The Witch's House

 The Witch's House (1963) by Charlotte Armstrong

Academics are running amuck in Armstrong's book. Professors Pat O'Shea and Everett Adams disappear from their university one fine afternoon. The police think it's a coincidence and that both men are just off on a bender or visiting "friends" (for which read women other than their wives). Adams's wife doesn't seem concerned, but Anabel O'She knows her husband. He'd never go on a bender; there's no other woman; and if something came up and he could make it to a phone, then he'd call her to tell her what's up. So, she's convinced that something awful must have happened to him. Since the police won't search for him, she decides to find him herself. She teams up with Adams's daughter Vee to hunt for the missing men.

So, what became of the missing men? O'Shea was horrified to discover that Adams was responsible for the theft of a valuable piece of university equipment. A theft that has been blamed on the student who was last known to be in the lab where the equipment was kept. When he sees Adams pocket the expensive lens, he rushes after him for a showdown. But Adams isn't just a thief; he seems to have become deranged and after an altercation in which Adams leaves O'Shea for dead, Adams goes into hiding. O'Shea regains consciousness in a run-down house near an old dump. At first he thinks he's been rescued, but he quickly realizes that he's a prisoner. Mrs. Pryde swears he's her son Johnny who has finally come back to her. [Spoiler alert: Johnny was executed many years ago. He's not coming back.] And she has no intention of "Johnny" ever leaving her again. She sets her guard dog to make sure he doesn't. Meanwhile, Anabel and Vee are following a trail of evidence that will dig up family secrets in the Adams household, but will those clues be enough to lead them to the missing men? 

So....I know why I picked this one up--it has academics in a mystery plot. Love those. But Charlotte Armstrong and I have an on-again, off-again relationship (mostly off, looking at my previous three reads) and so far nothing has come close to Lay On, Mac Duff! which at 3 1/2 stars has been the highest rated (and that didn't exactly knock it out of the park). Ironically, her books with any sort of an academic bent have done little for me. I think part of the problem with Armstrong is I'm not a fan of knowing pretty much everything up front. There's not much mystery left with most of hers--except how and when will the villain of the piece get caught. I like a real mystery with proper clues and a chance to figure it out before the sleuth does. If you like an inverted mystery, then you'll probably like this one a lot more than I did. ★★ and 1/2

Side note with a SPOILER warning:

The plight of Pat O'Shea made me think of Misery by Stephen King. Not that the "witch" is O'Shea's biggest fan or anything like that. But we've definitely got a delusional woman keeping someone hostage in an isolated setting. All of O'Shea's injuries come from an altercation with Adams, so Mrs. Pryde doesn't inflict more on him (as in the King book) but she also refuses to get him a doctor--insisting on nursing "her boy Johnny" back to health herself. I wonder if King was aware of this book when he decided to write Misery?

First line: He happened to be standing perfectly still, considering what, if anything, he ought to take home.

Last line: He took the starched one firmly away.
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Deaths = 4 (one natural; two poisoned; one fell from height)

[finished 10/15/25]