Margaret Millar

Margaret Millar was an American-Canadian suspense and mystery writer who was highly recognized at the time. She was the recipient of the lifetime achievement award, the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Millar was known for her excellent characterization and her mature look at the psychology of her characters. Millar was born in Berlin, Ontario in 1915. She would go to college at the Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate Institute and the University of Toronto before moving to the United States after marrying her husband. The couple would move to California and it was there that she would do her writing and build her career. Her novel, Best in View was adapted for the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Beast in View may be Millar’s best known work and it is also an Edgar Award winner. The book follows thirty-year-old Helen Clarvoe who is all alone. She’s a shut-in who is not close to her family and survives of her family’s money with the only one close to her being the family’s attorney. A series of prank phone calls send her spiraling and running to the attorney for help. At first he doesn’t believe her, but he quickly realizes just how dangerous this situation is.