tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post5264744756886915303..comments2024-03-28T10:31:55.774-07:00Comments on The Passing Tramp: The Turret Room (1965), Charlotte ArmstrongThe Passing Tramphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-44492493192516760622012-09-07T14:28:13.040-07:002012-09-07T14:28:13.040-07:00George, I agree, although Thompson's fantasizi...George, I agree, although Thompson's fantasizing had disastrous consequences for her! What really comes out badly in that affair, however, is the British legal system. However, I still don't see much in common between the Edie of the book and the Edith Thompson of real life, who seems to have been rather clueless at best. <br /><br />I'm just not sure what Armstrong was getting at there. We are never in any real doubt that her Edith is a determined and resolute do-gooder, because Armstrong takes you into her head. It's easy to see how someone like Ruth Rendell, say, might have taken this novel in a much darker direction!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-23753606402740754822012-09-07T10:33:38.003-07:002012-09-07T10:33:38.003-07:00I have a number of Armstrong books yet to read. I...I have a number of Armstrong books yet to read. I have that Fawcett edition of THE TURRET ROOM. Romantic imagination isn't such a bad thing.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04546161337366365635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-3296430910312737482012-09-06T17:02:06.794-07:002012-09-06T17:02:06.794-07:00The book is Criminal Justice: The True Story of E...The book is Criminal Justice: The True Story of Edith Thompson by Rene Weis. It's a rather lengthy triple biography of her and her lover and husband.<br /><br />She apparently was led astray by an overactive and intensely romantic imagination. I found the efforts of her lover to save her life quite moving. It rather reminded me of Crippen and Ethel Le Neve.<br /><br />Mark McGlonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10208359156193723805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-26527762348901060452012-09-06T16:39:26.353-07:002012-09-06T16:39:26.353-07:00These last two I've read by her are very moral...These last two I've read by her are very moralistic, I would say. Kevin Killian says this became more prominent in her work in the 1960s, kind of a didactic quality. I can see why it would put off some people. It certainly distinguishes her from other women suspense writers, like Margaret Millar, say, who doesn't seem to me so overt and positive. I can see why she appealed to Anthony Boucher.<br /> <br />My personal favorite by her is still A Dram of Poison, but I enjoyed these other two as well.<br /><br />Edith Thompson from what I've read it seems to me was the victim of a grave miscarriage of justice and her ghastly execution would be enough top put about anyone off the death penalty. But she seemed rather silly to me (hardly a capitol crime). But then I'm not read mup in the literature. What was the book you read? A Pin to See the Peep Show is a celebrated novelization.The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137677673775151256.post-83205521946120393412012-09-06T15:59:05.626-07:002012-09-06T15:59:05.626-07:00I didn't care for this one myself. It was the ...I didn't care for this one myself. It was the first of her novels that I've read and it sort of put me off Charlotte Armstrong until I recently persuaded myself to read The Weird Sisters, which I quite liked. I can't remember much about The Turret Room now, except that it left me with the impression that the author was a rather stern moralist, which I found off-putting.<br /><br />Regarding Edith Thompson, the supposed murderess, I recently read a book about her crime (actually it was more of a biography of her) and she comes across quite sympathetically, as does her lover, the actual murderer. The victim, however, comes across as a complete jackass. Of course, that's only one author's interpretation.Mark McGlonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10208359156193723805noreply@blogger.com