Malice Matrimonial

by Joan Fleming

Henry Ormskirk is jilted by the girl he thinks he loves, and immediately falls for the daughter of a prominent dress designer, to whom he becomes engaged within twenty-four hours of meeting. But when the marriage begins to grow dull Henry can't resist the temptations of his ex-girlfriend.

Then his wife abruptly disappears. It is possible that she's run off to make the police believe her husband killed her, hoping that he will be executed, leaving his recently inherited fortune to her child. But when her body appears, shot to death, the police believe a third party is involved.

'Odd and excellent' New York Herald Tribune

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Joan Margaret Fleming was a British writer of crime and thriller novels. She was educated at Lausanne University.

She married Norman Bell Beattie Fleming in 1932. The Turkish detective Nuri Bey Izkirlak features in two of her books, 'When I Grow Rich and 'Nothing is the Number When You Die'.

Her novel 'The Deeds of Dr Deadcert' was made into a film 'RX Murder'. She won the Gold Dagger award twice, for 'When I Grow Rich' in 1962 and for 'Young Man I Think You're Dying' in 1970.

She wrote 33 novels beginning with 'Two Lovers Too Many' in 1949 and ending with 'The Day of the Donkey Derby' in 1978.

Reviews

[Jazz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never having read a book by Joan Fleming before, I wasn't sure what to expect. Overall, I thought this was an interesting novel of psychological suspense, the mystery fueled more by psychology than by detection. The characters seemed annoyingly real and not particularly anyone you'd want to know. But it's a short novel, and even though somewhat slow-moving, once begun, you will want to finish it to find out the truth of what happened. The writing itself was excellent and several clever passages remained with me, the shortest being:

"[I]t was, as always, that deep desire not to appear a fool, inherent only in strength in someone who, in fact, is one."

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this late-1960s British mystery novel, but it was also very dark and cynical and just... odd. And that is part of the reason I liked it, but also part of the reason that I didn't love it. I need to think on this one a bit more -- certainly worth reading, but don't expect to feel great about spending time with any of these characters...