Beast in View (1955)

This very short novel by Margaret Millar won an Edgar Award in 1956 for Best Novel, but I’m really not so sure and even have some impulse to argue with various internet reviewers who also think it’s great. For one thing, it’s full of the usual outdated midcentury ideas such as a woman’s life is over if she reaches the age of 30 without being married and having kids. It’s easy to take potshots at stuff like this, but it’s hard to avoid the temptation here. Another complaint was that people in this story were hearing from old friends on the phone but never recognizing their voice. It’s possible that can be explained away by the reveal at the end, but it doesn’t help the issue before that. Probably the worst thing to contemporary sensibilities is the treatment of a gay man, presented as more like mentally ill. The reveal of his sexuality is apparently meant to explain all his erratic behavior, except it doesn’t really. Nevertheless, Beast in View won one of the most prestigious awards for mystery/suspense fiction. It’s also included in the Library of America two-volume series of suspense novels by women crime writers. I can’t explain it, and for that matter have to say I didn’t find most of the eight suspense novels in the series that good, although one or two (notably Mischief) are great. This is one of the weakest. There are also some mumbo-jumbo plot devices here about multiple personality disorders, which were not understood well in 1955. But they made handy devices in more novels than just this one. Seems like Jim Thompson turned to them frequently as well. This is the second novel by Millar I’ve read—maybe I’m not getting to the best because neither one did much for me. I’m more surprised actually that these LOA choices are coming up so short because its American Noir series is often stellar and has no duds. Millar was married to hardboiled detective writer Ross Macdonald (aka Kenneth Millar) and won a lot of praise in her own right, more reason for surprise she has been disappointing so far. I didn’t think the characters or situations here were much believable. It’s possible Beast in View is better than a lot of mystery/suspense stuff written by men in the ‘50s but I still didn’t think it was very good. It may not be bad as a document of bad takes from the era, but that’s about its only utility as far as I can see.

In case the library is closed due to pandemic, which is over. (Library of America)