I read this story in Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, an anthology edited by Sarah Weinman. In the introduction to this story, Sarah Weinman says...
"A Nice Place to Stay," first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1970, is among Tyre's best and most anthologized works, and thus an excellent reintroduction to this unjustly neglected author.
This is the story of a woman who has always been the one to keep house and cook for others in the family. Initially she lives with her parents after her brothers get married and move out. When her father dies, her brothers get a small place for her and their mother to stay, and give them just enough money to get by on. She knows that her brothers will not be so good to her when her mother dies. And she does have to fend for herself at that point.
She finds jobs as a carer for the sick or elderly, but only temporary, low paid work, since she has no training. The money she gets hardly keeps her alive. Things keep going from bad to worse. She turns to stealing, but only small things, old clothing that she can get a few pennies for. Just enough to buy new shoes when hers are no longer wearable. When one of the women she cares for, Mrs. Crowe, gives her a silver box for trinkets, Mrs. Crowe's relatives claim that she stole it. So she is arrested. And finally she finds in prison a place to stay, to have food and a bed. And even then, her new-found comfort is thwarted.
This dark and chilling story shows the effects of severe poverty and how it can affect people, even those with the best intentions.
A few years ago, I read another story by Nedra Tyre, "Recipe for a Happy Marriage." It was collected in Murder on the Menu, edited by Carol-Lynn Rössel Waugh, Martin H. Greenberg, and Isaac Asimov. I discussed the story here.
Also see my earlier post on some stories from Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives.
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