Before the Fact (1932) is an English novel by Anthony Berkeley Cox writing under the pen name "Francis Iles". It tells the story of a woman marrying a man who is after her inherited money and prepared, it seems, to kill her for it. Whether he does succeed in the end, or whether she has been imagining his plots, is left unclear. Together with the previous Iles book Malice Aforethought (1931), it can be placed in the category of psychological suspense novel. Elements of the story were used for the 1941 American film Suspicion, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Plot At age 28, plain and bookish Lina McLaidlaw lives a life of boredom with her retired parents in an English village. Her prettier sister has married a rising writer, but Lina never meets any men she could accept until the arrival of charming Johnnie Aysgarth, from an impoverished and disreputable family. Her father is opposed to a marriage, and everyone seems to know that all Johnnie is after is Lina's money. However they are soon married, enjoy a long and expensive honeymoon abroad, and return to a large country house that Johnny has acquired and extravagantly furnished. When Lina wonders how the jobless Johnnie has met all this outlay, and what he expects to live on, he eventually admits that he borrowed everything. Gradually the more level-headed Lina takes charge of the family finances, relying on an allowance from her father, and pushes Johnnie into finding a job. He gains a good post nearby, managing the country estate of a distant relation, while she looks after their house. She would like a baby, but never falls pregnant. After the first shock of discovering Johnnie's huge debt, and the fact that he lied, other shocks keep arriving. She discovers that he is a practised thief, stealing jewelry from a guest and from her to sell. Her inherited furniture also starts disappearing, until she tracks some of it to an antique shop. He is a forger, putting her signature on cheques. Worse, he is sacked from his job for embezzling money. Most of his takings are placed on horses, for he is an unrepentant gambler, while some are used for another pastime. Any number of local wives and daughters have had affairs with him, for which he rents a flat in a nearby town, and one of their servants has a son by