Beast in View by Margaret Millar

Beast in View is a very disturbing novel. It deals with people with very disturbing mental problems which alter their views of reality. Helen Clarvoe was a very irrational person. She had money, or so people said, but she lived in a second rate apartment in a second rate neighborhood. She did not leave her apartment or have any friends because she was afraid of everybody. Then one day she received a phone call from Evelyn Merrick whom she said that she did not remember. Evelyn said that she could assist Helen with the management of her money and then made threatening statements when Helen refused her help. The call ended and Helen was terrified. She called upon the only person whom she thought could help her. She wrote a letter to Paul Blackshear  a lawyer who had handled her father's estate. He was nearing retirement and was bored, and he agreed to assist her. It is through Mr. Blackshear's eyes that we see the story develop.

He started investigating Evelyn Merrick who was trying to become a famous model and who was not doing very well, and who enjoyed phoning strangers and planting untrue gossip about their family members in their minds. He went to visit Helen Clarvoe's mother and brother whom Helen had not visited in a very long time. He found that they had no money, and the mother was extremely worried about how they would get along. Helen's brother, Douglas, had dabbled in various careers and had not continued with any of them and lived off his mother. He was currently studying photography or so he said. He had a problem which his mother did not know about, but which Evelyn Merrick did, and which she did not hesitate to use against him.

At this point, I will leave you to read the book on your own. This book has a very surprising and ominous ending, and I do not wish to ruin it for you. There is a topic in this book which was forbidden in 1956 which is now seen in a different light, and it may be useful for the modern reader to see how it was handled sixty years ago. 

The Beast in View won the Edgar Award for best novel in 1956, and is still regarded as one of the best psychological mysteries ever written. Ms. Millar was born in Canada but moved to the United States after marrying Kenneth Millar who changed his pen name to Ross MacDonald to avoid confusion about names since they were both writing mystery novels. She was named a Grand Master of Mystery in 1983.