«The Better to Eat You» by Charlotte Armstrong

A professor becomes enchanted with a girl who carries a dangerous jinx.

History student Sarah Shepherd does not look like a killer. She is shy, but her writing so impresses Professor David Wakeley that he asks her to become his research assistant. Terrified, she begs him to stay away. For Sarah Shepherd is stalked by death, and the professor could be her next victim.



For years, people close to her have died: an office colleague, a coworker's mother, and Sarah's husband, who dropped dead on their wedding day. David doesn't believe her until a few days later, when his parked car rolls down a hill, seemingly under its own power, and kills a stranger. Something is tormenting this young girl, and David suspects it may be her family. To Sarah's relatives, a group of old vaudevillians, deceit and even murder are second nature.