Listen

6. The Driver’s Seat – Muriel Spark

I feel like if Lise wasn’t in the driver’s seat both literally and metaphorically of her own murder, she would have been telling the killer he was doing it wrong the entire time and would be saying with her last breath how dreadfully embarrassing it is to be murdered wrong.

Such a strange little story, from not wanting a dress that won’t keep stains to random demonstrations that prove her unforgettable on her last day (She’s a tourist, a teacher from Iowa, New Jersey! Is she now.) to picking her own murder weapon, such a strange story. It’s pretty wicked really and I understand both why Muriel Spark said it’s her favorite of her works and why it’s on the list I found of essential scary books by women. Mrs. Fiedke’s rant about men wanting equal rights with women alone makes for a bit of disturbed wonder.

 

Yes, Peregrine, you are in charge of all you do. Clearly.