The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

Seance on a Wet Afternoon by Mark McShane was the basis of the film with the same name from 1964. The basic synopsis of the film is as follows:

"WAS IT MAGIC…OR MURDER THEY PLANNED?
Working-class British housewife Myra Savage reinvents herself as a medium, holding seances in the sitting room of her home with the hidden assistance of her under-employed, asthmatic husband, Billy. In an attempt to enhance her credibility as a psychic, Myra hatches an elaborate, ill-conceived plot to kidnap a wealthy couple’s young daughter so that she can then help the police “find” the missing girl."

I am looking forward to reading this novel again, and I hope you'll join in.


https://letterboxd.com/film/seance-on...

I'll be starting this book tomorrow. I've been so scatterbrained (much family drama going on I'm trying not to get sucked into) that I once again forgot about my real-world book group and had to stop dead in my reading tracks to at least get that book started.

Okay -- just starting. Myra's an interesting character already -- she was born with a caul over her face, and was told that it was a sign of someone born with second sight. Throughout her childhood she had a few sort of paranormal-ish experiences which made her believe, but at the present she's "failing" in her job as a medium. It will be interesting to see if she's a sympathetic character as the book goes on -- her husband doesn't seem too into the whole thing.

I was wrong -- Bill (the spouse) is into it after all. Yikes.

I'm about to finish and then watch the film. I've been sidetracked lately with unexpected guests just as my spouse took off on a business trip to Dallas. Arrgh!

Richard Attenborough and Kim Stanley were so good in the movie.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch the film last night so I will try again over the weekend.

it seems I have a lot of in-house time on my hands suddenly, so I'll be watching the movie this afternoon -- then I'll be back

A little late to the party, but I must have missed the thread and didn't know this one was being read this month. I found my copy of this book and will try to jump in. I remember seeing bits and pieces of the film adaptation on TCM, but haven't watched the entire film. The novel looks like a pretty quick read so I think I can finish pretty quick. I'll come back to the discussion whenever I finish.

Franky wrote: "A little late to the party, but I must have missed the thread and didn't know this one was being read this month. I found my copy of this book and will try to jump in. I remember seeing bits and pi..."

terrific!! I'll hold my thoughts for a while on the book. Yay! Someone else joining in!

Well, I won't say anything specific about the movie except that they changed a HUGE plot point.

Nancy wrote: "Well, I won't say anything specific about the movie except that they changed a HUGE plot point."

It seems like that happens often with film adaptations. It is very cool that Youtube has the entirety of the film version so I might watch while I read. I am about a third of the way done so not sure I will finish this weekend so you can go ahead and spoil away and I'll come back later (unless you want to wait another weekend). I read "The Dead Zone" Stephen King years ago (where the protagonist can see a person's future) and getting the same vibes here with Myra. Is it a gift or is it a curse? kind of thing. I'm also thinking that old saying from the Robert Frost poem "the best laid plans go awry."

I think I should finish tomorrow. About 30 pages away. I see that the film is available on youtube, so I'll try to watch also.

We'll reconnect after Christmas day, so don't hurry!! But I do think you'll be a bit surprised when you watch the film. I know I was.

Sorry about not coming back. Had some family stuff going on right after Christmas. I finished the novel and the film, and agree about them being different with some of the additional huge plot elements in the film, notably Arthur, the son. I felt like both film and book were effective maybe in different ways. I thought the final lines of the novel were rather ambiguously meaningful. What did you make of the final words from the husband and wife? Did this one remind you a tad of reading maybe like Patricia Highsmith or some similar novelist?

Franky wrote: "Sorry about not coming back. Had some family stuff going on right after Christmas. I finished the novel and the film, and agree about them being different with some of the additional huge plot elem..."

No worries at all, no apologies needed.

"What did you make of the final words from the husband and wife?"

Ambiguous for sure -- it could definitely come across in more than one way. In both, I had this overwhelming feeling in both movie and novel that Billy was relieved at the end that it was all over.

The film's ending is also food for thought -- did Myra really have some sort of psychic ability, or did she finally just unburden herself of her inner demons right there at the seance table?