Nancy Oakes's Reviews > Poor Harriet / The Silent Cousin

really, about a 4.5 -- I just happened to really love the first book a bit more than the second, although that one's almost as good.

Full post is here at my reading journal:

http://www.crimesegments.com/2024/02/...

Released just recently, this two-books-in-one edition from Stark House features the work of a woman whose work may not be a household name among mystery readers, but deserves to be brought back into the light. Elizabeth Fenwick (1916-1996), aka E.P. Fenwick, wrote her first novel just after high school. It was rejected upon submission, and she moved on to other things, including French translations. Evidently she wasn't one to give up -- in 1943 Farrar and Rinehart published her An Inconvenient Corpse and two more crime novels under the E.P. Fenwick pseudonym in 1944 and 1945. She would return to crime fiction again in 1957 with Poor Harriet, but she hadn't sat idle in between, having written three non-crime books (and evidently a very busy life, according to Curtis Evans' introduction to this volume) before returning to the genre.

I absolutely loved Poor Harriet, which, although written over sixty years ago, still sadly has great relevance to our own time with its frank depiction of domestic abuse/violence against women and the tragedy of mental illness, made even more heartbreaking because in this particular case there is no help in sight. The core mystery is nicely done as well; I eventually figured out the who but not until very close to the end. Unlike most of the time when I guess the culprit, I didn't care about that -- what captured me most was the depth of humanity Fenwick managed to infuse into the character of "Poor Harriet." Mysteries come and go but Harriet (and this book) I won't soon forget. The Silent Cousin is also nicely done; like Poor Harriet, this novel also has an intense, psychological depth to it, in this case examining the effects of the burdens people silently carry for those they love, even in situations that are destined to end in failure. It also has a chilling ending and a reveal that I never saw coming. Both books are two examples of the type of crime I love to read, with the author's intense psychological scrutiny of her characters at work in and around the mysteries that are there to be solved. Fenwick was a wonderful writer, and I will look forward to any of her work published in the future. Do not let the publication dates of these novels deter you -- her subject matter is still highly relevant and she can weave a hell of a tale together, keeping you hanging until the last page is turned. Recommended for true-blue mystery/crime readers of the period (like me!) as well as to readers who appreciate some truly good writing.