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The quintessential Hollywood mystery novel--clever, humorous, and thoroughly Hitchcockian--a faded actress's death sows chaos among a quirky set of characters in the nervous hills of California. Rose's best days are behind her. No longer does she star on the silver screen, and her drinking and money troubles have eroded her wealth and societal status. Rose has no friends in the world except for a nosy landlord and her psychologist; her life is all but over. But authorities are still suspicious when she turns up dead in the garden of a wealthy doll manufacturer. Despite the coroner's finding of a natural death, a series of inquiries made, first by her ex-husband, then her psychologist, and eventually stir up enough doubts for the police to get involved. But involved in what?… (more)
User reviews
In fact, the plot in Rose's Last Summer is excellent and the ending is well done. The characters are well defined and the conflicts between social classes and between men and women are subtley done. The insecurity of her characters and their sense of failure and frustration are the driving forces that makes the surprise ending not just a murder mystery cliche but a natural result of her characters and their story.
But in the end, it is not the story that Margaret Millar was able to tell, but the inner workings of, especially the female characters, that you remember. The struggle against lonliness and those that would tell them how they should act, as well as their failures and their losses that you remember. In the end the denoument is not as relevant to the reader as the characters they have come to know. You end up hoping that Rose and Ethel and even Willett will be okay and that they will find some happiness.
Something strange is going on, and when another older lady disappears and there are threats of kidnapping and demands for ransom money as well as long lost relatives showing up, it is up to Detective Greer and psychologist Frank to get to the bottom of this complicated case.
Originally published in 1952, Rose’s Last Summer wasn’t quite as clever as I had been led to believe as I wasn’t surprised by any of the “twists” or the predictable outcome but it was a light, whimsical read perfect to kick back with on a warm summer’s day.