Mercy at the Manor Manor - a Gothic parody

There's a reason why, when I go to a used bookstore, I wander around the entire store, looking at books in pretty much every section - even sections that I would never normally buy books (such as the romance section, or the westerns) - and there's a reason for that.  This book is one of those reasons! While browsing through the romance section at the Family Book Store in DeLand, I saw the spine of a book that had a title that didn't make sense - Mercy at the Manor Manor.  I immediately thought this had to be a misprint, because why else would they have printed the word twice like that.  So, I pulled the book out and looked at the cover - with its cartoon-style art and very Gothic-style design, it seemed very much like any typical Gothic romance from the '60s.  Until I read the blurb at the top:

Could a beautiful young bridge, brought to the seacoast of Brooklyn, be completely unaware of - everything? You bet!

Obviously this was not your typical Gothic romance! And that's when I spotted those three small words just below the title: "A Gothic Spoof." Well, needless to say, that book was purchased faster than you could blink an eye.  I love the whole Gothic genre, and I definitely love a good parody, so mix those two together, and it's sure to be a fun read!  And it was!

Mercy at the Manor Manor is the story of Mercy Manor - the happy new bride of Arthur Manor, the heir to the Manor Manor (and yes, that really is the name of the family homestead!), as well as the family curse.  Because this is a Gothic story, after all, so there has to be a family curse.  It's the "Sheepshead Curse" - which I thought would have something to do with a literal sheep's head, but instead it has to do with a fish (which I did not know existed, but apparently does - literal name is "archosargus probatocephalus," which grows to 30 inches, but is commonly only 10 to 20 inches, and normally has dark stripes down its side).  So, it seems there is a stuffed and mounted fish hanging in Manor Manor that has cursed this family for generations, and every time it falls from the wall, something bad happens to someone - including Arthur Manor's previous fiance, who died from a tragic accident while on a parachute ride at Coney Island (trust me - you can't make this stuff up!).  Yet, the memory of Becky Funch (pronounced "Funk," in case you were wondering) still haunts poor Arthur, which really puts a cramp in Mercy and Arthur's honeymoon - although, let's face it, if you're going to spend your honeymoon in the family manor that is supposedly cursed where your ex-fiance's mother remains as the housekeeper, well, you can't really expect that girl's memory NOT to haunt you.

The main character - Mercy - is your typical oblivious blonde.  She's so enamored by her husband, being married, and the idea of living in a grand manor, that she does not really understand much of what is going on around her.  Which is what drives some of the humor in the book.  In Gothic stories, the heroine is usually oblivious to a small degree, wondering what is going on around her - but in this book, poor Mercy accidentally uncovers a hidden room behind the wall of her bedroom and mistakes it for a dressing room with no light!  She thinks little to nothing of the hole in the stairway that later causes her husband to fall down the stairs! And she sees absolutely nothing wrong with the hookah that Arthur's father carries with him at all times.  She doesn't even seem fazed by the fact that she and her husband have absolutely no marital conjugations during the entire length of the book (and remember - these two are on their honeymoon!).  No, she is the perfect, naive, innocent young bride who comes to the dark, foreboding manor that is just filled with secrets...

Reading the book, I could easily picture this as a film in the same vein as the Airplane! or Naked Gun movies.  The silliness, the slapstick, the innuendos and double entendres - this book is just RIPE for a parody film.  I giggled, I laughed, I shook my head - Mundis was definitely able to capture the spirit of the Gothic tale and create a satire while staying true to the source material.  The mysterious husband who is keeping secrets ... the stepmother who seems to be in control of the house ... the housekeeper who doesn't like the new bride ... the handsome young lawyer who seems to have eyes on the bride ... and the curse that holds the family hostage in their own home.  But the sarcasm, the one-liners, and the slapstick are smoothly intertwined with the dark tale to make for a fun, light-hearted read that will definitely have you smiling the whole way through!

The surprising climax reveals, like any good Gothic novel, that the supernatural thought to be real was nothing but a hoax used for the wicked machinations of those trying to gain the property and wealth that comes with Manor Manor.  In fact, the ultimate reveal reads somewhat like a Nancy Drew mystery, which has to be more than coincidental based on references I found within the book:

1.    Mercy is told to stay away from the room with the "green door" (p. 54) - which hearkens back to the Penny Parker mystery, Behind the Green Door, written by Mildred A. Wirt;

2.    Mercy reminds herself that she donated all of her Nancy Drew books to the VA hospital (p. 134), unable to recall Nancy Drew's fail-safe formula for sleuthing - and, of course, Mildred Wirt (Benson) wrote a number of the original Nancy Drew books; and

 

3.    Mercy discovers a number of notes written by various women to her husband, one of which is signed by none other than Penny Nichols - another series of books written by Mildred Wirt (Benson) under the pseudonym of Joan Clark.

 

Now, that has to be much more than a coincidence that this one book, published in 1967 (by none other than Simon & Schuster!), has three references to series written by Mildred Wirt Benson!  For a moment, I wondered if perhaps "Hester Jane Mundis" was a pseudonym, being curious if the real author was a Benson fan; however, I discovered Mundis is, indeed, a real author, and this was one of several books she wrote (some of the others being about vitamins and reincarnation - go figure).  I would be curious to know if Mundis read Benson's books growing up, but then I thought about the fact that in the mid-1960s, I'm not sure if Mundis would have known Benson had authored the Nancy Drew and Penny Nichols books.  Perhaps she had simply read all three series (Parker, Drew, and Nichols) when she was younger and threw in the references for fun?  Who know ... that may be a mystery none of the sleuths will ever solve!

 

Regardless, the book was a truly fun read, and I'm definitely glad I bought it.  When researching information about the author, I was surprised to discover that the book is not easily found.  I'm guessing perhaps not many copies were sold back in the day, so if you want to find a copy, you better start searching!

 

RATING:  10 large helpings of lima beans out of 10 for Gothic tropes and parody zaniness combined to make a FUN-tastic read!