First, I thought this was about the old radio show. It was not. Second, this is my least favorite book ending...possibly ever.

“That happens a lot in life, I guess, that the thing you were dreading happens offstage, at the wrong time.” (185)

“Whoever the murderer was or is at first seemed important to know. I suppose that is an impulse that need not be explained. Everyone has it, it explains the power of Bluebeard’s room. You will open the door, you will draw back the curtain, you will look behind the arras to see whom you’ve stabbed. You will look out from behind to see who it is has stabbed you, and he will be familiar and be laughing.” (217)

I had to give up on this one because the narrator's attempt in the book to talk about her own racism was embarrassingly dated and felt self congratulatory.

This is a stupid good whodunit novel with one of the strongest first person voices I've ever read. Diane Johnson co-wrote the screenplay to The Shining with Kubrick, and so I pictured the main character as being Shelley Duvall the whole time, which made the book even weirder.