In fascination by horror, that enjoyable emotion, [The Dark Daughters] does remarkably well. And there is an original flavour in the form of a kind of crazy brusqueness that we much appreciate. The story of The Dark Daughters is terrific. Mansell Roberts was the son of a farmer, a man who, after financial catastrophe, "remained isolated in Biblical studies" for the rest of his days. His son, reacting from his early home life, developed an overriding ambition to make money…. Well, the long and the short of it was that he killed both wife and mistress with his Turk-like tyranny and all his miserly tricks. They both died of broken hearts. And then … he was left alone with his three daughters….

All three of them, spinsters of vitriolic temper, and all deeply corroded by the years of hatred and oppression at home, rose up like adders from the...