Rebecca (novel) his deceased wife, Rebecca. The supernatural reaction of the portrait doesn't convince him and so he places her in a cupboard. The 1970 Parallel Time storyline of the Gothic soap opera "Dark Shadows" was heavily inspired by "Rebecca" including the costume ball scene. Also the second "Dark Shadows" motion picture, "Night of Dark Shadows" took inspiration from the novel including a mention by Kate Jackson's character who hopes the housekeeper is not like Mrs. Danvers The fifth episode of the second series of "That Mitchell and Webb Look" contains an extended sketch parodying the 1940 film, in which Rebecca is
Daphne du Maurier Scapegoat", which she partly financed. Du Maurier was often categorised as a "romantic novelist", a term that she deplored, given her novels rarely have a happy ending, and often have sinister overtones and shadows of the paranormal. In this light, she has more in common with the "sensation novels" of Wilkie Collins and others, which she admired. The obituarist Kate Kellaway wrote: "Du Maurier was mistress of calculated irresolution. She did not want to put her readers' minds at rest. She wanted her riddles to persist. She wanted the novels to continue to haunt us beyond their endings." Du Maurier's