![]() Rather than starting with Miss Withers arrival, the narrative begins shortly before the murder is due to take place and I love the opening line: ‘Miss Allison looked across the dining-table at Miss Withers, whom she was to murder at eight forty-five that night, and said: “Won’t you have some salt?”’ One of the features of this story that I enjoyed throughout the piece was the contradiction between the natural personality of Miss Allison: demure, ladylike, gentle, forbearing and the violent act she is planning to do. Gothics have been called, tongue in cheek, stories about women who get houses, but this adage indeed sums up the plot of Death of an Intruder.’ While Tyre herself with her tale’s subtitle termed it a horror story, what she obviously had in mind was classic supernatural literature and Gothic fiction. ‘Critics have condemned the term “psycho-biddy” for carrying misogynistic and ageist connotations and, at the least, it seems a frivolous term as applied to Nedra Tyre’s brilliant little novel, which in any event preceded the formal recognition of the subgenre. Part of that direction can be gleaned in Curtis’ further comments that: ![]() It’s a setup which is made for intense psychological conflict, and I was interested to see what direction Tyre would take her plot in. Other notable examples of this subgenre which followed Death of an Intruder into print are: Shelley Smith’s The Party at No.5(1954), Henry Farrell’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1960), Ursula Curtiss’ The Forbidden Garden (1962) and Elizabeth Fenwick’s Goodbye, Aunt Elva (1968).’ the novel, subtitled A Tale of Horror in Three Parts, is a major (albeit largely forgotten) example of the “psycho-biddy” subgenre of suspense fiction, where, in its most classic form, two isolated middle-aged or elderly women find themselves claustrophobically locked in a battle of wills, seemingly unto to the death, for control over a house and/or estate. ‘Like Kind Lady, the classic 1935 suspense film starring Basil Rathbone in full villainous form that was based upon Horace Walpole’s short story “The Silver Mask” (both of which works are referenced in Nedra’s novel), Death of an Intruder is a sort of genteel home invasion story, but here there is a feminine despoiler at work. And that’s when Miss Allison decides that her only solution is murder.’īeing fond of a good inverted mystery, I thought this story had an intriguing premise, making you think what would you do if someone showed up at your house one night and refused to leave? (Answer: Basically, anything but what Miss Allison does!)Ĭurtis’ introduction helpfully explores this niche sector of the crime fiction world, looking at examples from the world of film as well: ![]() Miss Withers is here to stay, taking over Miss Allison’s life one room at a time. In fact, nothing Miss Allison says makes the least impression on Miss Withers. The woman on the doorstep seems fairly ordinary-just like any other middle-aged woman, just like herself, in fact-but after introducing herself as Miss Withers, the woman walks right in. So she buys a nice little house, fixes it up just the way she wants it, and settles down to her cozy, single life. After the death of her aunt, it is time for her to take care of herself. ‘Miss Allison has been taking care of everyone else all her life.
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