**Hailed as one of the greatest psychological mysteries ever written and
winner of the 1956 Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best
Novel, Beast in View remains as freshly sinister today as the day it
was first published.
**
Thirty-year-old Helen Clarvoe is scared and all alone. The heiress of a
small fortune, she is resented by her mother and, to a lesser degree,
her brother. The only person who seemingly cares for her is the family's
attorney, Paul Blackshear. A shut-in, Helen maintains her residence in
an upscale hotel downtown.
But passive-aggressive resentment isn't the only thing hounding Helen
Clarvoe. A string of bizarre and sometimes threatening prank phone calls
has upended her spinster's routine. Increasingly threatened, she turns
to a reluctant Mr. Blackshear to get to the bottom of these strange
calls. Blackshear is doubtful of their seriousness but he quickly
realizes that he is in the midst of something far more sinister than he
thought possible. As he unravels the mystery of the calls the identity
behind them slowly emerges, predatory and treacherous.