02 September 2014

Margaret Millar's Great Toronto Murder Mystery



The Iron Gates
Margaret Millar
New York: Dell, 1960
222 pages

This review now appears, revised and rewritten, in my new book:
The Dusty Bookcase:
A Journey Through Canada's
Forgotten, Neglected, and Suppressed Writing
Available at the very best bookstores and through


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13 comments:

  1. I liked THE IRON GATES very much too.

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    1. Brilliant, isn't it, Patti. I think of the opening every time I walk in High Park.

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  2. This is a must read! I can't understand why someone hasn't reissued all of Millar yet; she is so brilliant, and vintage is so hot right now. As you know, I have a bias toward her genius, anyhow.

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    1. One of the best Canadian writers of her generation, I say. No one wrote dialogue better than she. As for those reissues, I'm working on it.

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  3. One of her very creepy books, I'd say. I read it for the first time last year just before a re-read of A STRANGER IN MY GRAVE. Quite a sadistically cruel and nasty villain in this book. Outdoes the wicked psychological manipulation of the husband in Hamilton's Angel Street.

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    1. The creep factor is right up there with Beast in View, I think. Together they are easily the most disturbing Millars I've read to date.

      On a side note, I'm curious about Millars earliest novels: The Invisible Worm, The Weak-Eyed Bat and The Devil Loves Me. Have you read any of these, John? I understand the first two are quite rare.

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    2. I've never seen copies of her first two books. Not even in a library out here. Finding one in a used bookstore would be like coming across buried pirate's treasure.

      You should read Deb Pfeifer's review of THE INVISIBLE WORM . Only time I've seen anyone review that book.

      The Devil Loves Me is much easier to find having been reprinted multiple times in hardcover and in paperback. I picked up a cheap reprint years ago. When I tried to read it, it didn't excite me as much as her books from the 50s. It was like early Gladys Mitchell who was spoofing the detective novel genre in her first books. I got too much wry humor and not much of her insightful characterization. It was very different from the kind of book that has come to define her.

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  4. Well, you have convinced me with the images of the book covers. I have read books by Margaret Millar years ago and she was a bit too creepy for me, but I have been planning to read more of her books, and the fact that she is from Canada was a motivating factor.

    You also provided with a fact I did not know. I live in Santa Barbara, so of course I know she lived here with Kenneth Millar, but I did not know that this book bought the house they lived in.

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    1. I think you'll find this one of her most disturbing novels, Tracy. May I suggest An Air That Kills (a/k/a The Soft Talkers)? It's my favourite, though I still haven't tackled so much as half of her bibliography.

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    2. Thanks for the recommendation, Brian. I will definitely follow up on that. Also, I just realized that I have Wall of Eyes so I can read that one first. But I have to have a copy of that Mapback edition of The Iron Gates if I can afford it; I love those editions.

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    3. Wall of Eyes is every bit as good as The Iron Gates, Tracy. It's opening intrigues… I'll say no more. Gotta love those mapbacks. You'll find that the one for Wall of Eyes is much more helpful.

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  5. The Iron Gates is not an easy book to find in The Netherlands despite the translation 'De Poort van de Angst". I could shell out 25 euro's and get it via UK or I could talke your advice and start with Soft Talkers ( found it in France) for 29 euro cents! Now that's an offer I cannot refuse! Cannot wait to read the book...!

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    1. I expect The Iron Gates is more common as Taste of Fears in the European used book market.

      The Soft Talkers for 29¢? Well done! I've never seen a copy myself.

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