Fear Stalks the Village

Ethel Lina White was a British mystery writer, best known for her books [b:Some Must Watch|19234708|Some Must Watch|Ethel Lina White|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386340282s/19234708.jpg|62975] (basis of the movie "The Spiral Staircase") and [b:The Wheel Spins|12364191|The Wheel Spins |Ethel Lina White|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1367433089s/12364191.jpg|1011180] (basis of the Hitchcock movie "The Lady Vanishes").

In "Fear Stalks the Village," the residents of a small town begin to receive poison pen letters accusing them of various misdeeds. The formerly idyllic village becomes prey to fear and paranoia. The Rector notices the change in the atmosphere:

"There was a complete stoppage of all social intercourse. He met no other casual caller in any drawing room. The village was dead, with the paralysis which follows the generation of poison. Very soon, he found that he was growing affected by the general complaint. In the middle of some friendly chat, he would suddenly remember his anonymous letter, look up into a smiling face, and wonder ‘Is it you?’"

When one of the residents dies, no one is sure if her death is suicide, accidental or murder.

The poison pen letters continue to break hearts:

"In one house a woman rose from her chair, where she sat reading. She, too, kissed her company, and— at the door— looked back into the cheerful room, with a smile.

But once outside, her face was that of a dead woman, as she drew from her bag a bit of crumpled paper, covered with printed letters.

Someone knew. The years of false security and happiness were over. She groped her way up the stairs through the dense blackness of fear.

'I can’t face it,' she whispered. 'Never. Never. I’ll die first... I’ll— die.'"

The Rector brings in a detective, Ignatius Brown. Before Brown can solve the mystery, though, there is another death. There is no doubt that this one is a suicide. Ms White does an excellent job of showing the aftermath, and the pain of the victim's surviving spouse. It actually moved me to tears, and showed the suffering inflicted by the anonymous letter writer.

I really did not suspect the person who was behind the letters. Ms White does an excellent job with red herrings and concealing the true character (if you can call it that) of the villain. Very surprising, and hands down, one of the most despicable villains I've run across in a mystery, even though they did not directly (or possibly intentionally) kill anyone. They're basically a sadist on a power trip.

The one weakness in the book is Ignatius Brown. I never liked him. I found him arrogant and even cruel. After one suicide, he makes the heartless statement, "I told you I didn’t like her, because I thought her a humbug. That holds still. The whole truth is that she killed herself because she couldn’t endure the thought of exposure. She hadn’t the guts to sit tight." He spends his time making sarcastic comments about people and shows a terrible lack of empathy. Fortunately, he is not in most of the book and I was able to skim over the passages where he did show up.

"Fear Stalks the Village" is not as good as "Some Must Watch" or "The Wheel Spins," but it is an enjoyable, very different Golden Age mystery, and I do recommend it.