A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers

 

First line:  "It's good you've finally summoned me," I said. "There's no doubt a spirit torments this house."

Setting:  Victorian London, 1852

The what:  A dead bride. A charlatan. A Gothic mystery. Secrets. Ghostly rumors. And a fake seance meant to find a murderer.

The who:  Genevieve Timmons, a young woman not quite 19, who learned how to perform seances to swindle the rich from her mother; she's got the threat of the noose hanging over her head if she can't get this last seance right.

Gareth Pemberton, the new earl of Somerset Park; he wants justice for Audra Linton, the young woman he was supposed to marry. He's not sure he can trust Genevieve, but he needs her help to flush out a murderer.

The why:  This is an entertaining mystery with atmosphere, a tangled web of secrets and suspects, interesting characters, and a few good twists. Genevieve was spunky, suspicious, stubborn, vulnerable and very alone in the world; I liked her and how she held her own even though everything was stacked against her. She and Pemberton made an interesting team. I would have liked a little more of them together at the end, but all in all I enjoyed this one.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Similar reads:

Mist of Midnight by Sandra Byrd

Dragonwyck by Anya Seton

The Gilded Cage by Lucinda Gray

Whispers Beyond the Veil by Jessica Estevao

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

A little bookish fun...

Title:  Whispers Beyond the Veil
Author:  Jessica Estevao
Genre:  Historical fiction/mystery
Setting:  Old Orchard Beach, Maine, 1898
Main Character:  Ruby Proulx

5 Things to know about Ruby Proulx:  

• She was raised by her father and grew up traveling the medicine show circuit with him, helping to sell his "miracle" elixir to the needy and gullible.
• On the side, she tells fortunes using her dead mother's Tarot cards.
• She knows how to read people and can lie without batting an eye, but she has a good heart.
• When her father's latest get-rich scheme ends up killing a man, Ruby runs to Hotel Belden in Old Orchard Beach, which is owned by her Aunt Honoria whom she's never met.
• In order to help save her Aunt's hotel--which caters to the Spiritualist crowd--she pretends to be a medium who can speak to the dead even though her only psychic ability is the voice she occasionally hears advising her what to do (because it turns out, Ruby is clairaudient just like her mother was).

My thoughts:  This is a fun read. I like this time period. And Ruby is a great character, as are the other people she meets at the hotel, like Mrs. Doyle, the stern housekeeper who knows when someone is lying to her, and the two elderly Velmont sisters who are hoping to contact their dead father through Ruby. Then there's Officer Yancey who is investigating the recent murders at the hotel and who suspects that Ruby is somehow involved. Even though she's not. And while this isn't the most tightly woven mystery I've ever read, the few flaws and loose ends here and there didn't stop me from enjoying it. In fact, I liked it enough to have already put the next book in this series on hold at the library. 

Happy Reading!

Ghostly fun...

"Two weeks in the state's most haunted house. This is either

going to be a great decision or the worst experience of my life."

The Characters:

• REMY:  a tour guide for Carrow House who knows its history better than anyone else.
• MARK SULLIGENT:  the man with a secret who's spearheading this two-week experiment.
• APRIL MAHON:  the seventeen-year-old owner of Carrow House with a passion for ghosts and hauntings.
• LUCILLE PRICE:  April's chaperone
• MARJORIE MCALLISTER:  a well-known and respected spirit medium
• BERNARD:  Marjorie's taciturn assistant
• TAJ SADANA:  ghost-hunter and tech guy
• PIERS:  tour participant
• EDGAR PORTER:  the serial killer whose ghost still stalks the halls of Carrow House

Carrow House:

Once an asylum for the sick, then a hotel for the rich, Carrow House has seen a lot of deaths over the years. And many of those spirits are still trapped within its walls. And it doesn't take much to waken them ... or the evil that haunts Carrow House.  An evil that is determined not to let Remy or anyone else in her group leave Carrow House alive. 

My thoughts:

I love a good ghost story, especially one that takes place in a haunted house, and The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates has all the elements I love:  good characters that are flawed but not frustratingly stupid, an eerie atmosphere, good scares, seances, bleeding walls, slamming doors, cold spots, a raging storm outside and some very creepy ghosts inside.  This novel is more supernatural mystery and suspense than horror, but I actually liked that.  It reminded me of all those classic ghost stories I've read and loved over the years. So here's to Darcy Coates and her awesome ghostly novel.

Happy Reading!

Seduction by M.J. Rose

Every story begins with a tremble of anticipation. At the start we may have an idea of our point of arrival, but what lies before us and makes us shudder is the journey, for that is all discovery. This strange and curious story begins for me at the sea. Its sound and scent are my punctuation. Its movements are my verbs....This is the story of a lost man. An exile not just from his beloved country but also from his sanity. I believe it to be a true and honest account. Whether or not you will, I know not.

 There are two story lines in this novel, one set in the past, one in the present. They intersect in unexpected ways on the Isle of Jersey. The first involves Victor Hugo. Grieving the death of his favorite daughter, Leopoldine, Hugo seeks answers in table talking and seances. And though he does manage to contact his daughter's spirit, he also contacts something else. Something far more sinister. The second story line, set in the present, revolves around Jac L'Etoile, a mythologist who investigates legends and the truth behind the myths. When an old friend invites her to Jersey to investigate some ancient Celtic ruins that might prove the Druidic myth, she leaps at the chance. But what she finds there is more haunting and personal than she could ever have imagined.

There are so many things that I loved about this novel: the island setting with its Celtic monuments and its ruins and secret caves, the ghostly mystery, this previously (to me, at least) unknown, ghost-driven side of Victor Hugo, and, last but not least, M.J. Rose's beautiful writing. What didn't I like? Rose throws in an additional story line near the end that threw me a little, and I have to admit, I kept wishing it was a little more suspenseful and scary. Overall, though, it's an engrossing read, and the different stories and timelines are interesting. While the Victor Hugo parts were my favorite, I found Jac L'Etoile to be a sympathetic and engaging character. And now that I'm done with this novel, I'd like to read Rose's other books; I hope they're as good as this one.

Happy Reading!