The Death Wish/Net of Cobwebs (Stark House Mystery Classics) [Paperback]

Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (Author)

Book Description

Series: Stark House Mystery Classics | Publication Date: February 28, 2004

THE DEATH WISH: Mr. Delancey's wife belittles him, controlling his purse strings, eroding his self respect. His best friend is Robert Whitestone, a frustrated artist who is having trouble with his own wife, and is also in love with another woman. When Whitestone's wife is found drowned, what can Delancey do? He has to help his friend. If only his wife weren't so hateful about the whole thing, harassing him at every turn. It was almost as if she were trying to drive him to murder. NET OF COBWEBS: Malcolm Drake had been a merchant seaman but he had a nervous breakdown and now he lives in his brother's house with his sister-in-law and her sister, Virginia--and domineering Aunt Evie. When Aunt Evie drops dead at a party one evening the rumors quickly spread that he had something to do with it. And now the police are starting to ask questions. Drake is enmeshed in a net of cobwebs, unable to trust his own thoughts, and the strands are growing tighter by the moment.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The publisher has a good eye for neglected crime writing, following Peter Rabe's The Box/Journey into Terror [BKL Mr 15 04] with these fine reissues. Holding was a "serious" novelist until Depression-era financial woes drove her to mysteries. The results were unique and intriguing, what Gregory Shepard calls "whydunits" in his introduction. And while he calls her "the precursor to the entire women's psychological suspense genre," it's likely she had an influence on male writers, too. After all, the leads in both these short novels are fully fleshed men. In The Death Wish, a cheerful sap in an unequal marriage is shocked to realize he wishes his wife were dead--an insight gained when a friend confesses a plan to murder his wife. In Net of Cobwebs, a sailor traumatized by a wartime incident finds himself the prime suspect in a string of murders. There are strong similarities in the tales, but it doesn't matter: both feature striking perspectives (especially Cobwebs, where the protagonist can't trust his own perception) and sharp dialogue, whether spoken or interior. Keir Graff
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Review

"For subtlety, realistic conviction, incredible economy, she's in a class by herself." -- Anthony Boucher<br /><br />"Tense situations and almost unbearable suspense." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch<br /><br />"Terrifying and terrific." --San Francisco Chronicle

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Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: Stark House Press (February 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966784898
• ISBN-13: 978-0966784893
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,390,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)