Speak No Evil
First edition (US)
AuthorMignon G. Eberhart
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreMystery
PublisherRandom House
Publication date
1941

Speak No Evil is an American mystery novel by Mignon G. Eberhart. It was published by Random House in 1941, and was issued in the UK by Collins Crime Club. It was reissued in hardcover by Amereon House in 1995.

Background

This was the first of two novels by Eberhart to be set in Jamaica, the other being Enemy in the House. This work was completed in late 1939, shortly before the author and her husband traveled to Jamaica in November of that year; this trip was used for research, so that Eberhart could appropriately capture the location's atmosphere.[1]

Plot Summary

When wealthy Richard Dakin is murdered while on vacation in Jamaica. Suspicion immediately falls upon Elizabeth, his new and much younger bride. To complicated matters, Elizabeth used to be romantically involved with Richard's nephew, Dyke Sanders, and appears to still carry a torch for him. Richard's ex-wife, Charmain, and his assistant, Ruth Reddington, soon get mixed up in the case as well.[2]

Reception

Kirkus Review called Speak No Evil a "velvet smooth concoction that doesn't deviate far from previous successful patterns."[3] The New York Times, praised Speak No Evil as "a well-told and interesting mystery story, with a situation of excellent intricacy and with real subtlety of character drawings. Hearty applause!" The Times closed its review by calling the novel "one of the best of the author's tales."[4]

In a twenty-first century queer reading of the text, Rick Cypert points to the character of Dyke Sanders (the female protagonist's effete former boyfriend) as a typical example of Eberhart's use of queer-coded characters.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Cypert, Rick & James G. McManaway. America's Agatha Christie: Mignon Good Eberhart, Her Life and Works. Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 2005. p 95.
  2. ↑ Anderson, Isaac. "New Mystery Stories". New York Times. 2 March 1941. p BR26. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index. Accessed 3 April 2018.
  3. ↑ Speak No Evil. Review by Kirkus Reviews. Accessed 3 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Anderson, Isaac. "New Mystery Stories". New York Times. 2 March 1941. p BR26. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index. Accessed 13 March 2018.
  5. ↑ Cypert, Rick. "Foppish, Effeminate, or "a little too handsome": Coded Character Descriptions and Masculinity in the Mystery Novels of Mignon G. Eberhart." Murder in the Closet: Essays on Queer Clues in Crime Fiction Before Stonewall edited by Curtis Evans. McFarland & Company, 2017, p. 194.
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