Design in evil by Rufus King

Nice, different from the other stories I've read so far. Nothing spectacular, but a nice book I read very easily and quickly.  Not boring, with many dialogs and very few descriptions. This last thing was very much appreciated, since too many descriptions serve the only purpose of filling the pages. A few ones help the reader to 'see' the story, but too many are useless. Somehow nowadays people want big books, thinking something like: bigger means better, but it's not true.
The story: Miriam Lake has no money or family, so she thinks of accepting a job, a certain Mrs Murcheson offered her. They've never met each other, but letters have been exchanged. When Miriam goes to meet her on board her ship, she finds herself kidnapped under very strange circumstances. Rich Mr Murcheson, his sister Kat and her son Forsythe claim to be her relatives, and old Dr Crownin is totally convinced she has another personality, the true one, hidden in her mind. A feeling is immediately born between her and young Dr Stone, but the situation keeps them apart. All her attempts to explain herself, to convince them that she's not rich Jennifer Murcheson are useless, but when a mysterious figure leaves her a message stating to believe her, and that at the center of it all there is a murder, Miriam starts worrying for her life. She knows she's Miriam Lake, not Jennifer, and starts believing that the real Jennifer has probably already been killed, and now it's her turn. In a way she's troubled by Dr Crownin and by Mr Murcheson's niceness because they look, they are really sure that she's Jennifer. She has no way of proving her identity, they're at sea and she has no way of communicating with the world. It's saturday when she boards the ship, but come Monday the telegraph operator is sick and she knows someone is working to keep her there, isolated, but things quickly gets worse. That night Kate comes to her cabin, pale and confused, but Miriam understands why only when Kate's hand falls opening her robe and Miriam can see the knife. Kate is dead, Miriam gets sick but she's afraid people will believe her to be a murderer, as a consequence of her supposed mental illness, therefore Miriam carries the body to Kate's own room (and Kate was a big woman, but Rufus King refers to those 'reserves' of strength that presumably people can access in moments of great need. I don't believe this can be true, as they use it in stories).
At this point Stone, in love with her, and with a past of police doctor, understands her involvement and needs to be sure once and for all, so he uses the telegraph himself to contact the New York Police. All her story is confirmed. The places where she had worked and the old friend of her mother validate every word she had said. Meantime Forsythe attacks her and almost strangles her, but the bad weather causes his mother's body to move and he leaves Miriam. Him killing her was not intentional, but Kate strongly suspected him of having killed the real Jennifer, and now he needed a body to be found for Jennifer to be declared dead so he could inherit the money, him or his mother. He wanted to kill only Miriam and his mother had tried to stop him.


Ita: Il fantasma e Miriam Lake