturer. Despite the coroner’s finding of a natural death, a series of inquiries made, first by her ex-husband, then her psychologist, and eventually stir up enough doubts for the police to get involved. But involved in what?
PRAISE FOR MARGARET MILLAR
Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year
“One of the most original and vital voices in all of American crime fiction.” —Laura Lippman
“I long ago changed my writing name to Ross Macdonald for obvious reasons.” —Kenneth Millar (Ross Macdonald), in a letter to the Toronto Saturday Night newspaper
“Very Original.” —Agatha Christie
"Stunningly original." —Val McDermid
“She has few peers, and no superior in the art of bamboozlement.” —Julian Symons
“Written with such complete realization of every character that the most bitter antagonist of mystery fiction may be forced to acknowledge it as a work of art.” —Anthony Boucher reviewing Beast in View for the New York Times
“Margaret Millar can build up the sensation of fear so strongly that at the end it literally hits you like a battering ram.” —BBC
“Wonderfully ingenious.” —The New Yorker
“Brilliantly superlative… One of the most impressive additions to mystery literature—and the word “literature” is used in its fullest sense.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“In the whole of crime fiction’s distinguished sisterhood, there is no one quite like Margaret Millar.” —The Guardian
“A superb writer.” —H.R.F. Keating
“She writes minor classics.” —Washington Post
“Mrs. Millar doesn't attract fans she creates addicts.” —Dilys Winn, namesake of the Dilys Award
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. Millar's 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.
The quintessential Hollywood mystery novel—clever, humorous, and thoroughly Hitchcockian—a faded actress’s death sows chaos among a quirky set of characters in the nervous hills of California.
Rose’s best days are behind her. No longer does she star on the silver screen, and her drinking and money troubles have eroded her wealth and societal status. Rose has no friends in the world except for a nosy landlord and her psychologist; her life is all but over. But authorities are still suspicious when she turns up dead in the garden of a wealthy doll manufacturer. Despite the coroner’s finding of a natural death, a series of inquiries made, first by her ex-husband, then her psychologist, and eventually stir up enough doubts for the police to get involved. But involved in what?
Reviews
PRAISE FOR MARGARET MILLAR
Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year
“One of the most original and vital voices in all of American crime fiction.” —Laura Lippman
“I long ago changed my writing name to Ross Macdonald for obvious reasons.” —Kenneth Millar (Ross Macdonald), in a letter to the Toronto Saturday Night newspaper
“Very Original.” —Agatha Christie
"Stunningly original." —Val McDermid
“She has few peers, and no superior in the art of bamboozlement.” —Julian Symons
“Written with such complete realization of every character that the most bitter antagonist of mystery fiction may be forced to acknowledge it as a work of art.” —Anthony Boucher reviewing Beast in View for the New York Times
“Margaret Millar can build up the sensation of fear so strongly that at the end it literally hits you like a battering ram.” —BBC
“Wonderfully ingenious.” —The New Yorker
“Brilliantly superlative… One of the most impressive additions to mystery literature—and the word “literature” is used in its fullest sense.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“In the whole of crime fiction’s distinguished sisterhood, there is no one quite like Margaret Millar.” —The Guardian
“A superb writer.” —H.R.F. Keating
“She writes minor classics.” —Washington Post
“Mrs. Millar doesn't attract fans she creates addicts.” —Dilys Winn, namesake of the Dilys Award
Author
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. Millar's 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.
