A Judgement in Stone
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season192 pages, about 4 hours: two-thirds the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbEunice Parchman is hired as housekeeper by the Coverdale family at their country house, hiding that she cannot read.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 12 reviews from critics and book blogs, 8 credit the plot and 9 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesKirkus and a crime blog compare it to Capote’s In Cold Blood, on the shelf at 343 pages, for its journalistic style.
The case for it
on the opening line
“the boiling center of this thoroughly frightening domestic nightmare, an English In Cold Blood”
Unsigned review · Kirkus Reviews, 1977 on the pacing
“The tension rises, and rises, and rises so effectively and so gradually”
five stars · a book blog on the class system
“a sharp analysis of the social class system”
a book blog on the suspense
“there is still a sense of tension and edge of your seat reading”
a book blog
The case against
on the first page
“I don’t like how the mystery is solved on the first page”
a Substack review on the book’s explanation
“she doesn’t really account for Eunice’s criminality on those terms alone”
a book blog on the mystery elements
“It’s about the people and their interactions, their misunderstandings and missteps”
a book blog on the prose style
“with somewhat less elegance than usual”
Unsigned review · Kirkus Reviews, 1977
