Review: The Spiral Staircase by Ethel Lina White

Synopsis: Helen Capel is hired as a live-in lady-help to the Warren family in the countryside. She enjoys the eccentric household and her duties, but her peaceful and simple life is soon disturbed by a series of mysterious murders in the isolated community.

As Helen’s employer, Professor Sebastian Warren, battens down the hatches and locks all the doors of their remote country house, the eight residents begin to feel safe. But somewhere out there lurks a murderer of young girls. As the murders crawl closer to home, Helen starts to wonder if there really is safety in numbers—and what happens when those numbers start to dwindle?

~ ~ ~

The premise evolves around a young maid, employed in a remote country house, where not all of the members of the household are what they seem; the setting is suitably gothic and claustrophobic; a murderer is on the loose and closing in.

I am in two minds - I love classic crime fiction, which is what this is; on the other hand, it was rather tedious in the initial set up, which I found distracting. The ending was rather curious and not all-together ..... well, believable. However, as this is fiction, the author has provided the reader with a fairly decent psychological drama.

First published in 1933 as "Some Must Watch"