Cherry Tree Perch - a Children's Press Mystery (Book Two of the Farm School series)

It's not very often I come across these Children's Press books, particularly since they are a library of books published in Great Britain and not easily obtained here in the States.  This book was found by a friend of mine in Canada, and she graciously got it for me and sent it to me some months back.  The author is Josephine Elder, and apparently (I did not realize this when I sat down to read it, otherwise I would have waited), this is the second of a three-book series!  All three books were originally published by Collins in 1938, 1939, and 1940, respectively, and feature the same main characters - Annis and her best friend, Kitty.  Now, obviously, I am going to have to track down the other two books in this series:  book one, Exile for Annis, and book three, Strangers at the Farm School.  As far the author, "Josephine Elder" is actually a pseudonym used by Olive Gwendoline  Potter (1895 - 1988), who not only had ten school story novels published, but also a number of short stories for the British annuals.  Potter also wrote novels for adults.  What I find interesting is that Potter's main profession was being a doctor, and she practiced medicine the entire time she was writing novels for children and adults!

 

Cherry Tree Perch, as indicated above, is the second book in the Farm School series.  Although these characters first appeared in a previous book, Elder (Potter) does an excellent job of introducing readers to the characters, such that it is not necessary to have read the first book for this second one to be an enjoyable read.  There are mentions in this story about events that clearly took place in that first novel (such as Annis and Kitty first meeting, Annis being sent to this rural, farm school, etc.); however, the author includes enough information to quickly bring the reader up-to-date with the current situation of the girls and their supporting cast.  Thus, the story in this book is a stand-alone tale, yet I'm guess that it fits smoothly in-between the first and third books to tell a more complete tale of Annis Best and Kitty Forester.

 

The story begins as nothing more than a tale of two best friends and their adventures at a most unusual school - the Foresters' farm school. Instead of regular classes, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, the students at the Foresters' learn valuable life skills that they can pursue as they like - from music (such as Kitty) to animal care (such as Annis) to sculpting (such as Adrian) to other various real-life functions.  In fact, the idea of having a trade school for a high school.  Not sure if these type of schools existed in Britain back when these books were originally written, but the United States certainly does not have those kind of schools now.  Yet, Elder (Potter) makes it clear in the book that these students far excel those in traditional schools, as it seems each of them manage to get scholarships (or "shols" as they are often referred to throughout the book) to some pretty prestigious universities.  As the character of Adrian so aptly puts it - his studies of sculpture and art have led him to learn more about history than the average student in a normal school would learn, and he has sufficient reading, writing, and mathematical skills to meet any needs he has for those in his life.  

 

The title of the book comes from a particular tree that Kitty shows Annis, where its branches are such they are easily climbed, so the girls can sit well above the ground and enjoy a level of privacy, hidden among the blooming cherry blossoms. Throughout the entirety of the book, the girls can be found sitting up in the tree, either individually or together - and those times provide them with opportunities to watch their friends and loved ones go to and fro (and Annis inadvertently observes a lovers' quarrel that she was never meant to see or hear!).  At only point does that vantage point from the cherry tree offer Annis an opportunity to pick up on a clue regarding the mystery surrounding the haystacks in the area that are set aflame in the middle of the night.  Yes, it's a very minor mystery that, honestly, has little to do with the overall story - but it does affect several of the characters, one of whom is easily identified by the reader as the culprit pretty early on if you pay attention.

 

The bigger "mystery" (if you can call it that) involves a strange woman who rents the cottage on the property - one Miss Eleanor de Vipon.  When the reader first meets this odd character, the author describes her as "[a] woman in bright green cotton, no hat, and with a bush of upstanding grey hair" (p. 19).  The reader, along with Annis and Kitty, soon discover the woman is scatterbrained, but she loves and cares for injured animals (which characteristic comes into play several times in the story).  Annis takes a disliking to the woman, but Kitty grows quite attached, and the differing opinion starts to form a rift between the two which plays out throughout the entire book.  Ultimately, it is left to the reader's own opinion as to whether Miss de Vipon is a good or bad influence on Kitty, and whether it is Annis' jealousy of losing time with her best friend that is swaying her opinion of the older woman.

 

The story does offer a bit of theater, which certainly piqued my interest.  The author has a nearby farm put on a production of "Will Shakespeare" (pp. 108-09), and while Elder (Potter) just vaguely glosses over some of the scenes in the play, the characters' discussion afterwards regarding the historical accuracy of the play and how the actors portrayed their parts made for good reading, in my opinion. 

 

This Children's Press edition of the book offers no internal illustrations, but it does have beautifully colored dust jacket art by an unidentified artist.  The scene aptly depicts Kitty (with the dark hair) and Annis (with the pigtails) perched up in the branches of the cherry tree, where they watched the world go by around them - or under them, might be a better way of saying it.  The tree is fully blooming with cherry blossoms, and while the scene is neither exciting nor mysterious, the colors definitely attract one's eye to the cover!

 

The characters and story were engaging enough to make me search out the other two books, and hopefully I will be able to find copies here in the States at reasonable prices!

 

RATING:  8 swooping kingfishers out of 10 for a fairly decent school-days tale of two girls with a small mystery thrown into the mix for a bit of excitement.

Peggy Lane Theater Stories No. 3 - Peggy Goes Straw Hat

This series has taken its title character from her small hometown to the hustle and bustle of New York City, where she begins studying theater, to helping start an off-Broadway theater and starring in its first production, to now spending her break as a part of the summer stock in a small Adirondack mountain town (p. 1).  The series seems to be following the same path as the 4-book Carol Page series by Helen Dore Boylston - young girl leaves home to make her way as an actress in the big city and ends up in summer stock as a part of her experience before making it big.  Perhaps this is a natural progression of most actors/actresses hoping to pursue a career in theater, and so it is only natural that the books would follow the same roadmap.  In any case, it is an enjoyable ride as we follow Peggy on her path to success, and the author(s) of this series are actually allowing the reader watch Peggy grow and mature as an actress with each book, learning her strengths and weaknesses, as well as learning how to deal with other actors who will do anything to achieve the success they want!

 

Peggy Goes Straw Hat is a rather unique title, as it refers to the particular hat that the leading actress in the summer stock group wears when she first arrives.  Peggy sees Alison Lord as stunning and glamorous (p. 17), and she hopes that she can one day be as confident and talented as the visiting star is (thus, she hopes that one day she can show up in a straw hat and be the focal point of everyone's attention).  The story opens with Peggy arriving at the Adirondack town on Lake Kenabeek (which, interestingly enough, is not located in New York, but rather, Kenabeek is a rural area in northeastern Ontario), excited at spending the summer working with this new group of theater professionals.  Within the first chapter, the reader is introduced to an entirely new cast of characters: Michael Miller, who is the son of a retired theater man and will be a jack-of-all-trades for the summer; Howard Miller, the boy's father who will be playing older characters for the summer stock; Richard Wallace, one of the producers for the season; Richard's Aunt Hetty (the name invokes visions of the television show, Ghosts!), a member of the Chamber of Commerce who is helping to back the theater; Rita Stevens, a fellow actress that Peggy met when auditioning to be a part of the troupe, and Rita's husband, Gus, who is the scene designer; Alison Lord, the leading lady who is only out for one thing - advancing her own career; Chuck Crosby, the director of the plays being produced for the summer; Chris Hill, the handsome and very talented lead actor that has all the girls swooning; and a young actor by the name of Danny Dunn (p. 11), who is taking on all of the younger roles for the season.  And if that name sound familiar, it should to anyone who grew up reading in the late '50s through the late '70s - for Danny Dunn is the title character of a certain 15-book series about a young inventor and his friends who have some wild adventures with his crazy inventions!  By the time this book was published, there were at least seven Danny Dunn books published by McGraw-Hill, so the author had to know that the name would immediately be associated with that series character!  Talk about a series and publishing company cross-over before its time!

 

There is no real mystery in this particular book.  Instead, the conflict arises from the Slade brothers - Max and Bill - who own the local movie theater in town.  They are dead-set against the theater troupe putting on plays in the high school gymnasium, as they fear it will further hurt their already struggling business.  Not only have they been bad-mouthing the theater group (telling everyone who will listen that the actors are amateur, the director is inexperienced, etc.), but they also threaten to bring suit if the school hosts the theater, as they claim public ordinance forbids the school from hosting any profit-making ventures on its public property.  With their first play only days from opening, it is up to one of the producers to track down the school board commissioner and get his approval for the summer stock to use the school gym for its contracted purpose.  But the Slade brothers are determined to see the troupe fail, and even go so far as to bring in a movie version of one the plays and promote it with "real" actors in the parts in order to draw attendees away from seeing the play.  There is definitely some dirty, underhanded tricks going on, particularly with the local newspaper critic, who will not even make an appearance at any of the plays in order to provide an honest review.

 

As might be expected, Peggy falls into the middle of everything, when a chance meeting with the younger Slade brother, Bill, leads her to believe he might actually be someone they can turn to for help.  It is Peggy who is interviewed on a local radio show and successfully thwarts questions as to whether the theater will have to shut down; it is Peggy who happens to find an antique dealer who provides a number of props they need for a period play; it is Peggy who convinces Bill that the theater group is made up of seasoned professionals and not mere amateurs; it is Peggy, whose performance completely wins the day when the local critic does finally make an appearance at one of the shows; it is Peggy who must step up when the leading lady takes a job offer and leaves the group with but a moment's notice; and it is Peggy who must figure out how to juggle the attention of three different young men when her almost-boyfriend from New York, Randy Brewster, shows up to watch her perform!  And we feel for poor Peggy when, in the final play, she is given the lead, only to discover she simply cannot get into the head of the character and portray her the way she is meant to be played!  It takes complete and utter exhaustion, and Peggy's ultimate lack of concern over how she performs on the stage to bring out the character she is meant to be - leading to a standing ovation and rave reviews for a performance on which she had literally given up!

 

The plays performed in this story include Dear Ruth (p. 15), a Broadway comedy written by Norman Krasna; Angel Street (p. 49), also known as Gaslight, a 1938 thriller penned by British playwright Patrick Hamilton; Charley's Aunt (p. 98), a 3-act farce written by Brandon Thomas; For Love or Money (p. 109), another 3-act comedy that premiered on Broadway in 1947, written by F. Hugh Herbert; You Can't Take It With You! (p. 129) is a comedic play written jointly by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart; Love Rides the Rails (p. 139), a 1940 comedy/melodrama and parody authored by Morland Cary; and the final show, Guest in the House (p. 139), a 1942 Broadway drama written by Hagar Wilde and Dale Eunson.  Every play in the book is an actual play in the real world, and the descriptions and characters within the story are accurate within the context of the real-world productions.  The reader actually gets to experience scenes from a few of the plays, while others are simply mentioned in name only, with no actual stage time ever seen.

 

I think of the entire story, the funniest scene comes when Penny finishes up her first play as the lead (For Love or Money), she is met backstage first by Randy, who wants to take her to dinner - then by Bill Slade who wants to go out for coffee - then by fellow actor Chris Hill, who is famished and wants to take her out to eat!  Instead of choosing, she closes the door on the the men, leaving them standing outside the dressing room (as depicted in the two-page interior illustration by artist Sergio Leone) while she comes up with a plan not to offend any of her would-be suitors!  It was a fun scenario that the author played out well, and Peggy's quick thinking gets her (and everyone else!) through it without anyone's feelings getting hurt.

 

Despite its lack of mystery, the story actually reads pretty well, and being a fan of the theater, I enjoyed a lot of the behind-the-scenes drama that takes place among the characters (because such drama usually happens in real life, too!).  This is the only book in the series that has a known ghostwriter - according to Jennifer White's website, Peggy Lane Theater Stories, Geraldine Wallis (1925-2011), an author who also wrote stories for the Cherry Ames Annuals published in Britain.  Perhaps that is why there is more focus on the theater aspect of Peggy's life and no mystery involved.  Regardless, it was a great read, and probably my favorite of the series thus far.

 

RATING:  10 perfect Victorian chaise lounges (incorrectly spelled "longue" on page 67 of the book) out of 10 for a startlingly accurate portrayal of everyday drama an actor experiences while working on a play and superbly building on Peggy's continuing experience as a budding actress!

Dark Shadows Audio Tales, Vol. 6 - Shadows of the Past

It has been nearly three years since I last listened to one of these Dark Shadows audio books - I can't believe how much time I let pass between the last one and this one!  I have been getting my fill of Dark Shadows in other venues - re-watching the '90s television series, re-watching some of the original series' episodes, re-reading some of the novels by Marilyn Ross from back in the '60s and '70s, and reading some of the newer print material that has come out, including comic stories and memoirs.  But nothing compares to listening to brand new stories as read/told by some of the actors from the original show.  It has been quite some time since Big Finish has released any new audio books, so in a way, I'm kind of glad I waited so long to listen to this - it means I still have more audios to hear (as I have not yet listened to the Quentin/Maggie set, and I still have all the Tony/Cassandra box sets to enjoy as well!).

 

Shadows of the Night is the sixth and final short-story compilation put out by Big Finish, released back in 2017.   As with the previous five compilations, this one features four new stories, each voiced by a different action - in this instance, the stars are Nancy Barrett (Carolyn Stoddard Stuart), Christopher Pennock (Cyrus Longworth), Stephanie Ellyne (who has taken over the role of Amy Jennings), and James Storm (assuming the role of Dr. Robert Harper).  Each of the four stories is unique, and some deal more with the monstrous nature of humanity itself rather than introducing fantastical supernatural creatures - although, let's face it, this is Dark Shadows, so there are some supernatural elements, to be sure!

 

"Trio," the first of the four stories, is read by Nancy Barrett and tells a different kind of story involving jealousy and what it can do to a relationship.  When Carolyn Stoddard and Amy Jennings attend a musical performance, they are both enraptured by the music played by the pianist named Jude.  They both feel that the man was playing the music solely for her, and before you know it, the two of them are fighting over the man, turning against one another in vicious ways to win the love of Jude.  They soon learn, however, that Jude is not what he appears to be, and the two women must put aside their differences if they have any hope of surviving the experience!  Of the four stories, I think this was my least favorite.

 

"Honeymoon from Hell" continues the ongoing story of Cyrus Longworth and Sabrina Jennings.  They are finally married, and they trot off to Germany for what they believe will be a carefree and loving honeymoon.  I have been enjoying following the love story of these two, and now that Cyrus has been freed from his demons (literally!), I was curious to see where the writers would take these two.  They did not fail to come through - from a mysterious man following them around, to the disappearance of Sabrina, to Cyrus' desperation in trying to locate and rescue his new bride (the trail of pearls he follows is definitely a nod to the story of Hansel and Gretel), I really did enjoy this story better than the first.  I wish we had gotten more tales of Cyrus and Sabrina, as they deserve it!

 

"Retreat" provides listeners with more of what happened while Roger, Elizabeth, and Amy are in Paris.  If you have listened to the author audios, then you may recall in volume three that Amy headed over to Paris in "In a Broken Dream" to visit Roger and Elizabeth, only to arrive with them missing.  This story takes place after those events, with Amy enjoying her last days in the city - until a stranger knocks her over while riding her back, and leaves her a note directing her to meet at an old bookstore.  With Roger and Elizabeth in two, she investigates, and the three find themselves being forced to give aid to a supernatural creature who wants to rid himself of a gypsy curse - and Amy is the only one who can do it!

 

The final story on this CD, "1:53 AM," is a story full of twists.  It features James Storm as Dr. Robert Harper, a former college professor of Carolyn's who secretly has feelings for her and is disappointed to learn she married Ned Stuart.  But fate brings them back together, as a man who claims his daughter is possessed turns to them for help.  The story takes a number of twists and turns - is he telling the truth? is the whole thing staged? if so, who is staging it? if it is real, who is the cause?  Poor Dr. Harper goes back and forth, and the ultimately reveal near the end is an unexpected surprise with a supernatural battle that only one thing can overcome it - love!  (The one thing I really loved about this story is Dr, Harper indicates that even though Carolyn no longer attends school there, she has been using the library of supernatural books in an effort to find a way to "find her sister, Victoria" - I have to wonder if this was planned to be a lead-in into a longer subplot that would have the characters searching for a way to bring Victoria Winters home, since she was also mentioned in the last regular audio book, volume 50, "And Red All Over."  I suppose now we will never know...)

 

Definitely another great addition to the Dark Shadows mythos - it's just a shame this was the last (so far) of the ongoing tales...

 

RATING:   9 infrared cameras throughout the house out of 10 for stories that remind us Dark Shadows is more than just supernatural - it is character-driven and delves into the human mind to reveal the monstrosities that sometimes lie beneath!

 

 

 

Ms. Tree - Fallen Tree (The Sixth and Final Ms. Tree Graphic Novel)

l put off reading this final collection of Ms. Tree comics from Titan Comics because I knew that once I read this book, I would be done with the Ms. Tree series.  I am so thankful for Titan for collecting this series, particularly since the original comics were published by four different companies - Eclipse, Aardvark-Vanheim, Renegade Press, and finally, DC Comics.  I can't recall too many comics, if any, that managed to continue over the course of several decades through that many publishers.  Most comics, when cancelled by one publisher, are rarely picked up by another - and even if by some chance they are, for it to then leave that publisher and go to a third and then to a fourth is nearly unheard of!  Yet, the character of Ms. Tree persevered, which stands as a testimony to just how well-received and loved Max Allan Collins' and Terry Beatty's creation was, and still is, with fans.  

 

Fallen Tree collects the final stories published by Renegade Press,  including a short story that apppeared in a former collection of Mike Mist/Ms. Tree crossover tales.  The stories are "New Year's Evil" (issue 35), "Like Father" (issues 37 - 40), "Coming of Rage" (issues 41-44), "Murder Cruise" (issues 45-48), "Music to Murder By" (from The Files of Ms. Tree, Volume Three), and "Fallen Tree" (issues 49-50).  I had forgotten that as the Ms. Tree series progressed, it eventually contained less and less pages of Ms. Tree and included a number of reprint tales of Johnny Dynamite, a serial that I never did enjoy.  I was thrilled when DC picked up the series and each issue featured a full length Ms. Tree story in full color.  Yes, I enjoyed the serialized tales published by Eclipse, Aardvark, and Renegade, but getting an entire story in one sitting without having to wait months on end for the next issue to come out to continue reading the story (and let's face it, back in the day, the indy companies were not known for keeping a monthly or even a bi-monthly schedule very well).  Thus, it was a pleasure to sit down with this collection and get to read these stories again in their entirety, without any delays between chapters.

 

The first story was a one-issue tale set at New Year's Eve, in which Ms. Tree takes on a deranged man who blames the health insurance company that denied his wife's medical treatment, resulting in her death.  In some scenes that bring to mind Bruce Willis in the first Die Hard movie, Ms. Tree climbs through air vents, makes her way to the top floor restaurant, and in her normal violent fashion, saves the day!

 

The second story, "Like Father," finds Ms. Tree on yet another vendetta - this time, taking out a crazed crook who shoots Lt. Valer, and then hunting down the man (or woman) who murdered her own father.  This story takes Ms. Tree back to her roots (no pun intended), as she must track down her father's killer, while also rebuilding her relationship with her younger sister.  It's actually a rather touching story that reminds the reader that Ms. Tree is more than just a vigilante, and that she does have an emotional side to her when it comes to family and friends.

 

"Coming of Rage" once again turns the attention to Ms. Tree's adopted son, Mike Jr.  This time, however, he's not in need of rescue.  When she sends Mike to an exclusive, private school for the children of the wealthy elite, little does she know that Mike is going to meet and fall in love with a girl who is also the child of a killer - the daughter of Dominique Muerta!  When two bumbling would-be kidnappers nab Mike and Lisa, unaware of who their parents are, it sets off an entire chain of events that read almost like a physical comedy - a story that brings these two families that have been sworn enemies for so long into a truce of sorts, all because of the Romeo/Juliet romance of the teenage children!

 

The next tale, "Murder Cruise," finds Ms. Tree working alongside private eye Mike Mist (from those famous "Minute Mist-eries") to solve the murder of a woman aboard the cruise ship they are sailing.  Mist is there to do uncover the truth about a friend's death, while Ms. Tree and her employees are there for a vacation.  Soon enough, a woman turns up death by a hit-and-run, Ms. Tree is nearly killed with poisoned wine, and an elderly woman who befriends them all may be at the center of all the violence!  Collins tells this story in a way that each chapter is a day on the seven-day cruise.

 

The short story from The Files of Ms. Tree, "Music to Murder By,"  is an almost-full color, 14-page short story that showcases the combined talents of Mist and Tree, as they have to solve the murder of one of Mist's clients - a man in the music industry who has made any number of enemies because of his refusal to ever release a never-before heard album of songs from his old music group.  It's a fun, quick read with Collins' typical twist at the end.

 

The final tale, "Fallen Tree," actually relates back to "Like Father," as a relative of one of Ms. Tree's many victims comes back for revenge - and very nearly succeeds!  Ms. Tree is shot, left for dead, and must face down all of the people she has killed over the years while in hell, all the while her friends are praying the doctors can save her life.  Ms. Tree gets unexpected help in the underworld, and just as the plug is about to be pulled, she awakens with a message for one of her friends - thus ending the initial 50-issue comic run of Ms. Tree.

 

While I truly enjoyed re-reading this series from beginning to end, it is a bit bittersweet, as I know that there are no more stories to be read.  Yes, I do realize that these collection did not capture every Ms. Tree appearance.  There was the three-issue crossover with Michael Mauser (from the E-Man comic by Joe Staton) called The P.I.s, published by First Comics; there was also Ms. Tree's appearance in the "Munden's Bar" back up story in First Comics' Grim Jack issue 11, published in 1985; and there was her appearance in the Word Warriors one-shot comic published by Literacy Volunteers of Chicago in 1987.  There was also the one prose novel, Deadly Beloved, written by Collins and published by the Hard Case Crime series of novels.  I was hoping that would have spawned a series of prose novels of my favorite female private eye, but alas, that was not meant to be.

 

Thus, I have once again reached the "end" of Ms. Tree, and sadly, if I want more of her exploits, I will hae to go back and re-read this same series yet again ... and again ... and again ... and again.  If only Collins and Beatty would bring her back with new stories (hint! hint!)!

 

RATING: 10 borrowed sun hats out of 10 for hard-hitting, gritty, female P.I. action told with a twist of humor, a mix of emotion, and a whole lot of great storytelling!

 

The Shadow Guest - a Dell Gothic

This is one of those kind of books that completely takes you by surprise.  I expected it to be your standard Gothic tale - the story of a young woman swept off to a lonely house surrounded by people who seem to be her enemies, not knowing who she can trust, and frightened by things that go bump in the night.  While some of those typical Gothic elements are in the book, the author, Hillary Waugh, definitely gave readers something they would never expect!  Before we get to that, however, let's talk about the author.  The name seems to be a woman's name; but if you think that, you'd be wrong!  Hillary Waugh is actually a man: Hillary Baldwin Waugh (1920 - 2008).  Waugh was a rather prolific American mystery writer, who, in addition to his own name, used pseudonyms such as Elissa Grandower, Harry Walker, and H. Baldwin Taylor. Waugh wrote several Gothic novels during this era.

 

The Shadow Guest was reprinted by Dell in 1972 with permission from its original American publisher, Doubleday & Company. The description on the back of the book indicates "Angela Whelan, the beautiful wife of an American businessman, was drawn to the stone cottage on the lonely English coast by a force she could not name..."  Thus, the reader would expect Angela to be the main character of the story.  Surprise!  She is not.  This is one of those rare Gothic novels from this period where a male is the main character in the story.  Waugh tells this story in first-person point-of-view through the eyes of Howard Whelan, a successful architect who moves to England for an important project, bringing his wife, Angela with him.  When Angela begins to fall into a serious bout of depression, fearing death and refusing to eat or even leave her bed, Howard seeks the help of a local psychiatrist to bring her out of this downward spiral.  A sudden heart-attack brought on by stress in Howard's life brings even more changes, and Howard's physician prescribes three months rest, with no work, in a country setting.  Angela takes charges and finds the perfect place - Heather Cottage.

 

The male first-person point-of-view caught me off-guard, and I will admit, it took me a bit to get into the story.  I am so used to reading these stories from the female lead's perspective, that it threw me off reading a male perspective.  But, after a few chapters, I found myself immersed in the story, intrigued by the male point of view - his love for his wife, his willingness to do anything to help her; yet, at the same time, failing to notice the warning signs of her depression and refusing to acknowledge his own physical frailty following the heart attack - all things one would associate with an alpha male.  And, as the story progresses, and Howard and Angela end up at Heather Cottage, it is unique to see the Gothic elements from a man's point-of-view.  The fantastical things that frighten woman, creating suspenseful and terrifying moments in the story are seen as more shocking in this story, and Howard's curiosity and determination to uncover the truth about them - even if they ultimately reveal supernatural forces at work - creates a completely different atmosphere for the reader.   

 

As to those supernatural elements, Waugh gives them a nice, slow build.  What starts as a story of an only child's tragic death evolves into strange noises at night, laughter heard throughout the house, a shadowy figure seen on the grounds, a light turning on by itself in a locked attic, and the explosive sounds of a car crashing off the side of the cliffside road - a crash that occurred three years prior!  Add to that legends of a ghost haunting the cottage and an elderly woman on a bicycle who, simply put, does not exist, and throw in nightmares that lead to the discovery of a decades-old letter threatening to hunt down and kill Angela's mother, and you've got the perfect mix for a truly suspenseful story.  Waugh skillfully leads the reader down a path of non-belief to not just resigned acceptance, but unquestioning conviction in the reality of evil forces that threaten the life of the woman he loves!  It actually makes the reader question what is real and what is not, and Howard's gradual realization of what is happening keeps the reader in suspense, leading to a completely unexpected and shocking conclusion that left me ... well, for lack of a better word - flabbergasted!  Definitely not at all what I was expecting, but most certainly a dramatic ending (and proof that a Gothic does not have to have an "all's well that ends well" ending to make it a great read).

 

There is no identification of the cover artist for this particular edition published by Dell.  Oddly, this cover depicts the young woman (intended to be Angela, one would suppose) coming down a rather grand, wooden staircase, with stone walls and an arched window such as you would find in a castle, with a candle sconce affixed to the wall.  Nothing in this image fits with the description of the cottage within the story, once again showing how the publishers often smacked covers on their Gothic books that were wholly unrelated to the story within.  At least this provides a nice departure from the standard woman in a flowing dress running away from a darkened castle/house/mansion in the background.

 

This is a Gothic that I would highly recommend, not just to fans of this genre, but to anyone who enjoys a good mystery or thriller.  Waugh offers an extremely well-written, superbly plotted story in ever sense of the word.

 

RATING:  10 antique secretary desks out of 10 for surprising the daylights out of me with a male-led Gothic novel filled with suspense, mystery, and supernatural shocks!