Before the Fact

Before the Fact

First edition
Author	Anthony Berkeley writing as Francis Iles
Language	English
Genre	Crime novel
Publisher	Gollancz
Publication date	1932
Publication place	England
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Preceded by	Malice Aforethought

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.