''She Who Was No More'' is a psychological suspense novel by the writing team of
Boileau-Narcejac
Boileau-Narcejac () is the pen name used by the French crime-writing duo of Pierre Boileau (28 April 1906 – 16 January 1989) and Pierre Ayraud, also known as Thomas Narcejac (3 July 1908 – 7 June 1998). Their successful collaboration produced ...
, originally published in French as ''Celle qui n'était plus'' in 1952. The duo's first book, it is a thriller about a man who, along with his mistress, murders his wife. It served as the basis for Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1955 film '' Les Diaboliques''.
The first French edition was published in 1952 by
Éditions Denoël
Éditions Denoël is a French publishing house founded in 1930. Acquired by Éditions Gallimard in 1951, it publishes collections spanning fiction, non-fiction and comic books. It published some of the most important French authors of the interwa ...
. It was originally published in English in 1954 under the title ''The Woman Who Was No More'' by Rinehart and as ''The Fiends'' by
Arrow Books
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the follow ...
in 1957. The English version by
Pushkin Press
Pushkin Press is a British-based publishing house dedicated to publishing novels, essays, memoirs and children's books. The London-based company was founded in 1997 and is notable for publishing authors such as Stefan Zweig, Marcel Aymé, Antal ...
, under the title ''She Who Was No More'', used the old translation by Geoffrey Sainsbury.
Plot
Fernand Ravinel is a traveling salesman who leads a mundane existence with his wife, Mireille. His mistress, physician Lucienne, desires to open a practice in
Antibes
Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Ca ...
, so she and Fernand conspire to murder his spouse to collect on her life insurance policy of two million francs. They drown her in a bathtub, then make the death look like an accident, but things spiral out of control when her body disappears.
Adaptations
Film
*The most notable adaptation is the 1955 French thriller '' Les Diaboliques''. The film's director and co-screenwriter
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot (; 20 November 1907 – 12 January 1977) was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed '' The Wages of Fear'' (1953) and '' Les Diabo ...
made several substantial changes to the plot. He switched the murderers to the wife and mistress and made the husband the victim, and invented the private school setting. He also followed the convention that the culprits should be exposed by the detective in the end (another departure from the novel, where the authors let them get away). According to legend, Clouzot beat
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
to the film rights by mere hours. ''Les Diaboliques'' was a worldwide critical and box office success. (Hitchcock later directed ''
Vertigo
Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...
'', which was based on another Boileau-Narcejac novel.)
*' (The Circle of the Doomed), (U.S.S.R., 1991), directed by Yuri Belenky, and starring Igor Bochkin,
Anna Kamenkova
Anna Semyonovna Kamenkova (; born April 27, 1953, Moscow, RSFSR, USSR) is a Soviet and Russian actress of theater, cinema and dubbing. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1985).
Biography
Parents Olga Kamenkova-Pavlova and Semyon Gurevich taught Rus ...
, and
Vsevolod Larionov
Vsevolod Dmitriyevich Larionov (; September 11, 1928 in Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union – October 8, 2000Diabolique'' (U.S., 1996), directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik and starring
Isabelle Adjani
Isabelle Yasmine Adjani (born 27 June 1955) is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. She has received various accolades, including five César Awards and a Lumière Award, along with nominations for two Academy Awards. ...
,
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress and film producer. Known for primarily playing femmes fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the ...
, and
Chazz Palminteri
Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri (born May 15, 1952) . Chazzpalminteri.net. Retrieved on November 19, 2013. is an America ...
John Badham
John MacDonald Badham (born August 25, 1939) is an American film and television director, best known for directing the films ''Saturday Night Fever'' (1977), ''Dracula (1979 film), Dracula'' (1979), ''Blue Thunder'' (1983), ''WarGames'' (1983), ...
, and starring
Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld (born Susan Ker Weld; August 27, 1943) is a retired American actress. She began acting as a child and progressed to mature roles in the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcome ...
,
Joan Hackett
Joan Ann Hackett (March 1, 1934 – October 8, 1983) was an American actress.Obituary, '' Variety'', October 12, 1983. She acted in film, television, and theatre. She played roles in '' The Group'' (1966), '' Will Penny'' (1968), '' Support Yo ...
and
Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television, and film. He has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actor ...
*''Celle qui n'était plus'' (Switzerland, 1991), directed by Pierre Koralnik
*''House of Secrets'' (U.S., 1993), directed by
Mimi Leder
Miriam Leder (; born January 26, 1952) is an American film and television director and producer; she is noted for her action films and use of special effects.Hurd, Mary G. Women Directors and Their Films. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007. She has dire ...
, and starring
Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest-starring roles on television. From 1974 to 1983, she starred as Laura Ing ...
,
Bruce Boxleitner
Bruce William Boxleitner (born May 12, 1950) is an American actor and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series '' How the West Was Won'', '' Bring 'Em Back Alive'', ''Scarecrow and Mrs. King ...
,
Kate Vernon
Katherine Elizabeth Vernon (born 1961) is a Canadian-born American actress. She is known for her roles as Lorraine Prescott on the CBS primetime soap opera ''Falcon Crest'' (1984–1985), the stuck-up and popular Benny Hanson in the comedy film ...
, and
Michael Boatman
Michael Patrick Boatman (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his roles as New York City mayoral aide Carter Heywood in the ABC sitcom '' Spin City'', as U.S. Army Specialist Samuel Beckett in the ABC drama ...
Stage
*''Monique'' (U.S., 1957), a drama in two acts, adapted by Dorothy and Michael Blankfort
Reception
Rose Feld wrote in the ''
New York Herald Tribune
The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...
'' that the finale constitutes "an astounding turn that holds validity both for plot and characterization." Martin Levin in ''Saturday Review'' called it "en entirely new variation on the double-indemnity theme." ''Kirkus Reviews'' commented: "This nasty business is rather neat—over and above the negligible interest of those engaged in it." The editors of ''World Authors, 1950-1970'' wrote: "The reader is so thoroughly drawn into the tale, so teased with faint subliminal hints and doubts, that the shatteringly unexpected conclusion is immediately and terrifyingly believable, in terms of both plot and character. One finishes the book with a sense of escaping from the horrible logic of a nightmare."
When the book was republished by Pushkin Vertigo in 2015, Barry Forshaw of ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' wrote: "Although ''She Who Was No More'' has been plundered so often it has lost some of its novelty, the book remains a supreme example of polished crime plotting."