Bedelia is by Vera Caspary, who wrote the novel Laura, which was turned into a classic noir mystery film. This was published in 1945, just after Laura in 1943. Bedelia was also turned into a film in the UK in 1946. Although Caspary says she didn't write mysteries, her themes circle a woman's quest for identity and love with murder plots. I have another of her books, The Weeping and The Laughter, which I haven't read yet - I started with a nice hardcover copy of Bedelia.
The Wickedest Woman Who Ever Loved!
Recently widowed, Bedelia met her husband Charles Horst at a Colorado Springs spa, and returned with him to Connecticut as his new wife. The novel takes place at Christmas of 1913, and introduces their upper class friends at a gay dinner party in their home. Present among others are Judge Bennett and his wife, and Charles' old friends, Ellen - tall and plain, and Abbie - giddy and ostentatious. Their new friend Ben Chaney, rugged and artistic, is renting a house nearby to work on his paintings. Bedelia seems the perfect hostess and wife, attentive and welcoming. The only guest absent was a friend of Ben's from back West, Keene Barrett.
A winter storm blows in and for the next few days Bedelia and Charles are housebound, the roads snowed over and impassible. On snowshoes, Ben arrives and while Bedelia sleeps upstairs with a slight fever, reveals to Charles he is actually a private investigator, on the trail of a serial husband-murderess who he is sure is Bedelia.
This woman always portrays a recent widow, marries a new man, says she is pregnant, and then the man dies leaving her his recently increased life insurance policy. The woman disappears and is never seem again. Keene Barrett is the brother of one of these husbands and will arrive shortly to visually identify this woman. Charles is outraged and sends Ben away. He only cares for the health of Bedelia, and her unborn child. Later when he talks with Bedelia, she absent-mindedly begins to tell of her past - the four husbands Ben knew of, and then some...
Vera Caspary has said the theme of the novel was a woman's dependance on a man at that time and how little freedom they would have had. I can see that, but Bedelia is also a delusional psychopath, faking another pregnancy and reaching for the rat poison.
This was a compact novel taking place in a short time, all in the Horst country house. It didn't have shocks or thrills but was well written and interesting as the full story was steadily revealed. The tone of the book reminded me of the novels of Olive Higgins Prouty who wrote the classics Now, Voyager and Stella Dallas. Like Laura, this was the inner life of a woman and the effect she had on those closest to her. This time she was just partial to poison.
1945 / Hardcover / 187 pages
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