The Room Upstairs by Mildred Davis

What terrible secret lay behind the bandages that masked her face?

Mildred Davis won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for The Room Upstairs as Best First Mystery in 1948. She published several mysteries from 1948 to 1977 and then took an almost 30 year break before returning with a series Murder in Maine.

Who is this bandaged woman who has been a recluse for many years - hidden away in the room upstairs?

We are introduced to the secretive Corwith family by the main character, a hard-boiled private eye named Gene Swendsen who has arrived undercover as their new chauffeur. The household is filled with tension and pure gothic mystery. The youngest daughter, the vibrant and beautiful Kitten, has been in an accident and remains a recluse in the locked room upstairs, leaving her family under a dark spell.

There remain her other sisters - Hilda, with a high strung, nervous demeanor, and Dora, the oldest who remains impassive and cold. His job as chauffeur is a perfect cover leaving him in attendance, but forgotten in the background. By overhearing items from the family and speaking with the other staff, Swendsen slowly pieces together the history of the family.

One of his first assignments is to drive the sisters to a friend's house for a cocktail party. While there, the friends decide to play a game of hypnotist and see what happens, noting - you can't make someone do anything under the spell that they wouldn't do awake. This strikes a note when family friend Helen is put under and attacks someone who she thinks is Kitten! Perhaps they all harbour ill will towards the woman in the room upstairs.

At the end of each chapter, there is a note which looks like it is from Kitten's diary, however, these turn increasingly jaded and violent. And what of the mysterious phone calls Swendsen receives at the house - Is he who he claims to be as well?

Is Kitten the one in the room? Is she still recovering from the accident?

Mildred hides the identity of who is really in the room upstairs for almost the whole book. The mystery turns from a crime investigation to more of a dysfunctional family story, reminding me of a Peyton Place or Dark Shadows. Suspense and mind games, suppressed secrets and bitter memories.

It works on both levels with intriguing characters and slow plot revelations.

I was happy to have a new Edgar Award winner to read. I try to get a hold of as many of those as I can. Nice to find a new author, although I think her others from this time period will be difficult to find. I was lucky to find this clean tight paperback copy at a book store closing out for the grand price of ten cents. High entertainment with a unique and original plot well told.

Recommended, but perhaps hard to find.

1948 / Paperback / 244 pages