Enemy in the House

by Mignon G. Eberhart

A tale of murder and suspense in Revolutionary-era South Carolina, from an Edgar Award–winning “One of America’s favorite writers” (Mary Higgins Clark). Amity Mallam fears that her family’s loyalty to King George III may result in their land being seized by George Washington’s army—and in a last-ditch effort to save it, she marries her cousin Simon, a rebel. After the priest who officiated the ceremony is murdered—along with a lawyer who attended—she sets off to Jamaica to find her father, who had left her behind to run the plantation. But even more danger and turmoil awaits in the Caribbean, and Amity must untangle the truth and stave off the armies of two nations to protect them all. “Intriguing.” — Houston Chronicle “One of the most thorough and ingenious plotters in the trade.” — The New Yorker

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Mignon Good (1899-1996) was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. She studied at Nebraska Wesleyan University from 1917 to 1920. In 1923 she married Alanson C. Eberhart, a civil engineer. After working as a freelance journalist, she decided to become a full-time writer. In 1929 her first crime novel was published featuring 'Sarah Keate', a nurse and 'Lance O'Leary', a police detective. This couple appeared in another four novels. In the Forties, she and her husband divorced. She married John Hazen Perry in 1946 but two years later she divorced him and remarried her first husband. Over the next forty years she wrote a novel nearly every year. In 1971 she won the Grand Master award from the Mystery Writers of America. She also wrote many short stories featuring banker/amateur sleuth James Wickwire (who could be considered a precursor to Emma Lathen's John Putnam Thatcher) and mystery writer/amateur sleuth Susan Dare.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery/Romance

I have to confess that I have never liked Eberhart very much. However one of the book sites to which I subscribe offered this novel at a very attractive price so I decided to try Eberhart again.

She wrote a number of mystery novels, most with a heavy dose of romance. By the end of the 1930's she was one of the world's most popular female writers. Eberhart often wrote romantic crime fiction with female leads. Several of her books, including While the Patient Slept and Hasty Wedding were made into movies.

Many of the blurbs describing this novel speak of the American Revolution and South Carolina. However nearly all of the action takes place in Jamaica. The war serving as a mere backdrop to the story as well as an often minor point of contention among the characters.

This is very much a closed set mystery with a limited number of good suspects. ENEMY IN THE HOUSE is a most appropriate title as it seems unlikely that some outsider was able to slip in and commit murder. Several of the suspects are quite nasty people whom many will undoubtedly wish to be the murderer or some.other type of criminal. The ending is abrupt leaving many of those people continuing their plotting and machinations with no resolution.

Mostly well written but the main character spends a lot of time uselessly musing about whether the obvious suspect is or isn't even more nasty than he appears. The book held me through the end but did not change my opinion of Eberhart as just a middling mystery author.
 

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mysterious

What a wild ride. Good story teeming with historical flavor and unique places. I liked Amity and Simon. What a cast of characters.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because it has a Jamaica setting, and we were visiting Jamaica. I enjoyed picturing the setting and the story kept me interested, but it didn’t seem comparable to Sayers, James, Christie, or Penny.

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very enjoyable read from an delightful author.

[Robert Kradoska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set during the revolution, about Loyalists and revolutionarys