Fair Warning

by Mignon G. Eberhart

Trapped in an evil man’s house, a young wife searches for an escapeThough she can’t admit it to anyone, the day of her husband’s car accident is one of the best days in Marcia Godden’s short life. After three years of marriage to Ivan, she has seen his darkest side, and now his very footsteps are enough to make her shudder. A guilty thrill goes through her when she hears of his accident, only to be replaced by terror when she learns that her husband is going to live. For four glorious, peaceful weeks, Ivan remains in the hospital. In the relief of this temporary freedom, Marcia confides in her neighbor, cheerful, handsome Robert Copley, and soon falls in love with him. Not long after her husband’s return from the hospital, Marcia finds Ivan stabbed in the chest, and police suspicion falls on her. To save herself from prison, she must prove herself innocent of the murder of the one man she most wanted dead.

Genres: Mystery, Gothic, Suspense

281 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Mignon Good (1899-1996) was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. She studied at Nebraska Wesleyan University from 1917 to 1920. In 1923 she married Alanson C. Eberhart, a civil engineer. After working as a freelance journalist, she decided to become a full-time writer. In 1929 her first crime novel was published featuring 'Sarah Keate', a nurse and 'Lance O'Leary', a police detective. This couple appeared in another four novels. In the Forties, she and her husband divorced. She married John Hazen Perry in 1946 but two years later she divorced him and remarried her first husband. Over the next forty years she wrote a novel nearly every year. In 1971 she won the Grand Master award from the Mystery Writers of America. She also wrote many short stories featuring banker/amateur sleuth James Wickwire (who could be considered a precursor to Emma Lathen's John Putnam Thatcher) and mystery writer/amateur sleuth Susan Dare.

Reviews

[Anto M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se un giallo del 1930 riesce a tenerti incollata alle pagine, è un ottimo giallo.
Marcia, la protagonista, si trova intrappolata in un matrimonio con un uomo crudele che morirà in circostanze sospette. Marcia sarà la prima indiziata, ancora di più quando una seconda persona verrà assassinata e lei aveva il movente per volerla morta.
Non ho avuto picchi di noia nonostante la storia si svolga in casa della vittima e in quella del vicino che avrà un ruolo cruciale nella storia, anzi ho trovato le descrizioni della casa e della biblioteca in particolare, perfette.
Finale inaspettato, pur avendo intuito qualcosa.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

After my travails squelching through the swamps of S.S. Van Dine's The Benson Murder Case, I was desperate to swim for a while in clear waters, and rather to my surprise I found them in this M.G. Everhart novel. I say "rather to my surprise" because 'way back when, as a teenager or possibly in my early twenties, I tried an Eberhart and was underwhelmed by it. Once bitten, twice shy -- and in my case I was shy for a period of decades. However, finally conquering my innate diffidence . . .

Lovely young Marcia Godden has had the misfortune to be married for three years to the older, sadistic Ivan Godden -- and so, in effect, married also to his even ghastlier sister Beatrice. When Ivan was nearly killed in a traffic accident, Marcia had to face the fact that ideally she'd have liked him to die in the hospital; but his life was saved by the brilliant surgeon Graham Blakie. Now, weeks later, Ivan comes home from the hospital, intent on avenging himself on the wife who had the temerity to smite him earlier in the day of his accident. What he doesn't know is that in the interim Marcia has recognized another fact: that she and the next door neighbor, Robert Copley, are madly, passionately in love. But, obviously, with Ivan having just returned from his long ordeal, this would be the wrong time to broach the subject of divorce . . .

Robert has been home mere hours when he's murdered. Sister Beatrice is half-convinced that Marcia is the killer but doesn't care either way; she has circumstantial evidence that makes Marcia look guilty, evidence she can hold over Marcia's head to make sure the widow doesn't contest the new will Ivan made, just before his popular exit, leaving everything to Beatrice. But then Beatrice in turn is murdered . . .

Things look worse and worse for Marcia and Robert until in the end, of course, everything is cleared up and the real killer identified.

I have to confess that -- on the gut-instinct principle -- I spotted the murderer within a few pages of the novel's start, but Eberhart so skilfully wove her pattern of red herrings and surprise developments as to completely bamboozle me, and it was only really in the denouement that I was able to tell myself, a tad dishonestly, "I was right!" And even then there was a soupcon of lingering uncertainty for a further few pages.

I guess this novel would fall into the romantic suspense/gothic mystery category, and I'm sure some might find the writing a bit overwrought. But Marcia's a great heroine as she slowly unravels from being the downtrodden child bride to become an independent spirit more than capable of sticking up for what's right and what she wants to happen. I found myself reading at breakneck speed, turning the (digital) pages eagerly to find out what came next. For me, a very rewarding piece of entertainment.

[Gypsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marcia has been married for three miserable years to Ivan, an emotionally abusive manipulator. Her neighbor, Rob, confesses that he loves Marcia and begs her to leave Ivan, but in her fragile mental state, she simply can't. That night, Ivan is found murdered and Marcia is the most likely suspect.

Eberhart creates a sense of dread from the very beginning, gradually increasing it until the tense atmosphere is nearly smothering. The clues and false clues are clever -- every time I was certain I had the answer, I had to start over again. While it's not a five star book, it was certainly entertaining and gripping.

[Ethan Hulbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good. There wasn't anything that supremely captured my interest, and it took a little while to really pick up. I knew who the killer was pretty early on and although Eberhart's writing is good enough to cast doubt until the end so I wasn't totally sure, I was still pretty dang sure... and I was right.

A lot of clues and details were left for the very end, so the pacing seemed kind of off to me, but I still liked reading it.

[Rick Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major characters:

The Godden household:
Marcia Godden, our protagonist, wife of...
Ivan Godden, just home from the hospital
Beatrice Godden, Ivan's sister
Emma Beck, cook
Ancill, chauffeur
Delia, housemaid

The Copley household, next door:
Robert Copley, Marcia's secret love
Verity Copley, Robert's widowed mother
Stella, housemaid

And:
Galway "Gally" Trench, Marcia's cousin
Dr. Graham Blakie
Jacob Wait, detective
Lt. Davies


Locale: Baryton, a tony suburb of Chicago

Synopsis:

Marcia Godden is dreading the return home of her husband, domineering Ivan Godden, after a hospital stay of a month following a car accident. He is now in good health but has a bandaged foot. Ivan is bad to her. She longs for her love, Robert Copley, next door; but has refrained from any sort of affair in loyalty to her marriage.

The Copleys host a dinner party on the evening Ivan arrives home. Marcia dresses and comes downstairs, one of the last to leave. She looks in the library and finds Ivan on the floor, a knife in him. He urges her to pull it out - as she attempts to, he dies. His sister Beatrice Godden walks in to see Marcia kneeling over him, both hands on the knife.

Marcia knows she didn't do it, and believes Robert has done this to get Ivan out of the way. They share that motive, and Robert had penned a love letter to Marcia which is stashed in the library as the police search the premises. Another murder will follow as suspicion points to Marcia.

Review:

The signature Eberhart love triangle is set up immediately. Protagonist Marcia is trapped in a bad marriage to a bad man, with much-better-choice Robert Copley lined up right next door. This is classic Eberhart at her best. The descriptions of the household, and particularly the library, are perfect. The case builds against a certain person - but then, that person is murdered also. This has a small cast of characters, and even a loose end at the end (what happened to Ancill?) does not detract from it.

[Nancyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an old mystery from the 1930s. I really liked this book alot. It pretty much took place at the home of the victim & the house next door. Lots of clues & people in shadows.