Gothic

Room Beneath the Stairs

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A.K.A. T. E. Huff

By T. E. Huff (Jennifer Wilde)

I was eleven years old when I first saw Greycliff Island, and I immediately made it my own. I would never be able to go there, of course, but that didn’t matter. It was my private place, safe and secure, removed from all the heartbreak and sadness I had known so often in my short life. It was a symbol, and in my imagination I dwelt there like a storybook child, surrounded by warmth and beauty and the friends I had never known.

And we’re off! This book was meant to be just a placeholder while I waited for a book I really wanted to read to become available at the library. I really enjoyed the trip back in time to the days when Gothic romances were the be-all and end-all. This one was a contemporary, written and set in the ’70s when guys were “with it” and if you had sex before marriage, you were a “swinger”. I loved the short time we are with our heroine in London where she meets the man who will soon become her husband. It was their second encounter, the first being when she was an orphaned young girl living with her relatives in Cornwall. We quickly move to his forbidding mansion on a mysterious island near the coast of her old home. Something sinister and mysterious is going on, and something is wrong with her husband.

As this might as well be a template for the typical gothic, we quickly determine who the hero is. And because we know who the hero is, we also know who the villain has got to be. Hint: gothic heroes are not jovial or idle. All the plot points and set pieces fall into place. Anyone looking for surprises and twists will be disappointed.

Yet T. E. Huff can really write! I was just carried along by the atmosphere and the immediacy of the action. I felt like the author was constantly winking at me as all of the stock characters and obligatory happenings marched across the page. There is very little humor but there is a lot of fun.

Now, it seemed like a scene from a rather pedestrian horror film, wildly far fetched: heroine in darkened hall, paralyzed with fear as chilling sounds rise up from the sinister stairwell. But it had been real, all too real. The wind didn’t make that kind of noise. Neither did cats.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence or a careless anachronism that our modern-day heroine carries a candle down into the basement and not a flashlight. And her silk skirts rustle on the stairs. Because mini-skirts inconveniently don’t rustle.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone in the mood for an old-fashioned gothic.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

July 2, 2019

Danger at Dahlkari

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By T. E. Huff (Jennifer Wilde)

***only spoilery if you’ve never read a Gothic before**

In all but the heroine, this novel forcibly reminded me of a Madeleine Brent romantic suspense. Exotic locale, deadly adventure, and a mysterious hero who isn’t what he seems and who doesn’t really interact meaningfully with the heroine until over halfway through. And she goes on a long dangerous trek with him. Like “Madeleine”, the romance is on the light side. It also reminded me of many other T.E. Huff (aka at least 3 other female pseudonyms) in its usual tropes. Although we are told Lauren is intelligent, scholarly, headstrong, brave, and sensible but we usually see is naive, hysterical, and silly when it comes to her romantic relationships. Her companion Sally is the force to be reckoned with throughout most of the book. Also, the author employs his usual bait and switch with the heroes. Of course, the real hero is immediately apparent to even a semiconscious reader from his first appearance. So that means we know who the villain is as well. There is an interesting reveal at the end that came as a surprise to me.

Despite going over very well-traveled ground, it is well-written and paced with an engaging semi-humorous voice that T.E. Huff (Jennifer Wilde) is known for and which is virtually indistinguishable from Madeleine Brent’s first-person voice. Readers who liked this book would adore Madeleine Brent And Madeleine Brent devotees would find enough similarities with Madeleine to find much to enjoy in this particular title.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

May 2, 2020

The Stranger Diaries

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By Elly Griffiths

“It’s a quote,’ I say. ‘From The Tempest.’ ‘What’s the next line?’ says Harbinder though I’m sure she’s looked it up. ‘Hell is empty,’ I say, ‘and all the devils are here.”

I loved the 4 narrator format on this audio. There were many things I liked about the book: The literary theme, the characters, the old-fashionedness, the creepiness, the light humor. I liked the characters seeing themselves from the different perspectives of the others and the changes of attitudes from the first impressions. There were also some amusing references to Harry Potter and Georgette Heyer. However, the murderer proved something of an anticlimax. Looking back I should have guessed (which I didn’t even suspect, my bad) because there was no one else it really could have been as motivation or opportunity was lacking in everyone else. Actually, the motive was pretty obscure to me. The Stranger, the story within the novel wasn’t very good either. And much to my annoyance and confusion, since I was listening to it on audible, the last 30 minutes is a telling of the whole story all over again and just tacks on an ending. There was a ghostly presence near the end but I feel like it was a loose end. I feel like there should have been more links between the story, The Stranger. and the mystery of The Stranger Diaries.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

May 19, 2020

Home Before Dark

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By Riley Sager

“Every house has a story. Ours is a ghost story. It’s also a lie. And now that yet another person has died within these walls, it’s finally time to tell the truth.”

I’m sorry, but I like my ghost stories to be scary. It was still good though. There were some very surprising twists at the end that I didn’t see coming, which is always a good thing. Some things did not hang together, and some mysterious happenings that were part of Maggie’s story did not make sense and were not explained. Specifically, the book supernaturally opened to a clue, supposedly to lead Maggie toward the truth, but, oops, it was a false lead. The supernatural or ghosts don’t lie for no reason.

Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after the death of her father. 25 years earlier, when Maggie was 5 years old, Her family fled in terror from the house never to return. Her father wrote a bestselling “non-fiction” book about the haunted house which screwed up Maggie’s life. She returns to try to learn the truth for herself, because, to her anger, her parents never would tell her the whole story. Was it all lies? Was it mostly lies? Or was it mostly the truth? Mysterious things start to happen in real life to Maggie which echoes what her father wrote about in the book.

The truth is revealed pretty satisfactorily (and shockingly) except for a few unanswered questions. Since I listened to it on Audible, I couldn’t go back to see if I was played fair with. For the most part, except for my previous small example above, I think I was. One thing that did interfere with my enjoyment was the bitter hostile tone of the narrator who played Maggie. I guess it made sense, but it was overdone and her constant stubborn belief that the whole book was “bullshit” despite all evidence to the contrary was annoying. All in all, a great concept and well done.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

July 7, 2021

Castle Shade

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by Laurie R. King

“Your mother says you like detective stories.”

“I do. They’re so clever, people like Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown. However, I have to tell you my heart belongs to Bulldog Drummond, said the future Queen.

“Good choice.”

Conversation between Mary Russell and Ileana, Royal Princess of Roumania

Once again, Laurie R. King smoothly melds real historical figures with the latest adventure featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. In this tale, we have Queen Marie of Romania, her daughter Ileana and her lover and great Romanian patriot, Barbu Stirbey. It is set primarily at Castle Bran, Marie’s beloved home and supposedly the setting of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But we also travel throughout Romania and Transylvania.

Mary and Holmes are asked to investigate some strange happenings at Bran Castle. Mycroft suspects they are political orchestrations to undermine the Queen who is rightly much beloved by the Romanian people. There seems to be an effort to tie sinister happenings around the castle and the town such as abductions, dead people coming to life, witchy doings, and even vampirism to the Queen. Having done my due diligence and read up on the political situation and Marie’s relationship to her feckless son, Carol, a political explanation of the mystery seemed credible indeed. I will only say that it is much more interesting than that.

There is plenty of adventure and action as well as mystery, as Mary survives abduction and attack, discovers the source of a ghost-like presence in a secret room, and, with Holmes, races to save the life of a likable local girl. As always, there is amusing banter between Holmes and Mary, and intriguing and titillating insights into their unique relationship. We also get a rare glimpse into Holmes’ inner thoughts regarding his wife, his marriage, and the challenges of his brother Mycroft’s presence in their lives.

Four and a half years of being married to Mary Judith Russell, and he was still finding the adjustment difficult.
For his entire adult life, until the night he signed his full name upon a church register, Sherlock Holmes had been accountable to no one….when he judged it necessary, he had bullied, ignored, and lied, even to his friend Watson, without hesitation.
But not to a wife. A wife meant a contract of a different sort….Serving the needs of brother and Britain had become increasingly incompatible with his partnership with Russell.

It looks like things might be coming to a head between Mycroft, Holmes, and Mary. By the end of this book, you have not only been on an adventure, but feel like you’ve been a guest in Dracula’s Castle, come to know important, compelling, if little known personages in history, and traveled through the countryside and villages of Transylvania and Romania. It’s maybe not for everyone, but I welcome each book in this series. I always feel a little more enlightened about something.**4 stars out of 5**

Rating: 4 out of 5.

June 23, 2021

The Death of Mrs. Westaway

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by Ruth Ware

Due to the number of Gothics I read in my youth, this novel did not hold very many thrills, chills or surprises for me. I guessed most of the main mysteries very much ahead of poor Hal, our heroine, and all except one of them before the big reveals. And as far as Gothics go, it wasn’t a very good one. It had no romance or humor to sweeten the pot. Hal was a disappointment. It started off like I would really like her but she was so stupid, despite her constantly telling us how good she was at her skills, that at one point I suspected her of being an unreliable narrator. It is so lame when authors say a character is one thing, like clever, or witty, or charming, but they don’t talk or act how they are described.

“Fuck.” It was out before she had considered it, and she bit her lip. The word was not in keeping with the image she was trying to present to the Westaways—meek, unassuming little Harriet, butter wouldn’t melt. Swearing wasn’t part of the deal, and she felt as cross with herself as if she’d sworn at a client. The pink on her cheeks was real, though it was a flush of annoyance at her own unguardedness, rather than shame.

She makes lots of slip-ups like this. It was full of stock gothic characters and situations. I’m giving it 3 stars, generously, because it kept me reading, hoping for a shocker or an emotional jolt. But no. At least it did not have a tragic ending, but what happened to her mother before the book started was extremely sad.**3 stars out of 5**

Rating: 3 out of 5.

June 5, 2019

The Wilding Sisters

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by Eve Chase

“You don’t need to do anything, Jessie. Don’t you see? She just needs to know you are there for her, whatever crap she throws at you.” He pokes the fire with the iron. The logs move, settle into new places. Jessie feels something moving inside her, too. “And she’s thrown lots and lots of crap at you, I do know that, Jessie. And you’re still there.” “Hanging on by my bloody fingernails.”

The Wildling Sisters was a very good book and very well written despite an over-reliance on similes and metaphors. It consists of dual timelines that take place around 50 years apart. Both plots are connected by the setting, Applecote Manor, deep in the English countryside. In 1959, 4 sisters go to live temporarily with their aunt and uncle who are still reeling from the disappearance of their beloved daughter, Audrey, who was also very close to the 4 sisters, especially the sister who is the narrator of this timeline, Margot. The second timeline is about the new family that buys seemingly abandoned Applecote Manor. Meet Jesse, her new husband, Will, their toddler daughter, and his hostile and troubled teenage daughter, Bela. He is a widower and his dead wife, Mandy, is also an overshadowing influence in the novel. I was continually reminded of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. 

**Spoiler**As it turns out, the relationships of dead Mandy to her family and Will’s new wife turn out not to be similar to the du Maurier novel. But we are kept wondering as to whether Mandy was a positive or negative factor due to the resemblances of Jesse’s challenges to the heroine’s in Rebecca **end spoiler**

As praiseworthy as I found this book, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book I read by the author, The Daughters of Foxcote Manor. It starts out to be very intriguing, but there is a long stretch in the middle which was quite slow. It seemed to get stuck. The mystery of what happened to Audrey is a main interest of both timelines, and the answer was underwhelming to me. I was not drawn in by the characters of the 4 sisters or their doings. I identified more with modern-day Jessie and was more interested in her fraught relationship with Bella and invested in her marriage with Will.

As in Foxcote, Ms Chase formulates a great ending, bringing the two timelines together, and adds a little twist or two. I am a reader who hates it when the author leaves plot and character threads dangling and what “happened next” to my “imagination”. Hey, It is the author’s book written for the enjoyment of the customer (me). Don’t make me do the work. This is not a DYI project. What I love about the two books I’ve read by Ms Chase is that she tells what happened to everyone in a carefully fashioned and interesting conclusion. I love closure. It was touching and very right. I loved it and it made the book well worth reading. ***3 1/2 stars.**

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

October 22, 2020

The Daughters of Foxcote Manor

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by Eve Chase

Fourteen months ago, Rita had never been to London. But she’d dreamed of it longingly, the Rita she might be there, far away from Torquay, everything that had happened. And the metropolitan family—just like the Darlings in Peter Pan—who’d embrace her as their own.

The Daughters of Foxcote Manor is an absorbing family drama with decidedly Gothic overtones. A young innocent girl takes on the position of Nanny to a very troubled family and finds herself in an old isolated house in the middle of a dark wood. She is beset with danger and romance while trying to protect and nurture her charges. The story is told by Rita the Nanny, Hera, one of the children, and a 47-year-old woman named Sylvie, whose place in the story is not revealed until about a fifth of the way in and told almost 50 years later, in modern-day. It is when I got the connection of Sylvie to one of the other main characters that the novel started to really take off for me. I could not put it down. There is a revelation or a clue in every chapter as to the secrets and the ties that weave together the dramatis personae from the past to the people we meet in Sylvie’s time. But this is not a romance. The romance just functions as the means to ensure a satisfying and fulfilled life for one of the survivors of the tragedies of the past. Towards the end, so many mysteries are solved and connections revealed that my mind was reeling. Some I saw coming, and some I didn’t. A perfect mix, for me! Just when you think you have all the answers, there is another Piece de Resistance.

In addition to a complex intriguing plot, superb character building, and creation of atmosphere, the writing was excellent despite an over-reliance on similes and metaphors. I have to mention that because, for me, it became intrusive and a distraction. I Would highly recommend this to anyone who loves the old Romantic Suspense novels, especially the great Barbara Michaels. It is deeper, darker, more multilayered, and minus the spooks and the humor, but I think the author has built on her legacy. **5 stars out of 5**

Rating: 5 out of 5.

September 17, 2020