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The Late Clara Beame
A spine-cilling tale of mystery and murder by one of America's most famous novelists, author of Great Lion of God. Home for Chirstmas - snow-laden trees, a blazing fire, carols around the piano...it all seemed so perfect.
140 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
24 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Taylor Caldwell
152 books558 followers Also known by the pen names Marcus Holland and Max Reiner.
Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England. In 1907 she emigrated to the United States with her parents and younger brother. Her father died shortly after the move, and the family struggled. At the age of eight she started to write stories, and in fact wrote her first novel, The Romance of Atlantis, at the age of twelve (although it remained unpublished until 1975). Her father did not approve such activity for women, and sent her to work in a bindery. She continued to write prolifically, however, despite ill health. (In 1947, according to TIME magazine, she discarded and burned the manuscripts of 140 unpublished novels.)
In 1918-1919, she served in the United States Navy Reserve. In 1919 she married William F. Combs. In 1920, they had a daughter, Mary (known as "Peggy"). From 1923 to 1924 she was a court reporter in New York State Department of Labor in Buffalo, New York. In 1924, she went to work for the United States Department of Justice, as a member of the Board of Special Inquiry (an immigration tribunal) in Buffalo. In 1931 she graduated from SUNY Buffalo, and also was divorced from William Combs.
Caldwell then married her second husband, Marcus Reback, a fellow Justice employee. She had a second child with Reback, a daughter Judith, in 1932. They were married for 40 years, until his death in 1971.
In 1934, she began to work on the novel Dynasty of Death, which she and Reback completed in collaboration. It was published in 1938 and became a best-seller. "Taylor Caldwell" was presumed to be a man, and there was some public stir when the author was revealed to be a woman. Over the next 43 years, she published 42 more novels, many of them best-sellers. For instance, This Side of Innocence was the biggest fiction seller of 1946. Her works sold an estimated 30 million copies. She became wealthy, traveling to Europe and elsewhere, though she still lived near Buffalo.
Her books were big sellers right up to the end of her career. During her career as a writer, she received several awards.
She was an outspoken conservative and for a time wrote for the John Birch Society's monthly journal American Opinion and even associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, On Growing Up Tough, appeared in 1971, consisting of many edited-down articles from American Opinion.
Around 1970, she became interested in reincarnation. She had become friends with well-known occultist author Jess Stearn, who suggested that the vivid detail in her many historical novels was actually subconscious recollection of previous lives. Supposedly, she agreed to be hypnotized and undergo "past-life regression" to disprove reincarnation. According to Stearn's book, The Search of a Soul - Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives, Caldwell instead began to recall her own past lives - eleven in all, including one on the "lost continent" of Lemuria.
In 1972, she married William Everett Stancell, a retired real estate developer, but divorced him in 1973. In 1978, she married William Robert Prestie, an eccentric Canadian 17 years her junior. This led to difficulties with her children. She had a long dispute with her daughter Judith over the estate of Judith's father Marcus; in 1979 Judith committed suicide.
Also in 1979, Caldwell suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak, though she could still write. (She had been deaf since about 1965.) Her daughter Peggy accused Prestie of abusing and exploiting Caldwell, and there was a legal battle over her substantial assets.
She died of heart failure in Greenwich, Conn
Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England. In 1907 she emigrated to the United States with her parents and younger brother. Her father died shortly after the move, and the family struggled. At the age of eight she started to write stories, and in fact wrote her first novel, The Romance of Atlantis, at the age of twelve (although it remained unpublished until 1975). Her father did not approve such activity for women, and sent her to work in a bindery. She continued to write prolifically, however, despite ill health. (In 1947, according to TIME magazine, she discarded and burned the manuscripts of 140 unpublished novels.)
In 1918-1919, she served in the United States Navy Reserve. In 1919 she married William F. Combs. In 1920, they had a daughter, Mary (known as "Peggy"). From 1923 to 1924 she was a court reporter in New York State Department of Labor in Buffalo, New York. In 1924, she went to work for the United States Department of Justice, as a member of the Board of Special Inquiry (an immigration tribunal) in Buffalo. In 1931 she graduated from SUNY Buffalo, and also was divorced from William Combs.
Caldwell then married her second husband, Marcus Reback, a fellow Justice employee. She had a second child with Reback, a daughter Judith, in 1932. They were married for 40 years, until his death in 1971.
In 1934, she began to work on the novel Dynasty of Death, which she and Reback completed in collaboration. It was published in 1938 and became a best-seller. "Taylor Caldwell" was presumed to be a man, and there was some public stir when the author was revealed to be a woman. Over the next 43 years, she published 42 more novels, many of them best-sellers. For instance, This Side of Innocence was the biggest fiction seller of 1946. Her works sold an estimated 30 million copies. She became wealthy, traveling to Europe and elsewhere, though she still lived near Buffalo.
Her books were big sellers right up to the end of her career. During her career as a writer, she received several awards.
She was an outspoken conservative and for a time wrote for the John Birch Society's monthly journal American Opinion and even associated with the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby. Her memoir, On Growing Up Tough, appeared in 1971, consisting of many edited-down articles from American Opinion.
Around 1970, she became interested in reincarnation. She had become friends with well-known occultist author Jess Stearn, who suggested that the vivid detail in her many historical novels was actually subconscious recollection of previous lives. Supposedly, she agreed to be hypnotized and undergo "past-life regression" to disprove reincarnation. According to Stearn's book, The Search of a Soul - Taylor Caldwell's Psychic Lives, Caldwell instead began to recall her own past lives - eleven in all, including one on the "lost continent" of Lemuria.
In 1972, she married William Everett Stancell, a retired real estate developer, but divorced him in 1973. In 1978, she married William Robert Prestie, an eccentric Canadian 17 years her junior. This led to difficulties with her children. She had a long dispute with her daughter Judith over the estate of Judith's father Marcus; in 1979 Judith committed suicide.
Also in 1979, Caldwell suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak, though she could still write. (She had been deaf since about 1965.) Her daughter Peggy accused Prestie of abusing and exploiting Caldwell, and there was a legal battle over her substantial assets.
She died of heart failure in Greenwich, Conn
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 19, 2021
To tell the truth, but when I read Taylor Caldwell's The Late Clara Beame in German translation as a teenager (at the age of fourteen), I actually managed to quite enjoy the presented narrative, of course not nearly as much as I was at that time devouring and appreciating Victoria Holt's historical romances, but I did find my reading experience sufficiently entertaining, even descriptively enlightening (the depictions of a typical New England Christmas house party featuring the well heeled and moneyed elite, that ends up turning rather murderous, or at least potentially murderous).
However, with this novel, with The Late Clara Beame, rereading (well, actually reading the novel in its English original for the first time) has really not been all that personally engaging, since what I already noticed somewhat as a teenaged reader (namely that the presented storyline of The Late Clara Beame is in fact pretty well massively stereotypical, artificial and so predictable that the guilty party, that the potential poisoner is indeed quite obvious and known right from the start) is now combined with my totally frustrated annoyance at the rather tacked on and forced deus ex machina of the ghostly presence of the main protagonist's aunt (of Laura and Alice's Aunt Clara, the late Clara Beame of the title) appearing and rescuing Laura from her husband Henry's poisonous plot, or rather, waking Laura up so she can let David and the others know that she has indeed been poisoned, as well as the inconvenient truth of the matter that really, almost ALL of the characters presented and described by the author, by Taylor Caldwell in The Late Clara Beame (and not just main villain Henry) are dysfunctional, naive, and often with massive chips on their collective shoulders.
Thus The Late Clara Beame features (at least in my humble opinion) neither a likeable nor even an all that able to even be appreciated cast of characters by any stretch of the imagination, and while unlikable, nasty and even intensely problematic literary personages are actually not necessarily an issue for me if the work of fiction in which they appear is well-written, engaging and readable, the fact that this is for all intents and purposes not at all the case for me anymore with The Late Clara Beame, well, this just makes Taylor Caldwell's entire storyline both thematically and from the point of view of general writing style and presentation too frustratingly tedious and annoying to consider anything higher than a low two star rating at best (not a truly horrible, a terrible novel, not a one star offering, but most certainly, for me, The Late Clara Beame has absolutely not aged all that well, and is not really recommended unless one actually does enjoy reading stereotypical and entirely predictable mysteries involving groups of dysfunctional, negatively depicted characters).
However, with this novel, with The Late Clara Beame, rereading (well, actually reading the novel in its English original for the first time) has really not been all that personally engaging, since what I already noticed somewhat as a teenaged reader (namely that the presented storyline of The Late Clara Beame is in fact pretty well massively stereotypical, artificial and so predictable that the guilty party, that the potential poisoner is indeed quite obvious and known right from the start) is now combined with my totally frustrated annoyance at the rather tacked on and forced deus ex machina of the ghostly presence of the main protagonist's aunt (of Laura and Alice's Aunt Clara, the late Clara Beame of the title) appearing and rescuing Laura from her husband Henry's poisonous plot, or rather, waking Laura up so she can let David and the others know that she has indeed been poisoned, as well as the inconvenient truth of the matter that really, almost ALL of the characters presented and described by the author, by Taylor Caldwell in The Late Clara Beame (and not just main villain Henry) are dysfunctional, naive, and often with massive chips on their collective shoulders.
Thus The Late Clara Beame features (at least in my humble opinion) neither a likeable nor even an all that able to even be appreciated cast of characters by any stretch of the imagination, and while unlikable, nasty and even intensely problematic literary personages are actually not necessarily an issue for me if the work of fiction in which they appear is well-written, engaging and readable, the fact that this is for all intents and purposes not at all the case for me anymore with The Late Clara Beame, well, this just makes Taylor Caldwell's entire storyline both thematically and from the point of view of general writing style and presentation too frustratingly tedious and annoying to consider anything higher than a low two star rating at best (not a truly horrible, a terrible novel, not a one star offering, but most certainly, for me, The Late Clara Beame has absolutely not aged all that well, and is not really recommended unless one actually does enjoy reading stereotypical and entirely predictable mysteries involving groups of dysfunctional, negatively depicted characters).
December 20, 2016
3 1/2 stars
This is an odd little mystery by an author better known for her historical fiction. Siblings David and Alice agree to spend Christmas with their distant cousin Laura and her husband Henry. It isn't exactly a happy reunion. Alice and Laura grew up together, but Alice was always jealous of her cousin. Their relationship worsened after their aunt, the Clara Beame of the title, disinherited Alice and left everything, including the house the girls grew up in, to Laura. Laura has tried to make amends, even offering to divide the inheritance 50/50. However, Alice was too angry and proud to accept.
This has not been a good year for Alice or Laura. Laura fell from a swing and miscarried. Alice's husband Sam apparently committed suicide, though judging from the conversation between Alice and David that opens the book, appearances may be deceiving. The tensions between Alice and Laura, and Henry and David increase when a snowstorm strands them in Laura's house. The arrival of a mysterious visitor makes things even more complicated - and then someone tries to commit murder. Or do they? You can't take anything for granted in this story. Appearances are very deceiving.
There are some interesting twists and turns in the story. Some things I found annoying like Henry's bizarre refusal to touch any of Laura's money, and Laura's childish behavior have reasonable explanations. The about turn of the characters and their motivations, though, does not always work. I figured out the two major plot twists pretty easily. Caldwell doesn't have the gift of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout when it comes to red herrings. However, the book is a page turner and I finished it pretty quickly. It is worth a read.
This is an odd little mystery by an author better known for her historical fiction. Siblings David and Alice agree to spend Christmas with their distant cousin Laura and her husband Henry. It isn't exactly a happy reunion. Alice and Laura grew up together, but Alice was always jealous of her cousin. Their relationship worsened after their aunt, the Clara Beame of the title, disinherited Alice and left everything, including the house the girls grew up in, to Laura. Laura has tried to make amends, even offering to divide the inheritance 50/50. However, Alice was too angry and proud to accept.
This has not been a good year for Alice or Laura. Laura fell from a swing and miscarried. Alice's husband Sam apparently committed suicide, though judging from the conversation between Alice and David that opens the book, appearances may be deceiving. The tensions between Alice and Laura, and Henry and David increase when a snowstorm strands them in Laura's house. The arrival of a mysterious visitor makes things even more complicated - and then someone tries to commit murder. Or do they? You can't take anything for granted in this story. Appearances are very deceiving.
There are some interesting twists and turns in the story. Some things I found annoying like Henry's bizarre refusal to touch any of Laura's money, and Laura's childish behavior have reasonable explanations. The about turn of the characters and their motivations, though, does not always work. I figured out the two major plot twists pretty easily. Caldwell doesn't have the gift of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout when it comes to red herrings. However, the book is a page turner and I finished it pretty quickly. It is worth a read.
April 5, 2015
A good mixture of mystery and suspense with some hints of gothic romance.
4* The Arm and the Darkness
5* A Pillar of Iron
4* Dear and Glorious Physician
4* The Earth Is the Lord's: A Tale of the Rise of Genghis Khan
4* The Final Hour
5* Captains And The Kings
2* The Romance of Atlantis
3* The Late Clara Beame
TR Dynasty Of Death
TR The Wide House
TR Testimony of Two Men
TR This Side of Innocence
TR Answer as a Man
TR Ceremony of the Innocent
TR Glory and the Lightning
TR Never Victorious, Never Defeated
4* The Arm and the Darkness
5* A Pillar of Iron
4* Dear and Glorious Physician
4* The Earth Is the Lord's: A Tale of the Rise of Genghis Khan
4* The Final Hour
5* Captains And The Kings
2* The Romance of Atlantis
3* The Late Clara Beame
TR Dynasty Of Death
TR The Wide House
TR Testimony of Two Men
TR This Side of Innocence
TR Answer as a Man
TR Ceremony of the Innocent
TR Glory and the Lightning
TR Never Victorious, Never Defeated
October 4, 2018
Una sorpresa en el buen sentido
En algunas ocasiones cuando no estoy seguro de qué libro comenzar tomo cualquiera de mi librero y leo la mitad de la primer página para ver si logra atraerme. Cuando me di cuenta ya había leído la mitad
"No hay un solo hombre capaz de guardar un secreto"
En un misterio ligero pero bien construido Taylor Caldwell nos regala una lectura tanto ligera como adictiva con una "pista" en cada capitulo que evitará que dejemos de leer.
Aunque corto, el libro tiene ese halo de intriga que no permite aburrirte en ningún momento.
En mi opinión: una lectura rápida y muy recomendada para cualquiera que anda en busca de un libro para el fin de semana
"Solo los locos asesinan a los que odian"
Lo Mejor: Simple: te atrapa
Lo Peor: ¡Que no haya una adaptación! Sería excelente como episodio de serie de TV o incluso como película de bajo presupuesto.
En algunas ocasiones cuando no estoy seguro de qué libro comenzar tomo cualquiera de mi librero y leo la mitad de la primer página para ver si logra atraerme. Cuando me di cuenta ya había leído la mitad
"No hay un solo hombre capaz de guardar un secreto"
En un misterio ligero pero bien construido Taylor Caldwell nos regala una lectura tanto ligera como adictiva con una "pista" en cada capitulo que evitará que dejemos de leer.
Aunque corto, el libro tiene ese halo de intriga que no permite aburrirte en ningún momento.
En mi opinión: una lectura rápida y muy recomendada para cualquiera que anda en busca de un libro para el fin de semana
"Solo los locos asesinan a los que odian"
Lo Mejor: Simple: te atrapa
Lo Peor: ¡Que no haya una adaptación! Sería excelente como episodio de serie de TV o incluso como película de bajo presupuesto.
October 24, 2019
Set at Christmastime in Connecticut, this mystery has friends/relatives Laura and Henry Frazier, David Gates and Alice Bullowe spending the season at an old country house inherited by Laura. Laura, a somewhat neurotic heiress, loves her country home but not as much as does Alice who had hoped to inherit from their Aunt Clara. Amidst lots of family angst the reader also begins to sense some psychological gas-lighting ala de Maurier. It’s a snowy Christmas but not much holiday cheer. A surprise twist ending.
January 26, 2013
Leido gracias a BC
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ah que disfrutable!! si si si me encantan los policiales, es un librito cómodo y de una lectura ágil. Por supuesto que no vas a dar con el "malo" sino hasta el final... me dejé sorprender pero bueno.. lo intuye un "poquito", NO SPOILERS!! si lo encontrás, leelo para descontracturar, la historia es entretenida :D
////////////////////////////////
ah que disfrutable!! si si si me encantan los policiales, es un librito cómodo y de una lectura ágil. Por supuesto que no vas a dar con el "malo" sino hasta el final... me dejé sorprender pero bueno.. lo intuye un "poquito", NO SPOILERS!! si lo encontrás, leelo para descontracturar, la historia es entretenida :D
February 11, 2017
This was a fun read-in-a-day book. A thriller that wasn't the best thing that Ms. Caldwell wrote but still fun. I figured out the twists pretty early in the book but it was still worth reading to the end. A nice quick read to cleanse the palate between longer offerings.
October 14, 2012
Took this old book with me to the Dr's office because it was small. Couldn't put it down. Had wrong bad guys in mind until nearly the end.
August 12, 2014
Fairly bland mystery with nothing new or innovative about the structure. The writing felt clumsy at times. Quick and easy read.
November 20, 2019
Not at all what I have come to expect from my favorite author, Taylor Caldwell. This quick little mystery was filled with twists and turns ... a little of the supernatural thrown in for hood measure. It's definitely not my favorite and it felt a little cheap. All in all it was a fast read and it did have me fooled. I guess it cant be all THAT bad! I dont think I can recommend The Late Clara Beame.
December 8, 2023
Found this at an antique store and thought it would be good for a cozy winter afternoon. I was wrong. There was no mystery because it was obvious who it was from the first chapter. The main problem was there weren't enough suspects. There was also too much given away in the conversations and flashbacks. The story felt disjointed and rushed. Apart from that I did enjoy the setting and would love to get snowed in for Christmas in a rambling old house in New England.
November 28, 2019
Taylor Caldwell is no Agatha Christie.
September 16, 2020
Es una lectura de misterio ligera, recomendadísima para esos bloqueos de lector🤭🤗✨♥️
May 5, 2021
Unfortunately it was too predictable.
October 18, 2022
D. fiction, mystery, suspense; creepy
May 12, 2025
Predictable. Most of the characters are unbearable and the only one I liked was so dumb, that it was almost impossible to root for her.
August 8, 2008
Reminded me a lot of the play " The Mousetrap" it is a fun and thrillin read
May 25, 2012
This was a very unusual book. A nice story that showcases how a family can react to the will of a dead relative:).
November 2, 2023
Very good whodunit book from 1963. Just found this author and she writes a very good suspense story with a twist. I will definitely be looking for more of her books.
July 14, 2011
Different than the usual Taylor Caldwell.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews