It was Martin Edwards who first made known the news of mystery writer Celia Fremlin’s passing, announcing it on his blog three days ago. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.ĬELIA FREMLIN, R.I.P.

Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Other Fremlin titles of note: Uncle Paul (1960), Prisoner’s Base (1967), The Spider-Orchid (1978), With No Crying(1981). The author skillfully weaves truly frightening events into Louise’s daily routine of meals, housecleaning, and childcare, and her superb characterization has the reader thoroughly on Louise’s side - and just as terrified as she is - by the time the story reaches its surprising conclusion. Soon the boarder’s actions begin to arouse Louise’s suspicions, and she finds herself doing all sorts of things she has never done before - attempting to search the woman’s room, contacting total strangers for information about her, and finally taking the baby for a nocturnal stroll in his pram, only to fall asleep and lose him in a park. In fact, Miss Brandon is so self-effacing and quiet that at times the Hendersons don’t even know she is in the house. The only person who doesn’t complain is Miss Vera Brandon, the boarder the Hendersons have recently taken in. The Hours Before Dawn, which won an Edgar for Best Novel of its year, introduces us to Louise Henderson, a sleep-starved young housewife with a fretful new infant that is causing complaints from both her family and neighbors. Reprint US paperbacks: Dell D422, 1961 Dell 3770, Great Mystery Library, 1966.Ĭelia Fremlin has the unusual ability to take a perfectly normal, if not mundane, situation and create an atmosphere of sheer terror.

A truly superior thriller.A 1001 MIDNIGHTS Review by Marcia Muller:ĬELIA FREMLIN – The Hours Before Dawn. The outcome, as precisely charted by Miss Fremlin, is practically strangulating. The New Yorker characterized the novel as 'married hell in a London suburb. 'Women will identify and commiserate,' noted Kirkus Reviews. But when Mary spies a man in a raincoat, lurking about the neighborhood, she develops a panicky obsession with the stranger that her friends can't soothe - and the frustrations of everyday life suddenly take a sinister turn.In this terrifying mystery classic, Edgar Award–winning novelist Celia Fremlin blends the desperation of 1960s domesticity with gripping suspense. The women's only consolation lies in getting together to vent their frustrations and share the latest gossip. All of the housewives on the block complain about their domineering husbands, their noisy children, and their dreary chores. Her husband is so stingy and critical that he makes the other neighborhood spouses look princely by comparison.

The Trouble Makers by Celia Fremlin