With her eye for moral bankruptcy and what lies beneath seemingly respectable façades, Dale creates a world that is uniquely, wonderfully horrifying.’ Spectator

As Maisie soon discovers, Lena feels she has been saddled with taking care of her aunt – a burden she so clearly resents as it prevents her from living a more exciting life. In truth, Lena is selfish, irritable and impatient – qualities that Maisie soon turns to her own advantage by listening to Lena’s woes. Moreover, Mrs Fingal is equally unhappy with Lena, viewing her as common, self-centred, and hard – a perception she duly shares with Josh. Frankly, dear, I don’t. It would only unsettle her. She’s settled into our little home so well that I think it’s really only kind to leave her to her own little ways and routines. You know what old folk are, they get used to things being just as they like them, just as they’re used to. She’s as happy as a sandboy with me and Josh knowing just what she likes, and anything coming in new from the outside might only upset her again.’ (p. 118) As Graziella bonds with Mrs Fingal, encouraging the old lady to build up her strength by walking again, she senses that something is decidedly off. While the Evanses may be in charge of Mrs Fingal’s wellbeing, they don’t seem to care for her, not in the way Italian families would… In summary, then, an icy, utterly terrifying domestic noir that will chill you to the bone. All the more haunting for its grounding in apparent normality – the flat, characterless feel of the suburban setting is brilliantly evoked. For those who think they’ve seen everything the crime genre has to offer, this is an example of how it can keep rewarding.

Maisie:] ‘There’s not much to say. You get on with your life and leave the worrying to me – when there is any.’ Celia Dale’s writing is quiet, clever, subtle – and terrifying. I can’t think of anyone whose stories of suspense I appreciate more.’ Ruth Rendell

Celia Dale took everyday domestic situations and gave them a bitter twist. In Helping with Enquiries there are only three main protagonists, their story revolving around the murder of the mother. In A Helping Hand the vulnerability of the elderly is masterfully portrayed. Dale won the 1986 Crime Writers Association Veuve Cliquot Short Story Award for Lines of Communication which appears in her short story collection, A Personal Call and other stories which show that Dale had the short story down to a fine art. Her final book in 1988 was Sheeps Clothing. It’s a good thing really that Mrs. Fingal is not a particularly sympathetic character. Good for the reader that is. Maisie Evans, so experienced in the care of the elderly knows just what to do. … It begins with the death of an old lady, apparently a peaceful death of old age. Former nurse Maisie Evans and her husband Josh who were the woman’s caretakers. They attend to the necessary legal obligations. The queen of suburban horror . . . a sharply observant writer with a great eye for detail, her accuracy, understanding and quiet wit made her writing a cut above the run-of-the-mill crime novel.’ The Times

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Not very much is known about the author Celia Dale except for a few scant details. Celia Dale was born in 1912 and she was daughter of the actor, James Dale and was married to the journalist and critic, Guy Ramsey until his death in 1959. She worked in Fleet Street and as a publishers adviser and book reviewer. Some of her books were dramatised on radio and TV. Dales first book appeared in 1943 but it was her later novels where she branched out in to the realms of psychological crime. In all, Dale produced thirteen novels and a collection of short stories. Maisie and Josh, the abusers, are both deeply unlikable, but Maisie's hard and no-nonsense approach to care and nursing is recognizeable and at times even feels right.

Celia Dale's first novel, The Least Of These, was published in 1943 and she went on to write twelve more and a volume of short stories. Her later novels were psychological thrillers. [4] She won several awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Best Short Story of the Year award for Lines of Communication and A Personal Call and other stories in 1986. [5] She also worked as a secretary to the author Rumer Godden. [6] Four of her novels were reissued as Faber Finds in 2008. [7] Soon after, they are on holiday in Italy, and encounter the disgruntled Lena Kemp and her aunt Cynthia Fingal. The Evans’s agree for Mrs Fingal to come and live with them, as a ‘paying guest’. With stealthy prose, Dale spins a story of kindness exploited, in a totally beautiful, terrifying suburban horror.’ The Face magazine While Maisie proceeds to wear down Mrs Fingal by restricting her movements, Josh can be equally sinister in his own chilling way, neglecting his charge for other, more interesting activities. As such, Mrs Fingal is left feeling lonely and confused, declining mentally and physically under the Evanses’ ‘care’.

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A fascinating portrayal of dysfunctional relationship, resentments, greed and opportunities very sharply observed’ Paul Burke, Crime Time FM There’s no bodies turning up. It’s bloodless in its entirety, yet quite chilling in its portrayal of the cruelties and interactions of everyday life.

Beneath the suburban net-curtained world of genteel respectability, however, lurks the much darker and chilling terror of greed and exploitation - deadly currents that are masked by polite conversation and cups of tea. Mrs Fingal, a wealthy widow, finds the couple a refreshing change to her resentful niece and their understanding and sympathy to her situation, her loneliness and need for companionship, makes them the perfect people to look after her. Moving in with them is the ideal solution - one that is satisfactory to all parties. One of the things Dale does so well here is to let the reader in on what the Evanses are up to, slowly but surely as the narrative unfolds. For instance, we see them sizing up Mrs Fingal’s situation, working out how much the old lady might be worth and establishing whether there are any other living relatives besides Lena. It really is quite calculated and cold… Celia Dale died on the 31st December 2011, just short of her hundredth birthday. - Excerpted from FantasticFiction Middle-aged Josh and Maisie Evans lead an unremarkable, unassuming life. When Auntie Flo, who has lived with them for years, dies and leaves them her Estate, they head to Italy on holiday, to take in the sea air and let the sun soak into their bones. It’s there they meet Mrs Fingal. A wealthy widow, she lives with her grown-up niece Lena and it’s pretty clear that neither is happy with the situation. So when Josh and Maisie bond with Mrs Fingal, over ice-cream and gentle toddles, it’s only natural that they all decide she should must move in with them once home. It suits everyone.

Both Celia Dale's parents were actors – her father was the noted stage and television actor James Dale (1887–1985), her mother Marguerite Adamson. [2] She was a cousin of the novelist Sarah Harrison. [3] She was married to the journalist and critic Guy Ramsey, until his death in 1959. [4] Work [ edit ] The main focus is on how these characters and a range of old ladies see the world. There was a lot of wisdom about the psychological effects of declining faculties and also about 20-something Janice's belated awakening to life. There's a subtext about how we all blind ourselves to things we're not ready to see.