Miss Hinch

“Miss Hinch” has all the trappings of the typical whodunit. Harrison uses the conventions of the genre to craft a story of suspicion and second-guessing. The two women in the story circle one another, feinting and searching for an opening to win the battle of wills. Harrison subverts gender norms and expectations to build suspense. At the core of the tale is the quintessential battle of good and evil. The story’s ominous setting of dark, deadly cold New York City helps create an ominous mood, which deepens with the striking image of two dark figures moving in literal opposition to one another around a subway station entrance. Their behavior raises suspicions about their motives before they finally enter the train and face one another.

Harrison’s description of the characters helps remove them from suspicion. The elderly woman is described as “old,” “wispy,” “white-haired, wrinkled, spectacled, and stooped” (559), placing her in a category of women who easily blend in or become invisible in public. Her behavior contradicts this benign and harmless description, which suggests something suspicious or misleading in her characterization. Harrison’s use of

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