Charlotte Armstrong Treasury

by Charlotte Armstrong

Mischief, The Dream Walker, and The Witch's House

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Full name Charlotte Armstrong Lewi. Wrote 29 novels, plus short stories and plays under the name Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine. Additional writing jobs: New York Times (advertising department), Breath of the Avenue (fashion reporter).

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kept attention: 5
Must read: 1
Important: 1
Accessible: 5
Well written: 5 (fun look back into the writers' language of the 1960s!)

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Witch's House started off a bit slow but picked up speed; I didn't really understand why one teacher's anger was good and right until the back story was explained about page 20. The idea of a modern-day witch tale plus the utter frustration of citizens having to circumvent police boredom and bureaucracy was a good idea. Mischief showed a better sense of pacing and character development. I especially enjoyed the back-and-forth argument that a callous young man has with himself that results in some much-needed humbling out of shock, and the idea that insanity may be neither more nor less than the failure to anticipate consequences - just an ego based on the idea of the moment with no brakes. The Dream Walker failed to capture my attention by page 30, so I decided to finish it another time.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like mysteries and I had never read Charlotte Armstrong before so when I saw this book at a thrift store I took a chance. Good thing I didn't pay that much for it for I don't care for her writing style. I often found myself rereading a passage or sentence and wondering what she meant. The Witch's House was ok and I only read Mischief because it was the basis for the 1952 movie Don't Bother To Knock, which I had seen, and I like to compare books to their movies. Started the 3rd story it just didn't hold my interest.

[Cws]

M Arm

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are 3 suspense novels included in this book. I liked The Witch's House best; Mischief was good; The Dream Walker was just weird.

[Librat · Rating 3 out of 5]

4.5 well written frequent clever word play, cinematic descriptions