A book report by Larry Eicher
This story is written in the first person and narrated by a
young wife whose husband called her “Angel Face.” It begins on a night when her husband is
about to run away with another woman. She
is aware of the other woman’s identity and goes to her apartment to try to fix
things. When she arrives, the woman is lying
on the floor dead.
The story skips around a little at this point but later they
have a trial and convict her husband for the murder. He is sentenced to death and the date is set
for three months hence. She and he love
each other and she believes his did not do the murder.
She remembers one policeman, an investigator, who seemed to
believe her about her husband’s innocence.
She went to him requesting his help.
After their talk, he tells her to go ahead with her proposed
investigation. He wishes her luck and he
does not re-enter the story until much later.
Before they part he reminds her they need solid evidence to stop the
execution.
Her investigation centers on an address book she found at
the murdered girls apartment. She
decides to check on the M’s based on a match book cover she found there also
with two M’s on it. She being a young woman
uses her wiles as part of the whole thing. She also incorporates her feminine intuition. She contacts the men one at a time and gets
to know them, judging all the while if they murdered the girl.
She seems to have a mental list of things to check for each
man based on her knowledge of men. I
must admit that I began reading this novel doubting whether the author being a
man could write a woman’s internal thoughts.
Using only my limited knowledge of women and their thoughts I came away
thinking he did a good job. She passed
on the first two and came to the third with whom she fell in love. Things get dicey from there and I must not reveal
that part and risk you’re not reading the novel. The ending is frightful and unexpected in
several ways. I hope you read this and
let me know if you did.
