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Margaret Millar

Born

in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

February 05, 1915

Died

March 26, 1994

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers

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Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm) was an American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she was educated there and in Toronto. She moved to the United States after marrying Kenneth Millar (better known under the pen name Ross Macdonald). They resided for decades in the city of Santa Barbara, which was often utilized as a locale in her later novels under the pseudonyms of San Felice or Santa Felicia.

Millar's books are distinguished by sophistication of characterization. Often we are shown the rather complex interior lives of the people in her books, with issues of class, insecurity, failed ambitions, loneliness or existential isolation or paranoia often being explored with an almost literary quality that transcen Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm) was an American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she was educated there and in Toronto. She moved to the United States after marrying Kenneth Millar (better known under the pen name Ross Macdonald). They resided for decades in the city of Santa Barbara, which was often utilized as a locale in her later novels under the pseudonyms of San Felice or Santa Felicia.

Millar's books are distinguished by sophistication of characterization. Often we are shown the rather complex interior lives of the people in her books, with issues of class, insecurity, failed ambitions, loneliness or existential isolation or paranoia often being explored with an almost literary quality that transcends the mystery genre. Unusual people, mild societal misfits or people who don't quite fit into their surroundings are given much interior detail. In some of the books we are given chilling and fascinating insight into what it feels like to be losing touch with reality and evolving into madness. In general, she is a writer of both expressive description and yet admirable economy, often ambitious in the sociological underpinnings of the stories and the quality of the writing.

Millar often delivers effective and ingenious "surprise endings," but the details that would allow the solution of the surprise have usually been subtly included, in the best genre tradition. One of the distinctions of her books, however, is that they would be interesting, even if you knew how they were going to end, because they are every bit as much about subtleties of human interaction and rich psychological detail of individual characters as they are about the plot.

Millar was a pioneer in writing intelligently about the psychology of women. Even as early as the '40s and '50s, her books have a very mature and matter-of-fact view of class distinctions, sexual freedom and frustration, and the ambivalence of moral codes depending on a character's economic circumstances. Her earliest novels seem unusually frank. Read against the backdrop of Production Code-era movies of the time, they remind us that life as lived in the '40s and '50s was not as black-and-white morally as Hollywood would have us believe.

While she was not known for any one recurring detective (unlike her husband, whose constant gumshoe was Lew Archer), she occasionally used a detective character for more than one novel. Among her occasional ongoing sleuths were Canadians Dr. Paul Prye (her first invention, in the earliest books) and Inspector Sands (a quiet, unassuming Canadian police inspector who might be the most endearing of her recurring inventions). In the California years, a few books featured either Joe Quinn, a rather down-on-his-luck private eye, or Tom Aragorn, a young, Hispanic lawyer.
Sadly, most of Millar's books are out of print in America, with the exception of the short story collection The Couple Next Door and two novels, An Air That Kills and Do Evil In Return, that have been re-issued as classics by Stark House Press in California.

In 1956 Millar won the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Best Novel award for Beast in View. In 1965 she was awarded the Woman of the Year Award by the Los Angeles Times. In 1983 she was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition of her lifetime achievements. ...more

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Margaret Millar’s books

Average rating: 3.72 · 8,813 ratings · 1,478 reviews · 128 distinct works • Similar authors

	Beast In View 3.72 avg rating — 2,700 ratings — published 1955 — 52 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Stranger In My Grave 3.61 avg rating — 900 ratings — published 1960	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Vanish in an Instant 3.66 avg rating — 527 ratings — published 1952 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fiend 3.94 avg rating — 407 ratings — published 1964 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Listening Walls 3.78 avg rating — 416 ratings — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How Like an Angel 3.91 avg rating — 255 ratings — published 1962 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beyond This Point Are Monsters 3.72 avg rating — 256 ratings — published 1970 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ask For Me Tomorrow 3.59 avg rating — 246 ratings — published 1976 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Air That Kills 3.79 avg rating — 197 ratings — published 1957	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Do Evil in Return 3.71 avg rating — 199 ratings — published 1950 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Margaret Millar…

Series by Margaret Millar

Tom Aragon (3 books)
by

Margaret Millar

3.57 avg rating — 524 ratings

Inspector Sands (2 books)
by

Margaret Millar

3.72 avg rating — 273 ratings

Paul Prye (3 books)
by

Margaret Millar

3.32 avg rating — 81 ratings

Quotes by Margaret Millar (?)

“Some people become so expert at reading between the lines
they don't read the lines.”
― Margaret Millar, An Air That Kills

13 likes

“Animosity hung between them like a two-edged sword; neither of them could use it without first getting hurt herself.”
― Margaret Millar, Beast In View

tags: animosity, daughters, family, mothers, mothers-and-daughters, psychological-thriller, psychology

8 likes

“Some people become so expert at reading between the lines they don't read the lines.”
― Margaret Millar

7 likes

See all Margaret Millar's quotes »

Polls

August 2022 Group Reads Poll

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

82 votes 38.7%

Cold as Hell by Lilja Sigurðardóttir

41 votes 19.3%

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

40 votes 18.9%

Rose's Last Summer by Margaret Millar

26 votes 12.3%

Death in the East by Abir Mukherjee

23 votes 10.8%

212 total votes

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Margaret Millar’s Followers (185)

Margaret Millar

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