House of Imposters - a Popular LIbrary Gothic

This is my first taste of author Willo Davis Roberts' writing. While I own a number of Roberts' books, I honestly have never read one before now. Mrs. Roberts (1928 - 2004) was a rather prolific author, writing nearly 100 books over a span of 50 years for both adults and children - her first adult novel was published in 1955, and her first children's book was published twenty years later.  She wrote approximately 100 novels in her lifetime, including the "Black Pearl" series and a large number of Gothic, as well as nurse romance, novels.  (According to the Los Angeles Times obituary for Mrs. Roberts, she was completing revisions on her 100th novel when she passed away - LA Times - Willo Davis Roberts) She actually won the Edgar Allan Poe Awards for best juvenile and best young adult mysteries in 1989, 1995, and again in 1997, in addition to other awards, which should definitely say something about her writing!

 

The House of Imposters was published in 1977, near the end of the '70s Gothic craze, by Popular Library.  Unlike a number of Gothics from this period, the title to this book aptly describes the story within.  It all starts at the funeral of Melanie Bingham's aunt.  Melanie's last living relative has passed, and she is shocked to learn her aunt's fiance is to inherit the house in which she leaves - and he wants her out!  Before she can leave, he shows up drunk and begins making untoward advances.  The more she fights, the more forceful he becomes, until Melanie locates her aunt's gun and uses it.  With Harry Lowell lying on the floor, bleeding out, Melanie grabs all the cash she can find and grabs the next bus out of town.  As the night drags on, the young woman sitting next to Melanie describes her new job as a companion to an elderly woman, living in an old mansion in a small town.  Melanie pays little attention until the bus crashes off the road, and the woman is killed.  Barely able to take in all that has happened to her in less than 24 hours, Melanie (whose initials just happen to the same as the woman who died) finds herself picked up by a man looking for the other woman and whisked away with no choice but to assume the life of a dead woman...

 

And all of that happens within the first two chapters!  Thus, you can imagine what the rest of the book is like.  Roberts introduces only a few characters ... Edie Bracut, the elderly woman that is said to be not quite all there and potentially dangerous to herself.  This is the woman Melanie (who must go by the name Marilee, Edie's granddaughter) is to watch over and make sure the woman never leaves the property and stays locked in her room most of the time.  Chance Bracut, the woman's nephew who has moved in and taken control of the house and everyone in it.  He warns Melanie to keep his aunt under lock and key and stay out of his way.  Jack Glade, the smooth talking man who seems to do whatever Chance tells him to do.  His reason for being at the Bracut mansion is unclear, and he seems completely unfazed by the things going on in the house.  Otis, the gardener and handyman who appears to have no other purpose than to guard the gate surrounding the property to ensure no one gets in - or out!  Freddie Bracut is nothing but ashes in an urn, an urn that Edie will never let out of her sight, since it contains her dead husband, to whom she still converses.  Lila is the missing housekeeper that Edie insists was there when Chance first appeared on the scene, but now is nowhere to be found.  And about half-way through the book, two more characters come into play - Grebbs, the rude, take control man with a deadly mission - one he will not allow anyone to get in the way of; and Fernando, the gardener from the house next door who seems to know an awful lot about the mysterious goings-on in that other property...

 

It is pretty clear from the beginning that no one in the story is exactly who they say they are.  We know that Melanie is not really Marilee Bracut; yet, she somehow ends up assuming this girl's identity not only to escape the possibility of arrest for killing her late aunt's fiance, but also to avoid the retaliation from Chance and Jack if she does not do what they say.  Edie comes across as a dotty old woman who talks to her deceased husband's ashes - but is she as crazy as Chance and Jack say she is, or is she simply playing her own game?  After all, she seems to be able to escape from a locked room and have free reign of the house whenever she wants.  Chance has his own agenda, but what that is, no one seems to know.  He keeps himself locked in the library and is brutally insistent that no one explore the house or leave the property.  Why?  Jack is the most nonchalant of them all.  While he appears to be working for Chance, he catches Melanie and Edie in places they should not be and never tells his boss.  Is he working an angle of his own that could ultimately aid Melanie and the elderly woman?  Grebbs makes no bones about his killer attitude; but the question is, who is he there to kill?  And if Melanie gets in his way, will she wind up dead, too?  And finally, there's Fernando.  He seems nice enough, and he seems to be trapped on the property the same as Melanie and Edie.  But is that all an act?  Why is he really in the house?

 

This story is chock full of Gothic tropes - hidden passages and staircases; dark, spooky attics; strange sounds in the middle of the night; a body buried in the basement; deadly secrets and unknown intentions.  Roberts does not miss a beat with the suspense, and she moves the story at a pretty fast pace.  The only flaw that I found in the story is just how weak the main character is.  Melanie comes across extremely whiny at times, afraid of her own shadow and unwilling to take any chances at all to figure out what is going on.  Edie, an elderly woman much smaller than Melanie has more strength and gumption, and I found myself rooting more for her than for Melanie.  

 

My copy of this book also has a glaring printing error on page 149.  As Melanie is eavesdropping on her "captors," the lines in the story are placed out of order.  The paragraphs, as printed, read:

 

"...there's a chance I can claim the estate after the old

doorway until it was almost too late; she slipped hastily

gal's gone"

 

Melanie didn't realize they were moving toward the

into the designated sewing room and didn't dare to

close the door for fear they'd heard the click... 

 

It took me a moment upon reading it to realize that the second line that starts with "doorway" actually belongs as the second line of the next paragraph in order for the two to make sense.  Not sure if every printing of the book has the same mistake, or if it is only the particular printing that I have.

 

The cover art is standard Gothic fare, with the young woman in a flowing dress (Melanie?) running from the dark mansion in the background, a light shining from a second-story window.  There is no signature on the cover to identify the artist, and the copyright page does not give any credit.  However, looking at the face of the woman, I do have to wonder if perhaps Hector Garrido provided the art, as the facial structure of the woman is similar to his style from other covers he has painted. 

 

Overall, I did enjoy the story, with the exception of who weak Melanie is throughout the entire book.  If she were written as a stronger character, then I would say the story was pretty close to perfect as a Gothic would be.   

 

RATING:  8 jars of pickled artichokes out of 10 for a fast-moving, suspenseful story that is very intense and gripping right from the start!