Danger Signal

Ronnie Mason, Zachary Scott, a mysterious pulp writer—and psychopath—steals a dead woman’s wedding ring and money, leaving behind a fake suicide note. The woman’s husband, Thomas Turner, John Ridgely, is questioned by the local police and suspects Mason; he also believes his wife was murdered, but with no solid evidence the case is ruled a suicide and closed.

Mason leaves town, changes his name to Marsh, and, bearing a noticeable limp from a jump from the dead woman’s window and a veteran’s pin stolen from a fellow bus passenger, passes himself off as a wounded veteran. He rents a room in a house shared by Mrs. Fenchurch, Mary Servoss, and her two daughters: elder daughter Hilda Fenchurch and the teenaged Anne Fenchurch. The three women are highly impressionable, while professor Andrew Lang, Bruce Bennett, quietly loves Hilda, and all three fall for Marsh’s unsettling charm.

Marsh’s parasitic charm deepens as he becomes involved with Hilda, and the trio even spends a weekend retreat together—funded by the earnest, thrifty Hilda. Marsh claims to be broke and waiting for his first sale, yet he conceals a $200 payment he receives from MacLellen Publishing Company for a short story, “Dark Island,” to appear in the next issue of Adventure Tales magazine. Hilda envisions a future of marriage and security, while Marsh keeps up the illusion and continues to move between relationships. He also manages to win the affections of Anne, who might stand to inherit a substantial fortune, and this shifts his attention away from Hilda.

As the truth settles in, Hilda grows jealous and suspicious, convinced something dangerous lurks behind Marsh’s polished exterior. She plots to lure Marsh to a beach house and poison him, driven by fear and desire to protect her sister and herself. She never follows through with the plan, but Marsh’s careless wandering leads Turner to close in. Marsh is confronted, and in a final, desperate moment he plunges off a steep cliff to his death, a brutal end that exposes the web of deception he spun around the women who trusted him.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 10:47