Writer Philip MacDonald was born in Britain but immigrated to California where he became a screenwriter for Hitchcock among others.

I found his excellent short story “Malice Domestic” in Murder by the Book, another wonderful volume in the British Library Crime Classics Series.

“Malice Domestic” in the story of Carl Borden, “a writer of some merit, mediocre sales and–at least among the wordier critics–considerable reputation..” Borden, whose marriage has hit an apparent rocky patch, gets violently ill two times after eating a meal cooked by his wife. His friend and local doctor suspects that Borden’s wife, Annette, may be poisoning him. Borden is incredulous and switches doctors.

To say much more would be to give away too much. Suffice it to say there are twists predictable and unpredictable in this excellent short-story Bibliomystery.

I highly recommend “Malice Domestic” and Murder by the Book.