Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly

I was in the mood for an old fashioned murder story so I picked a book from the H. R. Keating List of 100 Best Crime Stories, Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly by John Franklin Bardin. I was hoping to love this dark tale but unfortunately I just didn’t connect with the story.

The book opens with Ellen, a world-renowned musician coming home after two years in a mental hospital. She is trying to reconnect with her life, her career and her husband but isn’t having much success doing so. We soon realize that Ellen’s hold on sanity isn’t as strong as one would hope and as the book advances her psychological well-being deteriorates. A chance meeting with a man from her past, folksinger Jimmy Shad, brings some dark and difficult issues to show more light and over the next few weeks Ellen finds herself becoming both a victim and a criminal as she struggles with the darkness within herself.

The suspense was slow and as Ellen is never quite sure what is real and what is not, I had difficulty with this as well. The story jumped back and forth between Ellen’s muddled past and her confusing present which certainly didn’t help. Eventually there is a murder and things spin even more out of control but by this time I was getting tired of so much repetition in the story and the surreal nature of the writing. show less

An interesting book, deeply psychological in content. It describes a few months following the main character, Ellen's, release from a psychiatric hospital. She is very central to the book with the other characters, even important ones such as Ellen's husband or doctor ,being much less substantial and often fleetingly appearing before disappearing again. There are some interesting descriptions of Ellen's psycholoanalytic therapy, such as word association and dream interpretation; as well as the medical intervention she is subject to via ECT.

Mirrors are mentioned frequently in the book, as is the way the other characters look at Ellen. She is careful about her interaction with them, wanting to avoid any chance that they might see a return show more to madness. However, an unexpected meeting with the folk singer, Jim Shad who had seduced Ellen as a schoolgirl before cheating on her is the catalyst for Ellen's next descent into mental illness. As her health declines, so does her musical skill (she is a professional harpsichordist), and finally we realise that Ellen has an alter-ego, Nelle who is growing ever stronger. Menacing in tone, this is a very interesting read. show less

Después de un largo tratamiento, Ellen es dada de alta y regresa a Nueva York con su marido. Ha pasado dos años internada y no ha visto un teclado desde que sufrió la crisis nerviosa. Ahora quiere reanudar su carrera de concertista, y lo primero que busca al llegar a casa es su clavicordio. Sólo que está cerrado y no aparece la llave por ninguna parte... Primer indicio de la sinfonía de pesadilla que está apunto de desencadenarse en su vida.

Después de un largo tratamiento, Ellen es dada de alta y regresa a Nueva York con su marido. Ha pasado dos años internada y no ha visto un teclado desde que sufrió la crisis nerviosa. Ahor quiere reanudar su carrera de concertista, y lo primero que busca al llegar a casa es su clavicordio. Sólo que está cerrado y no aparece la llave.

Después de un largo tratamiento, Ellen es dada de alta y regresa a Nueva York con su marido. Ha pasado dos años internada y no ha visto un teclado desde que sufrió la crisis nerviosa. Ahora quiere reanudar su carrera de concertista, y lo primero que busca al llegar a casa es su clavicornio. Sólo que está cerrado y no aparece la llave.