Published by Duell, Sloan & Pearce, New
York, 1946.
Shelley Ames, an aspiring actress is George Banat’s
newest protegee. Shelley, is poor, frightened and insecure, following the death
of both her parents in a car accident, and George has taken her under his wing
and settled her in his house ‘Heartsease’. To Shelley George is a God.
If
George sometimes got himself confused with God, it was perhaps not altogether
his own fault. His second wife Sophie had tolerated for many years certain
manifestations of privilege enjoyed by all the deities, from Zeus down. And to
girls like Shelley – his sureness, his wit and his compassion were things to
lean on without question.
Our
story opens with Shelley having invited a young actor Ralph to Heartsease for
the weekend. Ralph is impressed to be staying
at the home of the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood. Living in a separate part of the house is George’s
daughter Monica, married to Carlos. And visiting for the weekend is Jacques Marino,
an Austria film director.
And
flitting about is see all, hear all, Tessa the housekeeper.
It
all looks set for a pleasant weekend until George’s son Mons arrives, still in uniform
with Corporal’s stripes. From then on things start to go downhill. Mons doesn’t
seem to have the same admiration and regard for his father the rest of the
family have.
The
next day was a beautiful June day, but Shelley had a peculiar feeling that the
weekend on which she had counted so much was going wrong. And as the day progresses and George reveals information
about her that she would prefer him not to have mentioned, things begin to spiral
downwards.
Then
George is found dead.
I
find books that deal with family murder particularly fascinating, as we first
meet and accept the characters at face value, then watch as the writer slowly
peals back the facades and reveals the truth beneath. Recommended.
------
Reviewer:
Lizzie Sirett
Lucy Michaella Cores Kortchmar (14 January 1912 – August 6, 2003)
was born in Moscow. She was the daughter of violist Michael Cores and the niece
of violinist Alexander Cores. Her family fled the Russian Revolution and
arrived in the United States in 1921. She attended the Ethical Culture school
and Barnard College. In 1942 she
married Emil Korchmar a screw machine parts manufacturer. They had two
children, Michael and Daniel a professional guitarist. Cores wrote two mystery
novels, Painted for the Kill (1943) and Corpse de Ballet (1944),
featuring female protagonist Toni Ney, a former ballet dancer. She also wrote
the mystery Let's Kill George (1946). She also wrote a number of
romance and historical novels. At the time of her death, at age 91, Cores
was writing a novel about Alexander Puskin.