Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier

JN:
      A young lady stayed in a city with a mean American woman who took advantage of the lady’s innocence. One day, the lady and the women entered a restaurant where they met a man by the name of Maxim de Winters). The American woman hit on Maxim, but Maxim deflected her attempts, and instead, Maxim took notice of the lady. After the woman left, he got up to talk to the lady, and they began to flirt. Before the lady knew it, she took Maxim's hand in marriage and left the American woman, becoming Mrs. de Winters (she is never named). Maxim brought him to his house called Manderley where Mrs. de Winters discovered that Maxim's ex-wife Rebecca recently died (a couple of years ago), and it was still apparent that not many people had moved on. 
      Mrs. de Winters's first couple of days at Manderley consisted of a constant struggle to fill Rebecca's shoes. She soon found out that Rebecca died by drowning while taking her boat for a midnight ride. Mrs. de Winters then met a scary-looking, mean-spirited maid who wore all black named Mrs. Danvers. One night while talking to Maxim's sister Beatrice, Mrs. de Winters discovered that Maxim was very introverted with his feelings and rarely exploded (probably something that is best known before agreeing to marry someone). Beatrice was the exact opposite and showed her emotions for all to see. 
      The following day, Maxim and Mrs. de Winters walked with Maxim's dog and decided to take a path near Rebecca's dilapidated cottage. While on the walk, the dog ran away, and Mrs. de Winters followed him, despite his persistent yelling for her to stop. Following the dog, Mrs. de Winters found him jumping around an older man, a nice fellow named Ben, digging for shells in the yard. Mrs. de Winters entered the cottage to look for a piece of string, and once she did, she leashed the dog and returned to Maxim. Immediately, Maxim began walking briskly, and out of annoyance, Mrs. de Winters asked him to slow down. After asking again, Maxim questioned Mrs. de Winters why she couldn’t listen to him and that the dog would have found his way home. Tension began to grow despite Mrs. de Winters's profuse apology. 
      The next day, Mrs. de Winters met Frank (F), who told Mrs. de Winters the details about Rebecca's death, how everything in the cottage belonged to her, and how Rebecca would regularly use the boat in the bay and go for moonlight swims. Frank finished describing Rebecca by saying that Rebecca was the most beautiful person he had ever seen, which off-put Mrs. de Winters (who was still extremely insecure, which would make sense as this would be her first couple of days in a mansion with a man she briefly met and married). One day while Maxim was out, Mrs. de Winters wandered into the west wing of the house, where Rebecca used to live. Mrs. de Winters was surprised that the room was kept in good condition. Out of nowhere, Mrs. Danvers snuck up on her and told Mrs. de Winters how close she was to Rebecca and how Rebecca used to tell her everything, hinting that Mrs. de Winters wasn’t and would never be fully welcomed. 
      When Maxim returned, he told Mrs. de Winters to find a nice dress because he was planning a dinner party. A day or two before, Mrs. de Winters still had no idea what to wear, and Mrs. Danvers suggested that Mrs. de Winters try to copy one of the pictures in the hall. Mrs. de Winters and her servant grew excited over how beautiful she would look in it. On the day of the party, Mrs. de Winters put on the white dress that she and her servant copied and walked down the stairs of the house (as if for prom). To her horror, Maxim took her by the arm and told her to leave and immediately change clothes. After Mrs. de Winters cried for some time from confusion, Beatrice came in and explained how that white dress was the one that Rebecca wore at her last party alive and told Mrs. de Winters that Maxim probably thought that Mrs. de Winters had done that on purpose. Beatrice consoled her, saying that there was no way she could have known. Later, Maxim came to Mrs. de Winters, and Mrs. de Winters immediately apologized, but Maxim didn't seem to care and finally confessed something he did. 
      Maxim told Mrs. de Winters that he killed Rebecca because he couldn’t take her anymore. Following their seemingly perfect wedding, Maxim quickly discovered what kind of person Rebecca was. She was manipulative and controlling and wooed everyone she came in contact with. Rebecca and Maxim discussed what they should do about this and came up with the solution that they should continue pretending to be the perfect couple but that Rebecca should leave Manderley alone. They agreed to this, but slowly Rebecca began to woo Beatrice and Frank and stay at Manderley, especially at her cottage. Maxim realized that Rebecca was having a fling with another man in her cottage, and one night Maxim decided that he had had enough.
      Maxim planned to confront both of them at the cottage, but when Maxim arrived, he saw only Rebecca. Maxim told Rebecca to stay away from Manderley and remain in London and uphold her part of the deal. Rebecca refused and began to threaten him, taunting him by saying that if she were to have a child with her new lover, the child would grow up and take over Manderley when Maxim died. With Rebecca still smiling, Maxim shot her through the heart, carried her body into her boat, poked three holes in the bottom, and then went to sea to sink it. When another random body was found down the river, he confirmed dishonestly that it was hers. After Maxim finished explaining, he asked Mrs. de Winters if she still loved him, to which she replied that she did (at this point, she doesn’t feel like she has many options).
      The following day, a local boat got stuck on some rocks in the bay, and when a scuba diver dove below to unstuck it, found Rebecca's boat (what are the odds) along with another body (hers). Maxim grew very worried because they would realize that the mysterious body down there, which at first was thought to be a secret lover by the public, would be Rebecca's. A sheriff, the judge in the case, began to investigate it. While this occurred, into the story came Jack Favell, Rebecca's cousin and her real lover (cousin seems a little too close). Jack assured Maxim that he would expose the truth of what Maxim had done to Rebecca. 
      (Back to Rebecca's boat) A local boatbuilder examined the boat and found three man-made holes. The sheriff began to suspect Maxim of murder but didn’t have enough evidence to fully accuse him, so without a proper suspect, the explanation that the public believed, for now, was that Rebecca killed herself. Later, Jack produced a piece of paper that he claimed was a note written to him from Rebecca stating that she wanted to meet him the night of her death. The sheriff explained that there was not enough evidence and that he needed some witnesses to corroborate his story. Jack believed that Ben (the poor soul by the sea) must’ve been there that night. 
      At this point, Frank entered the case as Maxim's right-hand man, Frank knowing the truth about what happened that night. Once getting to Ben, the sheriff asked if Ben knew Jack to which he replied that he never met Jack. Infuriated, Jack tried to get through to Jack but eventually gave up as Ben feared he would be sent to a mental hospital. Jack's next possible witness was Mrs. Danvers, who they asked if Rebecca would have had any reason to kill herself, to which she curtly replied no.
      The next part of the investigation revolved around what Rebecca did for 3 hours at lunch on the day she died. Mrs. Danvers had no idea and felt betrayed because she thought Rebecca trusted her with everything. After some digging, they found that she saw a now-retired doctor. They tracked him down, and after resting for the night, they went up to visit him. After some introduction, the doctor stated that Rebecca came under the pseudonym of Mrs. Danvers (she went by Mrs. Danvers) and that when Rebecca came to him, she had terminal cancer. He stated that this could have been a reason why she would have killed herself. 
      After leaving, Mrs. de Winters and Maxim were alone in the car. Maxim grew upset because he now suspected that Rebecca wanted him to kill her. After all, she was already almost dead and this was her way to destroy Maxim's life. Maxim and Mrs. de Winters decided to take a straight shot home and drive through the night. As it neared 2 a.m., they saw an orange glow coming up ahead. Getting closer, they realized that the glow was at Manderley. Finally, they got there and saw there was a fire at Manderley. The story ended there, very abruptly. (It can be assumed from the movie that Mrs. Danvers killed herself by burning Manderley to join Rebecca). (That’s the end of this classic. A strange tale to say the least. Thank you for reading and have a fabulous day. Be careful who you marry.)