The State vs Elinor Norton

Mary Roberts Rinehart has been called "The American Agatha Christie," and her books, especially the earlier ones, are appealing in the same way Christie's are: very clever, interesting mysteries.But this 1934 title is a break-out novel, a dark and amazingly believable depiction of a woman from a loveless upper class home, and the choices that take her life to the precipice. Elinor's husband, Lloyd, has his own psychological damage, drawn by the author with superb insight. The interplay between the couple, as they each try to do the right thing, hampered by their demons, is the stuff great suspense is made of. Elinor's tragic infatuation with another man keeps the tension high. Once her husband dies in a hunting accident -- or was it? -- the tension keeps up as she tries to forge a life with the other man, blind at first to his flaws, and, later, as realization grows and she realizes that she's trapped. The amazing thing about this novel is the way Rinehart can make the reader understand Elinor's feelings, as a function both of her self-loathing, and of the morals of the era -- even though today most of us would just dump the jerk! But is she truly guilty of his murder? Rinehart keeps you turning the pages, in a novel worthy of discussion groups about The Modern Crime Novel!