Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the story:


Kevin Malone by Gene Wolfe

This story is part of the The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction group collection discussion.

★★★

Synopsis
A young couple facing financial problems answer an ad for house sitting and are pampered with everything you might dream of. They find out that there was a murder of a maid in the manor. Weeks later, they meet the manor’s owner for the first time. He hired the couple as stage properties to act as master and mistress of the house, whereas he wants to stay in the background.

Review
The story isn’t very ambitious – besides the topics of free will -, focusing on the protagonists’ emotions and the development as a possession story.

Andreas wrote: "They find out that there was a murder of a maid in the manor. Weeks later, they meet the manor’s owner..."

I thought they learned of the murder from Malone (the owner) himself on their final night in the mansion.

(view spoiler)[So, the bottom line is Marcella becomes possessed to act take role of Betty for Kevin, and the narrator (did we ever get his name?) decides to just leave her there? (hide spoiler)]