The Better to Eat You

by Charlotte Armstrong

Grandfather, What Evil Eyes You Have!

"We have never known whether these things happened or whether Sarah wants them to happen..."

Disaster seemed to follow Sarah in the form of grisly and often fatal accidents. And it seemed to stop when she took refuse in her grandfather's house.

Until she found out that Grandfather wasn't Grandfather, her mysterious accidents were really his malicious crimes, and the final bit of "bad luck" he had planned for Sarah was her own brutal death...

Genres: Mystery, Gothic, Romance, Fiction

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Full name Charlotte Armstrong Lewi. Wrote 29 novels, plus short stories and plays under the name Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine. Additional writing jobs: New York Times (advertising department), Breath of the Avenue (fashion reporter).

Reviews

[Carla Remy]

09/2022

From 1954
This has good, dark fairy tale aspects. There is a character named Malvina. Much description of architecture that can only be California, reminding me of her The Chocolate Cobweb. Which is amazing, but not the best of actual plot.
Anyway I just didn't love this, I guess I couldn't get into the characters.
I truly loved, gave 5 stars to, Mischief and the Albatross by Charlotte Armstrong.

[Bill]

The Better to Eat You is the second mystery I've enjoyed by American mystery writer, Charlotte Armstrong. It's a neat little mystery, with lots going on and many twists and turns. Most enjoyable page turner.

Professor David Wakely finds himself attracted to one of his students, Sarah Shepherd. He's impressed with her work and offers her a job as a research assistant. He's very surprised by her response. She tells him she's a Jonah, a jinx, and that anyone with whom she's involved has accidents or worse tragedies.

Wakely is now intrigued and forces his way into her life, showing up at the families estate and trying to persuade her Grandfather, an ex-song and dance man from England, to let her help him. The household is peopled with strange, mysterious residents; Grandfather Fox (is he who he seems to be?), Malvina, Sarah's cousin?, and Edgar Perrott, Grandfather's personal physician. They all watch over Sarah and it becomes obvious that they have some ulterior motives towards her.

Now, interestingly, none of this is hidden from the reader. We see the story from all of their points of view, although David is the major protagonist. Does Grandfather want to kill Sarah? If so, why? Or is it Malvina? It's a fascinating interplay of reactions and interactions. Who is doing what? Why?

So many questions keep popping up and the story moves along very nicely. The characters are all interesting. The weakest might be Sarah, although she is everybody's seeming target, so maybe that's understandable. All in all, it's a fascinating story and mystery. Well worth checking out. (4.0 stars)

[Kate]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)]

This is one of those books of which I can say, "It is excellently well written--which is why I didn't like it." Therefore four stars. As an example of the writer's craft, it's fantastic. Charlotte Armstrong was known for her psychological thrillers, some of which I found pretty pedestrian, but this one is a whole other basket of veggies. This one is ca-reepy! From the outside, you wouldn't think so, but it really is atmospheric, reminding me of Dark Shadows (the original BW series).

The main characters are all pretty unlikeable, from shivering whimpering Sarah to the creepy elderly ex-clown. Even Moon, the "Chinese" cook with his incomprehensible babble, is annoying. (Why would Sarah, who lived and worked for a few years in Japan and started to learn the language, find she could understand a few words of what Moon says? Chinese and Japanese are nothing alike.) BUT. And it's a big "but"--it all works together. Oddly, Armstrong lets the reader in on the whole plot from the get-go. So why is it so suspenseful? Perhaps precisely because we know what's really happening, and meant to happen! It's not a whodunit. It's not even a "who's doin' it." It's more an OMG, is THAT gonna be done?

Did I enjoy reading it? No. And yet I couldn't put it down till I had finished every last page!
If "dark" and disturbing is your cuppa, this will do ya. No gore, but lots of shivers.

[Historygirl]

This is a comic thriller. Truly scary but with a screwball comedy element. The Better to Eat You features an extended literary metaphor that gets funnier and funnier as the book goes on. It is also an excellent romance. Charlotte Armstrong’s wrote many excellent books in this unique style. She is classed with the Women’s Noir of 1940s and 1950s, but the comedy makes her a special case, and an unforgettable one.

[Debra Bates]

I like a good mystery that allows a romantic interest to develop as well. I also enjoy the additional elderly characters who play a significant role in both the solving of the crime and the furthering of relationships.

[Pamela]

A nice short story that is drawn out and over-dramatized into a novel.

[Marie M. Mandiak]

Kinda hokey, but entertaining...reminded me of those old spooky dramas like "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

[Arthur Pierce]

A grade-B thriller, poorly written and quite juvenile. But, for all that, I found it to be moderately entertaining and at least never dull. By the way, despite the cover of the Pocket Book reprint that I read, which identifies this as "a murder mystery," there is virtually no mystery whatsoever after the first couple of chapters, as the reader is fully aware of the whole plot against the young heiress throughout. The "thriller" element comes from the reader wondering how the hero is going to save her from the fiendish scheme to do her out of her inheritance.

[Winnie Thornton]

So I'm not against formulas per se (Georgette Heyer has hers), but I object to Armstrong's. When I read her, I keep a running list of what not to write.