Word: fernanda
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...sculptor, Stirling, always welcome. It looks like a good summer among friends. Nor would Rita Woodruff's affair with the Polish boy who sings weird songs, or the youthful infatuation of Judith Crawford for Bill Woodruff (aged 46), upset the usual harmony. But there is a newcomer, Mrs. Fernanda Milbank, who leases "The Poplars" and arrives with her spoiled, affected, unhappy little daughter, Geraldine...
...story starts slowly. The reader is more than halfway through before he realizes he is entangled in a plot. Fernanda Milbank gushes with the women while attracting an admiring group of their men. Casting about recklessly, she gets a strike from Jack Crawford, reduces him to her terms. The two plan an elopement. Jack postpones the fateful day, leaves for the city on business...
Marty, the Polish boy, is discharged by Mrs. Milbank and gets into trouble. Rita Woodruff drives him out of town, concealed under a blanket. Susannah Crawford, Jack's wife, shoots her wounded dog with a pearl-handled revolver. Bill Woodruff, long ago in love with Fernanda, loves Susannah, at least as an old friend...
...Fernanda is discovered by Woodruff lying on her bed, shot through the temple. A pearl-handled revolver is on the floor. Her diamonds are missing. The verdict is suicide. But it is some time later before Woodruff, convinced that Susannah Crawford has killed Fernanda to protect her husband, her home and herself, learns the truth about the suicide...