The Murder of Miranda

Tom Aragon #2

by Margaret Millar

Where is Miranda Shaw? She had just been widowed and her lawyer needs her signature for probate, but her mansion is empty and two addled teenagers, Cordelia and Juliet, are wearing her jewellery. Has she eloped? With Grady, the lifeguard at her club, who is also missing? Is she dodging her lawyer? Or has she been murdered ... ?

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Womens, Detective, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm) was an American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she was educated there and in Toronto. She moved to the United States after marrying Kenneth Millar (better known under the pen name Ross Macdonald). They resided for decades in the city of Santa Barbara, which was often utilized as a locale in her later novels under the pseudonyms of San Felice or Santa Felicia.

Millar's books are distinguished by sophistication of characterization. Often we are shown the rather complex interior lives of the people in her books, with issues of class, insecurity, failed ambitions, loneliness or existential isolation or paranoia often being explored with an almost literary quality that transcends the mystery genre. Unusual people, mild societal misfits or people who don't quite fit into their surroundings are given much interior detail. In some of the books we are given chilling and fascinating insight into what it feels like to be losing touch with reality and evolving into madness. In general, she is a writer of both expressive description and yet admirable economy, often ambitious in the sociological underpinnings of the stories and the quality of the writing.

Millar often delivers effective and ingenious "surprise endings," but the details that would allow the solution of the surprise have usually been subtly included, in the best genre tradition. One of the distinctions of her books, however, is that they would be interesting, even if you knew how they were going to end, because they are every bit as much about subtleties of human interaction and rich psychological detail of individual characters as they are about the plot.

Millar was a pioneer in writing intelligently about the psychology of women. Even as early as the '40s and '50s, her books have a very mature and matter-of-fact view of class distinctions, sexual freedom and frustration, and the ambivalence of moral codes depending on a character's economic circumstances. Her earliest novels seem unusually frank. Read against the backdrop of Production Code-era movies of the time, they remind us that life as lived in the '40s and '50s was not as black-and-white morally as Hollywood would have us believe.

While she was not known for any one recurring detective (unlike her husband, whose constant gumshoe was Lew Archer), she occasionally used a detective character for more than one novel. Among her occasional ongoing sleuths were Canadians Dr. Paul Prye (her first invention, in the earliest books) and Inspector Sands (a quiet, unassuming Canadian police inspector who might be the most endearing of her recurring inventions). In the California years, a few books featured either Joe Quinn, a rather down-on-his-luck private eye, or Tom Aragorn, a young, Hispanic lawyer.
Sadly, most of Millar's books are out of print in America, with the exception of the short story collection The Couple Next Door and two novels, An Air That Kills and Do Evil In Return, that have been re-issued as classics by Stark House Press in California.

In 1956 Millar won the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Best Novel award for Beast in View. In 1965 she was awarded the Woman of the Year Award by the Los Angeles Times. In 1983 she was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition of her lifetime achievements.

Reviews

[Karen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible is delving into backlist titles these days, producing audiobooks for titles that are years and years old. As part of this endeavor I narrated this title and am about to start working on another by Millar called The Cannibal Heart.
I wish I were more of a literary scholar so I could articulate the comparisons effectively, but I can say that I love Millar's writing. The Murder of Miranda is no typical murder mystery. It is a bizarre but satisfying mix of crazy wacky characters with a rather deep psychological study. With the feel a black and white movie, its a fun and breezy read that jabs a little knife in every once in awhile.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Van Eyck had a great deal of money which he didn’t want to spend, and a great deal of time which he didn’t know how to spend. On sunny days he sat on the club terrace writing anonymous letters.

Except for the letter-writing part, this seems to be the condition of most of the members of the Penguin Club, a fictional club in a fictional town on the beach somewhere in southern California. We soon meet other characters, including Mr. Van Eyck's sister Iris Young, her daughters, as well as Miranda Shaw who has been recently widowed. Among the not so well-heeled characters are the lifeguard Brady and the club secretary Ellen.

I was surprised at the light tone at the beginning of this, which more than bordered on levity. As I read I decided this levity began to indicate a darker side, though still not as far as Noir. Noir is what I was expecting, but its lack ended up not being a huge disappointment. The short biography of Margaret Millar refers to her cutting wit and perhaps I should have been better prepared. This biography also says Millar was known for her superb plotting. That comment fits this novel well.

This completed a year in my mysteries challenge but is the second in the Tom Aragon series. I don't think I missed any background by reading this before the first in the series, but I liked it well enough that I am happy I already have that first on my shelf. Is this 4-stars? Close.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's A LOT going on in this book. It is extremely funny and extremely tragic. Really one of the best dark comedies I have read, if it can be considered a comedy. Millar plays with the conventions of both the murder mystery and Classical/Elizabethan theater. Throw a little of the post-modern self-reflexivity in there and you have the makings of a terrific story. Like many of Millar's books, this one begs to be re-read.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid 3.5 stars rounded up because “Millar.” She never disappoints, and true to form, the zinger comes in the last page. It’s a downright pity that she has been all but forgotten. Thankfully, her books are being released (albeit slowly and erratically) as e-books.

Think of her as a kinder, gentler Patricia Highsmith.

[Craig Pittman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cleverly written novel that's more of a dark comedy than an actual mystery, I found this novel to be something of a letdown from its predecessor.

Margaret Millar's first book about fast-talking Mexican-American lawyer Tom Aragon, "Ask for Me Tomorrow," showed him being dispatched to Mexico to track down a missing man, where he solved a trio of murders but wound up unable to do anything about it. Aragon was a delight to follow -- sharper than people expected, cracking jokes mostly for his own amusement, following clues no matter where they led.

This second Aragon novel is missing one major element: Aragon. "The Murder of Miranda" again sends him in search of a missing person -- the title character, widow Miranda Shaw -- but he tracks her down fairly easily, and then disappears from the plot for a long stretch. Instead we got the droll antics of rich people with too much time on their hands -- a drunk who writes anonymous poison pen letters; a lifeguard who's not as smart as he is handsome and greedy; a lovelorn office clerk and her nitwit boss; a rampaging juvenile delinquent; a foul-tempered invalid and her hubby, a retired admiral; and, worst of all, a pair of wealthy but incredible dense sisters -- the daughters of the admiral and the invalid -- whose gosspy ways put Miranda into legal jeopardy.

The stories of this collection of flibbertigibbets, both at home and at a country club called the Penguin Club, make for amusing reading but after a while they begin to wear on your nerves and you keep wondering, "Where's Aragon? Isn't he the main character?" The answer is: He shows up again, toward the end, but not in any exciting capacity. The last line of the book is quite the kicker, but it's not enough to make me feel like I didn't waste my time reading this.

Here's hoping the third and final Tom Aragon novel is more like the first one.

[Juan Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un poco floja, siendo las apariciones de Aragon bastante escasas. Buenas descripciones, sentido del humor , pero no más allá de las tres estrellas.

[Tina Tamman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully produced copy of the book, it has been a pleasure to hold it in my hand. The reading has not been as quick and pleasurable as expected. It is a murder story and there is an interesting conclusion, but it is hard to visualise the people and they are not that pleasant either. Parts of it reminded me of "Ask for Me Tomorrow", maybe because one of the key characters is again Tom Aragon, a young lawyer, who is instructed to go to Mexico. The situations over there are pretty similar in both books.
"A Stranger in My Grave" remains Millar's best as far as I am concerned. But she is certainly worth reading. Not many of her books are in print though.

[Maryanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a clever and humorous story of a murder in the making of a youth obsessed aging widow. The twist in the surprise ending reveals the extent of vengefulness and spitefulness. The lull of the dialogue of the idle rich characters at times seemed extraneous to the story, but witty and well written and a pleasant read.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favourite of the Millar books I’ve read. It’s like she picked up and put down this project a half a dozen times and took a different route each time. I wouldn’t recommend this as anyone’s first Millar.

[☺Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rather enjoyed this dated yet psychologically relevant mystery.
Tom Aragon seemed much like Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolfe's sidekick - honorable, trustworthy, yet a bit of a wise guy.
The twist at the end was a nice touch.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

See review book 1 of the Tom Aragon series.

[Klaus Mattes · Rating 1 out of 5]

„Der Mord von Miranda“? Den allerlängsten Teil fragt man sich, wo ist da ein Mord? Wer wird eigentlich ermordet, jemand von Miranda oder Miranda von jemand? Okay, gegen Ende wird man es noch erfahren, so man dann noch dabei ist. Nach all den unendlich vielen kleinen Portionen, die immer wieder von einer anderen Person aus dem Penguin Club berichten. (Ich weiß nicht, aber ich habe, wie ich jetzt merke, stark was gegen Bücher, die sich nicht für Kapitel entscheiden können, egal, ob diese dann Titel haben oder durchnummeriert werden. Man kann vor dem Lesen mal schauen, wie viele es sind, überlegen, wie viele man pro Tag schaffen wird, beim Lesen ein paar Seiten vorblättern, wie lange es bis zum Etappenziel noch dauert.)

Der Penguin Club ist eine geschlossene, private Sport- und Freizeitanlage für nicht ganz Arme im südlichen Kalifornien. Wo man ein bisschen im Becken plantscht, im Badeanzug unter dem Sonnenschirm liegt, sich Cocktails reichen lässt, auf den kross gebrannten Bademeister-Gigolo spannt.

Miranda ist die Witwe eines reichen Alkoholikers, die im Leben noch nie arbeiten musste, jetzt mit einer großen Erbschaft rechnet, darum von dem Bademeister angebaggert wird und mit ihm nach Mexiko verduftet. Große Teile des Buchs werden aus der Sicht eines Angestellten eines Anwalts erzählt, der sie aufspüren muss, damit sie Dokumente unterschreibt, die sie zur Erbin machen. Während sich in Mexiko der Galan ihren Sportwagen geschnappt hat und sie mit jüngeren Frauen betrügt, stellt sich heraus, dass der Gatte nur Schulden hinterlassen hat. Sie ist ruiniert, muss aus dem Haus und aus dem Penguin Club raus, wird von ihrem Galan verlassen, aber zuerst schrottet er den Sportwagen. Somit hat sie dann auch ein erstes Motiv für einen Mord.

Da kommen noch andere dazu, denn sie heiratet, um den Lebensstandard zu halten, ein anderes Club-Mitglied, einen vertrottelten Ex-Militär.

All dies und die Verbrechen erst ganz am Ende. Davor stehen Hunderte von Seiten und kleinen Texthappen, in denen zwischen all den anderen Menschen dieses Clubs hin und her geflasht wird. Und die sind durch die Bank bescheuert, böse, kleine, egomane Biester. Zwei Enkel, die sadistische Streiche aushecken. Zwei verklemmte Schwestern, die sich und alle anderen verachten. Eine manipulierte Sekretärin. Ein alter Spanner, der anonyme Briefe mit Mordanschuldigungen verschickt. Und noch mehr. Man würde vielleicht von „illusionslos scharfem Blick auf die Schäbigkeit des Menschengeschlechts“ sprechen, wenn es sich um Menschen handeln würde, die man irgendwo zu treffen sich vorstellen könnte.

Es handelt sich jedoch um groteske Zappelpuppen, die eine fleißige Schreiberin sich ausgedacht hat, um sich über sie lustig zu machen. Das ist vor allem eins: todlangweilig. (Ich hatte Gutes über diese Autorin gehört. Aber nach diesem Verbrechen kann ich wohl nichts mehr von ihr lesen.)

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover declares this to be "A New Suspense Novel by . . .", but in fact it's not that at all: there's no suspense at all, and no attempt to create any. What the book is instead is a comedy that had me laughing as often and as loud as a Terry Pratchett novel. The only violent death occurs very late in the book and proves not to be a murder at all, while the murderer of Miranda is revealed before Miranda has actually been murdered -- an event that (presumably) takes place after the end of the book.

Oh, wait, no -- there's one more crime worth mentioning, as we discover when the widowed Miranda recalls the aquarium she once had and that husband Neville detested:

The fish solved the problem by dying off rather quickly, with, Miranda suspected, some help from Neville, because the water had begun to look murky and smell of Scotch.

[Lynn Deuterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light, predictable - Until the End

Great book. I never know where Millar is taking me until those last pages. She's lulled me to sleep, then jars me awake. Great read. Never know what to expect.

[Tom Mcgovern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found the author in a line of a Richard Thompson song. Married to Ross McDonald making an interesting junction of mystery writing royalty. Left me wanting to read more Millar and MacDonald.

[Carla]

An innovative and lively novel, not quite in the crime genre. Apart from biting satire, the novel offers some wacky characters and a wisecracking kid, to balance the neurotic, spoiled Miranda. Lots of fun.

[Mary Ellen]

This is quite a romp back into a country club time with a cast of characters, the romeo life guard, the widow Miranda, the Admiral's daughters, the lawyer Aragon,the gossip Van Eyck, and the mafia-connected delinquent. Silliness like Miranda's infatuation with Grady or her civilizing the Admiral's daughters abounds, but my attention was kept and I found myself becoming a Margaret Millar fan. This was a quick read off to more reads by Millar