THE GLASS SLIPPER is a mystery novel by a well-known writer who excels in creating an atmosphere of tension and mystery. A year ago Rue had been sent by the hospital to nurse Crystal Hatterick, wife of one of Chicago's most distinguished surgeons. Crystal was a patient of Brule Hatterick's protégé and friend, Dr. Andrew Crittenden, and under his care she had been well on the road to recovery when suddenly, to everyone's amazement, she died. And within a few months Rue became the second Mrs Hatterick, with the world at her feet--wealth, position, beauty. Yet when someone called her Cinderella, and said, "I wonder--does the glass slipper ever pinch your little foot?" the arrow found its mark. Complete happiness had eluded her. Andy Crittenden is the first to tell her that she is suspected of murdering Crystal. Events then move fast. Another death occurs. The suspense grows!
I must admit the question that preoccupied me while I was reading this was, "What kind of author names her heroine 'Rue'? And what prompts her to name another character 'Brule'?"
Mignon Eberhart was once called the "American Agatha Christie", but judging by this there's a reason why her books have fallen into obscurity, while Christie's have never fallen out of print. Agatha Christie's characters are often collections of stereotypes, but they live on the page. The characters in The Glass Slipper—Rue and Brule, et al—are puppets that exist only to further the plot. Christie's characters have motives for doing what they do—Eberhart's characters' actions make no sense!
This is one of the older Pan paperbacks in my collection--but not THE oldest. That will be coming up shortly...
