The Innocent is the debut mystery from Evelyn Piper (the pen name of author Merriam Modell), a finalist for Best First Novel in the 1950 Edgar Awards. Modell had great success writing domestic thrillers under the Piper name, including Bunny Lake Is Missing in 1957 (filmed in 1965 with Carol Lynley as a woman hysterical to find her child missing in New York City), and The Nanny in 1964 (filmed in 1965 with Bette Davis as a mentally ill nanny caring for a disturbed child). Piper excels at the twisted psychological terror that swirls within a mother's mind.
Marjorie Carter had a sweet face with big brown eyes, but certainly is not beautiful. Her husband Charles is almost too good looking, he has few male friends. She dotes on him like she mothers their newborn son Peter, who is delicate and must be watched at all times. Charles' first wife Claire died of sudden unexplained symptoms, finally labelled as Status Thymicolymphaticus. She was a self-centered woman who moved people around to suit her own purposes, although no one meant her to die. Not even after Claire stole Charles away from Marjorie, marrying him first. Claire didn't know that Marjorie and Charles continued their affair regardless, their son the living proof.
An interesting sidetrack details Claire's manipulative personality: after reading too many murder mysteries she believes she can plot one herself and uses her negro maid Edna to test it. She goads the young woman to kill her abusive husband, suggesting how an unused syringe full of insulin, left over from her own mother, could induce a quick painless death leaving no trace or suspicion. Recording the progress in a notebook, Claire pushes her right to the edge before revealing it was all a ruse. Edna goes hysterical, and the syringe goes missing.
Finding and reading the notes, Marjorie wonders if Edna was angry enough to inject Claire, she certainly was angry enough to inform Claire her husband was still sleeping with Marjorie behind her back. Was Claire remorseful enough to take her own life? Or, was Charles confronted by Claire about his affair, and he silenced her? Marjorie coddles Charles, and like a mother would stand by him even if he is a murderer.
Piper has created a group of damaged, emotionally stunted people in this mystery. Charles has been spoiled his whole life, not having to face any barrier to his childish impulses. Claire is an emotional vampire, taking whatever she wants. There is terrific tension right from the beginning, as Marjorie stresses over her little baby, almost to obsession. Like Bunny Lake and The Nanny, Piper displays her talent for torment and the language of compulsion. This is a mystery where any one of the characters is unhinged enough to murder, just the way we readers like it. Even our sweet heroine Marjorie could have injected Claire.
The finale was a complete psychological meltdown, a fitting end to an enjoyable mystery.
The works of Evelyn Piper have been republished over the years, most recently by Mysterious Press, now easily available wherever you buy books in print, eBook and audio.
My reviews for other psychological thrillers featuring children:
Seance On A Wet Afternoon by Mark McShane
The Boy At The Keyhole by Stephen Giles
1954 / Paperback / 160 pages
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