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elusivity's review
3.0
3.5.STARS that I cannot round up to 4
A very compact, quick little story. The setting is fantastic and atmospheric: in the midst of the annual flood in Pittsburgh that sweeps into people's houses, such that one needed to travel by boat from hall to hall, to the street and beyond.In this setting, the wife of an theater couple vanished in the night, never to be seen again, until a headless body surfaces downstream. The narrator, Mrs Pittman, is an older lady, born in a well-to-do family but wedded for love not money, and now forced to make her living by renting out rooms to borders in this cheap, often flooded part of town. Her unease brings her to the attention of Mr. Holcome, a retired gentleman whose hobby is detection. The police becomes involved. The missing wife story becomes the talk of the Town. The husband is suspected, and put to jail, and the jury judged him guilty of murder. Even though there was evidence that the wife had been seen elsewhere, and sent some typed letters, but that trace of her also vanished..
Meanwhile, Mrs Pittman's life slightly overlaps with her family, albeit unobtrusively. The only one who recognized her was their old Butler, but her niece Alma bonds with her as a kind stranger through which she met her young lover, Mr Howell.
Later, Mr Howell confesses that the whole ordeal was hatched to bring (1) some notoriety for the theater where the murdered woman was employed, and (2) some juicy story for Me Howell's newspaper. However ! Mr Holcombe reveals that the husband had took advantage of the hoax to really kill his wife, and Mr Howell had been leading another young woman, veiled and wordless, to a hiding place, where she too was later killed by her treacherous, married lover.
The murder story was alright, with a reasonable amount of twists and turns, and an outlandish but interesting resolution. My most favorite part, though, is Mrs Pittman's story as a woman who matter-of-factly accepts that she'd made her bed and is prepared to lie in it (i.e. her family cutting all ties with her, etc), but works hard at her drudgery of a life. I enjoy the subtle humor of her thoughts, her kindness, her rivalry with the woman down the street who has salvage rights over all her furniture that are swept out by the flood... And is rewarded eventually by reconnecting with the old Butler, with her niece, and in time, Mr Holcombe.
A very compact, quick little story. The setting is fantastic and atmospheric: in the midst of the annual flood in Pittsburgh that sweeps into people's houses, such that one needed to travel by boat from hall to hall, to the street and beyond.
Meanwhile, Mrs Pittman's life slightly overlaps with her family, albeit unobtrusively. The only one who recognized her was their old Butler, but her niece Alma bonds with her as a kind stranger through which she met her young lover, Mr Howell.
Later, Mr Howell confesses that the whole ordeal was hatched to bring (1) some notoriety for the theater where the murdered woman was employed, and (2) some juicy story for Me Howell's newspaper. However ! Mr Holcombe reveals that the husband had took advantage of the hoax to really kill his wife, and Mr Howell had been leading another young woman, veiled and wordless, to a hiding place, where she too was later killed by her treacherous, married lover.
The murder story was alright, with a reasonable amount of twists and turns, and an outlandish but interesting resolution. My most favorite part, though, is Mrs Pittman's story as a woman who matter-of-factly accepts that she'd made her bed and is prepared to lie in it (i.e. her family cutting all ties with her, etc), but works hard at her drudgery of a life. I enjoy the subtle humor of her thoughts, her kindness, her rivalry with the woman down the street who has salvage rights over all her furniture that are swept out by the flood... And is rewarded eventually by reconnecting with the old Butler, with her niece, and in time, Mr Holcombe.
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