Berryhill - an Old Fashioned Blood-Curdling Gothic

This book definitely borderlines more on the horror side of things than it does the Gothic side.  Published back in 1979 by Manor Books, just two years before the publisher ceased its activities (the same publisher who put out the "King Size Gothic" line, ripping off Popular Library's line of "Queen Size Gothics"), the book promotes itself as "Editor's Gothic Choice," and claims to be "An Old Fashioned Blood Curdling Gothic."  This is one of the very few Gothics that I have read that actually crosses over into the supernatural and delves into witchcraft and ghosts.  It is also one of the few that puts forth very detailed descriptions of some gory and horrific deaths.  The author was Barbara Curry Bennett (1938-2024), and this appears to be her one and only Gothic novel.  Bennett lived in Tennessee, so it should come as no surprise that her story is set deep in the woods of the southern state.

 

Berryhill takes its title from the house in the story, which is set at the bottom of a hill where berries once grew in abundance.  Unfortunately, the ground upon which the house was built has a horrific background, as it was the site of a terrifying massacre of some outcast Indians, the last of whom put a curse on the land - a curse that managed to endure from year to year and generation to generation.  The author takes readers from the time of the early settlers in America in the opening prologue to the current time (well, current when the book was written!) in the epilogue, telling a terrifying tale that lasts over a century.  It opens with a young boy coming across a group of Indians while he is playing in the woods - a group he mistakenly believes are a threat to his family.  He is unaware that the Indians are merely a rag-tag group of misfits, kicked of other tribes for one reason or another and banded together to live a peaceful existence away from everyone.  But the young boy's family, and the other settlers that are with them, come back with blood-thirst in their veins, and they viciously wipe out all of the Indians, from the youngest child to the oldest woman - an old woman who puts a curse on "all white men who dare to walk on this land where the blood of the innocent is shed!" (p. 8),  Half a century later, a man by the name of Aaron DeGault comes across this clearing and decides it is the perfect spot to build a home for his wife and newborn son.  Unfortunately, the curse begins, as Aaron and his wife are tragically killed in a wagon accident, leaving their six-year old son to be raised far away by distant relatives...

 

Until Jason DeGault grew up, married Abigail, and returned to his family's homestead to start a family.  They had two sons, but the War Between the States claimed Abigail's husband and oldest son, and her youngest son, Paul, was missing in action.  That left Abigail to run the farm and care for her sickly daughter-in-law and her grandchild, Alicia.  The horrors of the Indian curse continue when a vile Union soldier shows up, forces his way into the house, brutally rapes and kills Clarice, throwing the infant child across the room in the process.  Abigail finds an inner strength to fight back and takes an ax to the soldier's head, killing him instantly.  She has just enough time to bury the man in the basement before the nearest neighbor, Harry Hunnicutt shows up.  From here, the story moves forward with the Default family, the years pass, and Paul returns home with a wife, step-daughter, and son, moving in with his mother and niece.  The only problem is, Alicia has been raised alone by Abigail, and she is not happy about these people intruding upon what she feels to be her home.  She pushes her new Aunt Sarah down the stairs, killing her without remorse.  You see, little Alicia has discovered the secret in the basement ... and for her, that dead soldier has suddenly become her closest friend and confidant ... someone who is more than willing to help her rid the house of these unwanted interlopers!

 

After Sarah's death, the girls are sent to a boarding school, from which they do not return until they are teenagers.  Alicia's malevolent nature continues, as she not only scares her grandmother to death using the skull of the dead soldier in the basement, but she also seduces her uncle and leads him to commit suicide.  One by one, Alicia removes the obstacles out of her way so that Berryhill can her hers, and hers alone.  All that remains are her cousins, Julie and Michael.  And never you fear, as she has plans for them as well.  Dark, malicious plans that stem from the very evil of the house itself - evil that only Abigail's slaves, Belle and Sally, have the sense to see.  The curse remains within the halls of Berryhill, and that curse has taken complete control of the soldier's spirit and the once-innocent baby that was so casually thrown across the room by his violent rage.  The two form a symbiotic relationship to carry out that Indian woman's curse, and it seems no member of the DeGault family is safe.

 

Flash-forward some more years, and Julie returns to Berryhill with her husband, Phillip Hunnicutt.  It does not take long, though, for Alicia to frighten Julie to her death, which, in turn, leads to Phillip's depression and his ultimate death.  Which leaves only young Michael, who is far removed from the horrors of that house, taken by his grandparents on his mother's side to be raised away from the memories that could scar him forever.   Michael - who has no real memories of the terrors and tragedies that have overtaken his family for generations.  Michael - who is all grown up and ready to return to Berryhill as a married man, to take over control of the farm and start a new family, bringing joy to a house with a history of darkness and sadness.  Michael - who Alicia is none-too-happy to see, and who she is determined to force out of her house.  It all comes down to these last two DeGaults, and the suspense rises to its highest level yet, as readers wait to see whether good will win over evil, or if the dark curse that has held Berryhill and its inhabitants in its sway for so long will have the ultimate victory.

 

Of course, Bennett gives readers a teaser at the end, with a four-page epilogue, set in the present, in which a new generation of DeGaults arrive in a Porsche, set to take over this land that no one in the family even knew existed until a member of the family died, and a long-hidden deed reveals ownership of the land.  Thus, a new family is ready to take over the farm - is the curse gone, or has it simply lain dormant, ready to spring to life again when these latest white men dare to walk the land where innocent blood was shed?

 

Bennett has no qualms introducing the supernatural into the story, and the spirit of the Union soldier gradually taking more and more control of Alicia's decisions (at one point even interacting with her sexually!) is startling to read.  She is a girl-turned-woman without a conscience, and her systematic destruction of her own family is hard to watch. The house is simply filled with evil, and one has to wonder if Abigail had never buried the soldier in the basement, would all of those horrific deaths still occurred?  Was that one incident - the killing and burying of the soldier - the catalyst that released the curse upon the DeGault family?  Or was it merely the means to an end for that dying Indian's curse?  Either way, the story is extremely sad, and there is no happy ending for anyone in this book!

 

No identification of the artist for the cover art, so I have no way of knowing who painted the cover.  It is as creepy as the story itself, with the foreboding house superimposed over a slowly melting candle, while the young woman in the forefront is running away, her long gown flowing in the wind as she runs.  It is sort of an eerie foreshadowing of the story inside - as the candle slowly burns down, so do the lives of those who live inside Berryhill.  It is also a symbol of those rituals that take place in the basement, as Alicia, and eventually the old witch woman who comes to live with her, perform rites over the grave of the long-dead soldier by candlelight - a picture of the evil being released in the house and on the family that lives within it.  This book, by far, as the darkest one I've read to date.

 

RATING:  8 long strands of glimmering pearls out of 10 for an aptly described "blood-curdling" Gothic tale of terror! 

Secret of Pirates' Cave - a Thorne Twins Adventure Book

This is a book I picked up for a couple of reasons.  First, the title is reminiscent of the second Bobbsey Twins mystery published back in 1980 under the Simon & Schuster "Wanderer" imprint, with even the cover art bearing a slight resemblance to that book.  Second, the book features twins (a brother and sister), and I'm always picking up books about twins - although, unlike the Bobbseys, this series features only one set of twins, not two.  Now, normally, I would not pick up just one book in a series - my OCD would force me to go find all of the other books in the series, so I can have a complete set!  In this case, however, I made an exception, since my main reason was the similarity in title and cover art - the fact that it features twins is merely a bonus.  I could not find out anything about the author, Dayle Courtney, and it appears this series is the only books written by the author.

 

Secret of Pirates' Cave is the 19th, and from what I could find, final title in the Thorne Twins Adventure Book series. Interestingly, the book opens not with the title characters, but with one of their ancestors, Eric Thorne, and his family, who are sailing along the California coast, preparing to settle and start a new life in America in the year 1850.  Their ship inadvertently runs into a pirate ship, and the band of pirates - led by one known only as Scarab - take over the ship, stealing all of the family's belongings, as well as those belonging to the Roberts family, who has joined them in their adventure to the New World.  It is not until the second chapter where we flash-forward 130 years to the present, where young Eric Thorne and his twin sister, Alison, are sitting down to dinner, and Eric is telling his father about a boy in his class that shared a story about his ancestors having been robbed by pirates along with another family by the last name "Thorne."  It is here that the twins learn from their father the history of Eric's namesake, and how the stolen good were never recovered - however, the pirate reformed later in life and wrote a letter that he sent to both the Thorne and Roberts families, giving each half of the directions as to where they could find their stolen valuables (hmmm, what other story have I read where there are two pieces of a "map" that must be put together to lead the sleuths to a lost treasure...?).  The two families never found each other, and so the treasures were never recovered.  Until now...

 

As with all good series books, it's a series of coincidences that puts Terry Roberts in Eric Thorne's class, and provides them the opportunity to join forces to locate their family's heirlooms.  As Mr. Thorne is heading to Africa for his work, he sends Eric and Alison to California with Terry to visit Terry's aunt and cousin, who live in a large house on a hill, just outside of Monterey.  While the Thorne family had kept and preserved the pirate's letter and half-instructions, those sent to the Roberts family had been lost over the years, and no one knew where to find them.  Thus, the children plan to inspect every inch of the Roberts' ancestral home in the hopes of finding the other half to those instructions so they can find the treasure. The house is filled with plenty of hidden compartments and secret passages, and after some false starts, they happen across the missing half of the instructions in the pocket of a pair of pants they find inside an old trunk hidden away in a cave far beneath the great house.  Now, armed with both halves of the instructions, Eric, Alison, and Terry firmly believe they will find their families' missing heirlooms!

The author does not make it easy on the kids.  With a letter written over a century before, the places mentioned in the letter are certain to have changed considerably.  The old church was long destroyed after an earthquake.  The stained glass through which the light points the way is no longer there.  The walled fort, the boulder in the shape of a lion's head ... such cryptic clues made all the more hard to decipher, since the landscape has changed so much over the past hundred years.  But the twins are determined, especially Eric, whose growing desire to find that treasure and become rich seems to increase in strength the closer they get to finding it.  He refuses to give up, even if that means breaking a few laws to find the lost heirlooms - such as sneaking into a cemetery at night, breaking into a caretaker's shack, and opening a long-sealed crypt, all in the hope of recovering the Thornes' and the Roberts' stolen belongings.

 

Astute readers will begin to pick up on some subtle clues along the way that someone is working against them - someone wants the kids to find the treasure only so they can take it away from them.  There's the sudden appearance of the "ghost" that haunts the cemetery.  There's the odd reluctance of the elderly caretaker to provide the twins and their cousin with any information regarding the old pirate and his family (as it seems the pirate changed his ways, turned to God, and worked hard to make amends for his old life - including sending that letter to the two families, in the hopes they would forgive him if they got their heirlooms back!).  There's the strange feeling that someone is always watching them, following them, always just out of sight.  But, as with any good teen detectives, these three persevere, ultimately finding the missing treasure - which discovery also brings to light some secrets about the two families that have repercussions on a number of members of the families!

 

From what I have been able to learn about the Thorne Twins series, this is the last book in the series.  It is a rather unique series, in that it is a Christian-based series, with the main characters devout in their faith; yet, the mysteries involve chasing UFOs (book 17), saving a captive girl from a drug ring (book 16), finding a foreign dignitary (book 15), chasing down bigfoot (book 13), outwitting terrorists (book 12), and even fighting to stop a civil war on an island in the Aegean Sea (book 11)!  These are some rather adult themes for a young adult series, and definitely some themes I am surprised to find in a Christian-based series.  Although, if the rest of the series is anything like this book, right always conquers wrong, and any temptations the twins may face (such as the idea of riches in this book), by the end of the story they see the folly of their ways and realize their faith in God is more important than anything else.

 

As indicated above, I picked up this book because of the similarity in title and cover art to the second Bobbsey Twins books published back in 1980. Since this book did not come out until four years later, one is left to wonder if the Courtney, or the cover artist for this book (who is unidentified, although could be John Ham, who provided the interior illustrations), was influenced by the earlier Bobbsey Twins' book.  The stories are not overly similar, since this book is set in California and the Bobbseys travel to Bermuda in their book.  However, both stories involve pirate thieves and hidden caves under a property that is used for smuggling.  It is the covers that are more similar, with the boat heading for a cave, and the girl standing/seated above the boys, looking toward the dark entrance of the cave ahead of them.  What's funny about this is that the Bobbsey Twins' book, Secret in the Pirates' Cave, is actually taken from an even older book written by Andrew Svenson (using the pseudonym Alan Stone), The Mystery of Pirate Island, which was the second of the three-book Tollivers series published back in 1967.  When the Stratemeyer Syndicate needed new titles for their new Bobbsey Twins series being published by Simon & Schuster, they simply took the three Tollivers books and replaced the names of those characters with the names of the Bobbsey Twins and published them as "new" books in the Bobbseys' series!  Thus, we have one basic story, and three books...

 

While I did enjoy the story for the most part, it was not engaging enough for me to want to go out and hunt down the entire series.  I'll simply put this with my Bobbsey Twins collection as a knock-off of one of their books.

 

RATING:  7 broken lanterns out of 10 for combining pirate legends, hidden treasures, secret passages, and torn maps into a fun little mystery! 

Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings - the first Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

It was time to start a new (well, technically it's vintage, but it's "new" to me, since I've never read it before!) series, and this time around it's the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Series by "Dorothy Wayne."  And, yes, I put the author's name in quotes, because that name is nothing more than a pseudonym.  As it turns out, "Dorothy Wayne" was actually Noel Sainsbury, Jr., who wrote a number of children's adventure and mystery stories during the 1920s and '30s.  A former naval aviator during the first World War, it would only make sense that his stories tend to involve aviation.  Sainsbury authored the Billy Smith series, as well as the Bill Bolton series, both of which had pilots as their protagonists.  The inside front flap of the dust jacket for this book advertises the series as a "new series of mystery books for girls - the stories are told by Dorothy Wayne, wife of Lieut. Noel Sainsbury, Jr., author of the famous Bill Bolton books."  It seems Sainsbury used his first wife's name when authoring the books, likely because it would have appeared odd to have a girls' series written by a male author.  All four books in this series were published by Goldsmith in 1933, and no more appeared after that.

 

Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings reads like a spin-off of Sainsbury's Bill Bolton Naval Aviation Series, which also ran for four books, and were all published in 1933.  On the first two pages, readers are not only introduced to sixteen-year old Dorothy Dixon, but the "famous" Bill Bolton as well!  Dorothy meets him while preparing to head out into the waters in her skiff, and when she realizes who he is, she exclaims, "I've read about you in the papers - and I know all about the wonderful things you've done!" (p. 16).  So, it's clear from the start that the young man had already made a name for himself as an accomplished aviator by the time this story begins.  Dorothy, on the other hand, knows nothing about aviation and quickly proves herself not so capable in the water either when her boat capsizes in the middle of a horrific storm by the end of the first chapter.  It's Bill Bolton who saves the day, however, when he pulls her out of the raging waters with his Loening amphibian (p. 33).

 

Sainsbury clearly knows his stuff, as the Loening amphibian was a real seaplane that could land on ground or water, designed by Grover Loening and first taking flight in 1923 (Loening Amphibian).  And the author definitely shared his knowledge of aviation and planes throughout the entirety of this first book, as Dorothy immediately wants to learn how to fly, and Bill graciously agrees to teach her (with both of their fathers' permission).  Sainsbury, through Bill's lessons, goes into painstaking detail at times about the various parts of the plane, the instruments and their different purposes, and pretty much everything one would need to know before taking a plane up into the air.  I have a feeling the author fudges with the timing a it, as Dorothy learns to fly in just a matter of days, while in the real world, as quick search online reveals it can take a month or two of regular, consistent training for someone to learn how to fly sufficiently to gain their private pilot's license.  I suppose, however, in a fictional tale such as this, learning to fly in a just a few days is relatively easy - especially for someone like Dorothy Dixon, who also is skilled in jiu jitsu (George Fayne, eat your heart out!) and was trained by her father in "running, boxing, fencing, swimming..." (p. 192).  Why, it seems there is nothing Dorothy Dixon can't do once she sets her mind to it!  (Gee, sound like another female teen detective?)

 

And speaking of similarities, I did find it interesting that Dorothy is the daughter of a one-parent home, yet her relationship with her father was not an affectionate one.  The author indicates that although the bond between father and daughter was strong, "especially since the mother's death some years earlier, neither was particularly demonstrative" (p. 103).  It made me stop and think that a number of these girl sleuths had only their father to raise them, although some had live-in housekeepers.  Perhaps this is why the young detectives are so strong-willed and, more often than not, well-versed in any number of physical and mental capabilities - because they were brought up with a male perspective and strong, masculine influence, which made them more capable and independent than most girls their age.

 

While a large portion of the story focuses on Dorothy's education in aviation, there is a mystery involving a robbery at the bank of which Mr. Dixon is the president.  Honestly, it's pretty obvious from the get-go who aided the thieves, but no one (including Bill and Dorothy!) seems to catch on.  The mystery takes a back-burner to the flight lessons, but once Dorothy starts to get the hang of flying, Bill suddenly reveals a hunch about there whereabouts of the thieves (in an isolated house on a hill, some miles away from town).  Rather than tell the police, the daring duo make their own way to the house and end up captives of the criminals.  It's actually a fairly exciting climax to the story, as Dorothy reveals her jiu jitsu skills, and she proves just how much she has been paying attention to her flying lessons as she takes the amphibian from the water and flies it right up to the front porch of the house where the criminals are hiding!  (Oh, and one of those criminals is not exactly who he appears to be, which made for a good twist in the story.)

 

Sainsbury is not shy about his female detective using guns (something Harriett Adams would NEVER allow for Nancy Drew!).  When Bill offers Dorothy a Colt .32 to protect herself and asks if she knows how to use it, her response is, "Certainly.  What do you expect me to do - release the safety catch and pull the trigger to see if it works?" (p. 159).  Near the end, when she flies the amphibian up to the front of the house, she does not hesitate to turn "the Browning [machine gun] into action and [send] half a belt of bullets whipping through the door," careful to "aim high [as she] had no desire to play the part of executioner" (p. 245).  Definitely not a Stratemeyer sleuth! 

 

I found the constant banter between Dorothy and Bill rather humorous, and loved that Bill playfully referred to her as "Miss Sherlock" (p. 85).  He even goes so far as to refer to himself as "Doctor Watson" (p. 89) to her Sherlock!  And I was surprised at the blatant use of brand names such as "Silvertowns" and "Goodyears" when Dorothy and Bill are discussing the kinds of tires the getaway car had (p. 90).  It's not often you see specific brand names used in a series book.

 

Finally, Sainsbury had a bit of fun at his own expense in the story.  When Bill asks Dorothy to go see a movie, she declines, informing him she has a writing club meeting that night.  She invites him to join her, but he quickly turns her down - until he learns the advisor for the group is none of than ... "Noel Sainsbury, the writer ... He was a naval aviator during the war ..." (p. 143).   How many authors have the fun of immortalizing themselves in their own stories?!

 

All four books in this series feature the same cover art, which is a scene taken right out of the second chapter, where Bill shows up to rescue Dorothy after her boat overturns.  There's no signature on the art, and like most series books of that time, no cover artist is identified on the title or copyright pages.  There are also no internal illustrations, which is typical of a lot of the Goldmith books.  The paper is also considerably cheaper, as this nearly 100 year old book has pages that are very brittle, meaning it had to be extra careful when I was reading it to make sure the pages did not crack or fall apart under my fingers.

 

While I did find the abundance of technical instructions about flying to be a bit tedious at times, the characters' banter and the mystery did more than make for it.  I found that I really enjoyed the story, and I'm looking forward to reading the next three books.

RATING:   10 pairs of yellow beach pajamas out of 10 for giving readers a spunky, new aviatrtix who is daring, adventurous, courageous, fearless, and loves to solve mysteries!

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #25 - You'll Be The Death of Me

It's been ten books since the first of Miriam Lynch's entries into this series, and now I've reached the second (and final) offering by Lynch.  This book was a far cry better than her first Zebra mystery, so either she honed her mystery-writing skills between the time she wrote Time to Kill and this one, or that first book was merely a fluke (since online reviewers all seem to have nothing but praise to sing for Lynch's writing).  Either way, I found this book to be much more engaging, with a well-plotted mystery and plenty of misdirect and red herrings!

 

You'll Be The Death of Me takes small-town reporter Nell Willard  to the Belltown High School twenty-year class reunion, where long-time teacher Sarah Plunkett is being honored as she retires after years of service and Nell is there to cover the story.  Love her or hate her, everyone agrees that Mrs. Plunkett was strict, but she loved her students and only wanted to see them succeed.  But as the retiree prepares to give her speech, she suddenly collapses over the front table, dead!  Needless to say, Nell has an eyewitness account of the tragic event, and when it comes out the teacher was poisoned, Nell knows it's a mystery she must solve.  Police lieutenant Gerold Holbrow, Nell's somewhat boyfriend, is on the case, and although he warns her to stay out of the investigation, she cannot help herself.  After all, the woman had once been her teacher, and for the life of her, Nell cannot understand who would have reason to kill her.

 

Lynch gives readers a number of suspects, all with secrets and possible motives.  First, there is the chairperson of the reunion, Marion Hallison.  The woman is a mystery herself, with no known background, no photographs, and no friends.  Who is she, and how did she land the position of planning such an important event?  As Nell digs into her past, she learns that Marion may be holding a very fierce grudge against the teacher - but is it one that would give her cause to kill her?  Second, there are Stuart and Samuel Corbett, twins who served as co-presidents their senior year of high school, and who married the Bisbee twins (Grace and Gertrude).  The two couples became recluses after their marriages, and moreso after Samuel's wife died.  What secret did Sarah Plunkett uncover about the twins, and was it worth killing her?  Third, there is Suzanne Dixon, the beautiful young wife, married to the richest man in town (a man who could not bother to show up at the reunion, perhaps because he was too drunk!).  Why has she been making early morning visits to a local doctor, and what secret would make her want to leave her husband?  Finally, there is Dr. Harmon Gregory, one of the more successful members of the class, whose sole concern seems to be to care for his sickly wife, who also acts as his nurse at his office.  Is he having an affair with Suzanne Dixon, and if so, how would that justify killing a retiring teacher?

 

The mystery is definitely a puzzling one, and I admit, it had me stumped up until the very final chapter.  All of the suspects had dark secrets, but only one of them had a real motive for murder.  It is when an attempt to commit a second murder takes place (and the big clue is in that final internal illustration) that the killer's identity is finally revealed - and the motive is not all what you suspect.  It certainly took me by surprise, but it definitely made sense looking back at everything else Nell learns throughout the book. 

 

The cover art is provided by Mel Greifinger, who has provided the art on three prior Zebra Mystery Puzzlers. I love his work, as his visuals are stunning.  Sadly, I could not find any real clue on the cover (unless it is simply supposed to be the glass in front of her, which was poisoned.  The internal illustrations are drawn by Sanford Hoffman, marking his fifth book in the series.  As with all of his prior illustrations, he always outlines his scene, and he often has one part of the scene break through that outline (such as in the one to the right, where the gun is raised, breaking through the line).  This scene strikes me as odd, though, as the story indicates the person comes up behind Nell and strikes her on the head.  The object that strikes her is not mentioned, and it is not until later in the story we find out it was a gun - so to have it displayed so vividly here sort of gives away something (unless this picture on page 75 is meant to connect to the illustration on page 159; yet, the guns in each drawing appear different!).  I also find the gun and hand to be very out of proportion to the scene, since, if the person is behind Nell, wouldn't the perspective mean the hand and gun should be smaller?  Yet, in the drawing, they are considerably larger! Oh, well, I suppose that's just me being nit-picky!

 

This is definitely on my list of the top Zebra Mystery Puzzlers.  Loved the mystery, loved the characters, and loved the resolution.  It's just a shame this was the last offering by Miriam Lynch, meaning no more reporter Nell Willard solving murder mysteries...

 

RATING:  9 bottles of Silver Mist hair coloring out of 10 for a crafty, puzzling mystery that really does keep you guessing up until the end! 

The Desparate Game - a Guinevere Jones novel (Book 1)

The advertising for this series says, "If you like Moonlighting ... If Remington Steele turns you on,you'll love ... THE GUINEVERE JONES NOVELS."  Growing up in the '80s, I watched both of those shows and loved them.  Thus, it was pretty much a no-brainer that I was going to pick up these books.  Now, I honestly cannot recall where I first saw them - maybe it was on Amazon, or perhaps eBay.  All I do remember is that I loved the cover art and cover design, and when I read the description, I was immediately hooked.  The author, Jayne Castle, I was completely unfamiliar with; however, I have since learned that Castle is actually Jayne Ann Krentz, who has written a number of bestsellers under various pseudonyms, including Jayne Castle, Jayne Taylor, Stephanie James, Amanda Quick, and others.  This four-book series was originally published back in 1986, which explains the Moonlighting and Remington Steele references - clearly, she was cashing in on the success of those two shows and their format!

 

The Desperate Game is the first Guinevere Jones novel, introducing readers to the thirty-something business woman with coffee-brown hair that runs a pretty successful temp agency. Unfortunately for her (or fortunately, depending on your point-of-view), while temping herself as a cocktail waitress, she happens to meet Zachariah Justis, a "frog that never metamorphosed into a prince" (p. 7). She is determined to ignore his not-so playful passes until he says the magic word - "StarrTech" (p. 10).  And with that begins the hate/love relationship of Guinevere and Zac.  What starts as a matter of blackmail in order for Zac to get Guinevere to work for him turns into a heated and passionate one-night stand that leads to a deadly partnership to uncover the truth behind missing shipments of technology.  Both have secrets and both have attitudes, but in the end, they find they must put aside any feelings of distrust if they are going to stop not only a thief, but also a murderer!

 

Castle (Krentz) writes a wonderfully engaging murder mystery (even if the murder does not actually get discovered until nearly half-way through the book), and the banter between Guinevere and Zac reads so smooth and natural, it brought a smile to my face on more than one occasion.  I love Guinevere's quick wit and snarky remarks, and Zac's no-nonsense, do whatever it takes to get the job done attitude compliments her nicely.  The pair make a great team, and I could easily picture this as an '80s television hit.  And, as silly as it sounds, I like the fact that Castle did not make the two characters perfect specimens - neither are described as overly beautiful or handsome, and they both have their flaws.  It makes them considerably more real than most crime-solving duos (who, on television at least, are always portrayed as gorgeous and the ideal model-type women and men).

 

The mystery itself seems simple enough - Zac engages Guinevere to return to StarrTech where she had previously temped and try to uncover some clues as to who has been diverting shipments of expensive technology.  A number of shipments have gone missing, and no one seems to know how.  Guinevere has no desire to return to StarrTech (her previous dealings with the company were, let's just say, less than amicable), but she has no choice, as Zac knows something that could send her to jail.  So, she goes along with his plan.  She gets back in with some of the people she used to work alongside when she was there before, and learn that one of the computer programmers has not shown up for work in more than a week.  No one has heard from him, and a fellow programmer with whom he had been developing a video game is beginning to worry.  A quick trip to the missing programmer's house leads Guinevere to take a disk containing the game in development - a game that has been drastically changed, with changes that could potentially hold the key to the missing shipments!

 

While I was a bit underwhelmed with the opening chapters, feeling they moved a bit slow, I soon realized that the slow build-up made for a much better payoff at the end, as Guinevere finds herself not only getting deeper into the undercover work, but she also finds herself falling for her new "boss."  As with any couplings, the two go from hot to cold and back to hot again, as they learn to trust one another and gradually open up about their respective pasts.  The final confrontation with the thief/murderer in the company warehouse is fairly exciting - although the cover is misleading, as Guinevere does not carry a gun at any time in the story.  Also, I'm not really sure what the spider and the web in the background of the cover are all about, unless it is simply to imply the "web of lies" surrounding the investigation.  And all of the talk about computers and video games, I had to keep reminding myself that this was written in the mid-1980s, when home computers and computers in the everyday workplace were just starting to become a thing.  Reading this book was almost like stepping back in time.

 

I would say this was a solid read and a great introduction to the main characters.  We even get a couple of supporting cast members introduced that I hope will pop up in at least one or more of the other books.

 

RATING:   9 glasses of straight tequila out of 10 for a terrific tale of murder, corporate larceny, and technological intrigue that introduces a great new team of detectives!

Harlequin Gothic Romance Series No. 32017 - Shadow Over Bright Star

"The threats were ominous and none too subtle.  Jessica feared most the man she loved ..." (cover blurb)

 

This penultimate book in the Harlequin Gothic Romance line is the second, and final, entry in the series by author Irene M. Pascoe.  Her earlier book in this series, Lord of High Cliff Manor, was a great read, and like that earlier book, this one is a period piece that also features more romance that the other Harlequin Gothic novels.  While the prior book was dedicated to Pascoe's parents, this book has a dedication to her "sister, Nancy Daniels. And for Brett David, welcome to the world, little one."  This dedication, naming her sister as Nancy, confirms my suspicions from my previous blog post about the identity of Irene M. Pascoe and the fact she is one of the few authors who actually used her real name for the books.

 

Shadow Over Bright Star takes place in 1862 in the Nevada Territory, two years before Nevada actually became a state.  Our heroine, Jessica Winsor, has traveled there after receiving a returned letter informing her that her father has "died in an accident."  Upon arriving in Virginia City, she discovers that her father has a majority ownership in a silver mine that is part of the "Comstock Lode."  The problem lies in the fact that her father never told her about any partners in the mine, and she quickly learns that they knew nothing of her!  Two cousins - Derek and Brett Bonner - are now faced with the fact that a Winsor has come to claim their inheritance from the extremely successful and lucrative mine, and that this woman wants to not only claim the inheritance, but she wants to take an active role in the business!  There are plenty of shocks on both sides, but Jessica has the hardest hurdle to overcome - exactly how did her father die?  Everyone keeps telling her it was an accident, but when she finally is told that his body was found with a gun to his head and plenty of empty liquor bottles around, Jessica knows it was no accident.

 

Pascoe definitely did her research regarding the time period and the history of Virginia City. In the real world, Virginia City became a booming mining town after the 1859 Comstock Lode transformed the small town into a booming city and tourist destination.  While the book references "McGuire's Opera House" (p. 129), the real city actually boasts "Piper's Opera House."  The city today still boasts some of the original, preserved 19th century architecture and wooden sidewalks, allowing visitors to feel like they have stepped back in time to when Jessica would have walked those streets.  And like Jessica's father did in the backstory from the book, many of those early miners in the real world dug out holes in the side of the mountain, in which they lived while trying to strike it rich.  I love it when an author integrates real world history and locations into the story, as it breathes a bit more life and realism into the tale.

 

Jessica's fight to not only assert her right to her father's inheritance as the 60% owner of the silver mine, but also to take part in running the business, is the main focus of the story, but there is also the mystery of what happened to her father, who would have done such a thing, and is there someone now coming after Jessica?  Upon arrival, the hotel where Jessica is staying catches fire (starting just outside Jessica's room, nearly killing her and burning up all of her belongings, including personal photos of her father and brother!), and she barely escapes with her life.  Then, after moving in with the Bonners (at the invitation of Brett's parents, who own a small stake in the mine), a wheel comes off a carriage Jessica is driving, causing it to tip over the edge of a cliff, once again nearly killing her.  Thankfully for Jessica, third time is NOT a charm when it comes to attempts on her life, as a falling bottle of acid misses her by only inches while in the chemical laboratory at the business offices for the mining company.  It's clear someone is out to get rid of her, just as they did her father.  Is it Derek, for whom she feels a strong attraction, yet cannot make sense of his harsh attitude towards her?  Is it his cousin Brett, who has been so cordial to her, yet seems jealous of her attention to Derek?  Is it Brett's father, Seth, who is trying everything to coerce Jessica to deposit all of her newfound wealth into his bank for investing?  Is it Brett's mother, Amanda, who is super-sweet on the outside, but is clearly after only more money and power?  Or, are all of these things truly only accidents, and Jessica is making more out of them than what they are?

 

Pascoe does a great job of building the suspense, and she manages to step outside the normal Gothic tropes when it comes to the good guy/bad guy scenario.  The ultimate revelation as to who is determined to get Jessica out of the picture is not at all who I was expecting, which made it all the better to read.  Another aspect of the story I enjoyed was Pascoe's insertion of several supporting characters who added to the world created within the book, fleshing it out and making it much more believable.  First, there is the kindly Mrs. Crawford, who takes Jessica in after she is nearly killed in the fire.  Jessica visits her several times throughout the story - her visits and conversations have no ultimate bearing on the mystery, but they do give the reader a stronger sense of Jessica's character and personality.  Then, there is Julia Bulette, a woman of ... questionable ... profession who is actually a highly respected part of the community, even serving on the fire brigade (she helped put out the fire the night Jessica was nearly killed) - one again, a character that has no connection to the mystery, but she builds up the diversity of the community and the attitudes of various characters when talking about her.  There is also Sophie Tyler, the wealthiest woman in the town who provides Jessica with the truth (or, at least, what the town believes to be the truth) about how her father died.  Pascoe manages to write some very strong, powerful women into the story, which is a pleasant surprise, considering that in the 1880s, most men would have viewed women as Derek, Brett, and Seth do within the story - as the weaker sex, with no mind of their own, and no business being involved in ... well, business.

 

Not sure who provided the cover art for this book, as there is no signature and no credit given.  I do, however, absolutely love the scene, as it steps a bit away from the Gothic norm.  There is no dark mansion in the background; instead, we get a cemetery, with Jessica running through it, tightly gripping the papers (which I can only assume are the documents she brought with her to prove her identity and her right to her father's share of the mine).  The dress she is wearing, lavender with the frill, is described as one she wears in the book, having been given the dress by Julia Bulette after all of her things are burned up in the fire. I love the color and the design of the dress, and I think it blends perfectly with the stormy background.  This scene, however, never actually occurs in the story.  When Jessica does eventually visit the cemetery to see her father's grave, there is no dramatic scene that takes place there.

 

Another Harlequin Gothic that is well worth the read.  

 

RATING:  10 framed maps of the silver mines out of 10 for keeping the danger and threat-level high from beginning to end, making the book a true page-turner! 

Secret Passage - a Mystery Story for Girls

Most fans of series book will recognize the name of Betty Cavanna as the author of the 12-book Connie Blair series, written under the pen name of "Betsy Allen."  Some fans, however, know that Ms. Cavanna also wrote a number of books for children under her own name.  This particular book I chanced upon at an antique book store in Atlanta a few years back, and it has sat unread on my bookshelf alongside the Connie Blair series and a few other Betty Cavanna-authored books that I own.  Since I have read a couple of the Connie Blair mysteries (enjoying one, but not so much the other), I was curious to see whether I would enjoy a non-series book by this author.  What I found on the pages inside was not at all what I was expecting!

 

Secret Passage is more than just a mystery story for girls.  As the biographical blurb on the dust jacket back cover says, this book "has in it more fact than fiction."  Even the synopsis of the story on the inside front flap of the dust jacket does not truly prepare the reader for the story he or she is about to read.  The title and the synopsis merely gives the reader the idea that this is a historical mystery (set in 1859, just two years before the start of the Civil War) that involves a 12-year old girl, Sally, and her trip to a Virginia plantation, then her return home where she becomes enthralled with the idea of secret passages and tales of Revolutionary spies that may have used them.  While those elements are certainly a part of the story, they are only a small part of it.  The main focus of the story is the changing sentiment towards slavery during that time period and how Sally's family (both immediate and distant) is involved with it.  The story is heavy on the subject of freeing the slaves, and the manner in which the Underground Railroad worked to help get slaves away from their owners in the South and up to the free states in the North.

 

Cavanna not only sets her story in a very volatile time, but she has created characters that are drawn straight out of that era.  Sally comes from a very strict Quaker family, as shown not only in her personality, but in her somber dress (plain, solid-color dresses of gray and brown), as well as her and her family's use of "thee" and "thy" instead of "you."  Additionally, her family are strong believers that ALL men are created equal, including those of African-American descent, and Sally adheres to that belief.  This book, published back in 1946 and copyrighted in Great Britain, as well as its "dominions and possessions" according to the copyright page, and as such, the author does not shy away from referring to the slaves as "black" or "Negro," or even in some cases as "n**ger."  However, the uses do not come across as derogatory, as the Brighton family is clearly on the side of abolishing slavery, and by the end of the story, they are actively helping some of the slaves escape.  When reading the book, one must remember not only the time period in which it was published, but also the time period in which the story is set, as such terms would have been used without question at that time.

 

The story opens with 12-year old Sally traveling by herself on a train from Pennsylvania down to Virginia to visit her cousin Dorothea and Aunt Charlotte, who live on a plantation called "Carrington."  And, yes, when I saw that name, I immediately thought of Dynasty.  In fact, the description of the old plantation house would probably match in size to the Carrington home on that show.  It is while visiting there that Sally first learns of the mistreatment of slaves at a neighboring plantation, and she overhears some of her aunt's servants making plans to run away to the North.  Her trip is cut short when her father writes and informs her that she must come back home, as the family is moving from Philadelphia to Haddonfield, New Jersey - and yes, that name also made me stop, as that is the same name as the city in Illinois where the Halloween series of films is set.  Of course, nothing in this story comes even close to the terrors of those films!

 

It is not until the Brighton family is settled into their new home in Haddonfield that Sally learns of an underground tunnel beneath a nearby Inn, which is what begins her adventure that leads her to learn of the possibility of a tunnel underneath her own home.  Strange cries in the night, mysterious meetings behind their neighbor's house, and her own father's mysterious comings and goings all add to the mystery.  She eventually learns her father is involved with helping runaway slaves, and when some of the servants she met at her aunt's plantation show up in Haddonfield needing help, it is Sally who ultimately saves them from capture and gives them the chance to gain their freedom.  While the book is not really heavy on the mystery part (despite the subtitle indicating it is a mystery story), it is quite the adventure, with some tense moments here and there.

The book features illustrations by Jean MacLaughlin, who, according to the back cover bio, was an old friend of the author and who had previously done many illustrations for magazine stories.  Other than the information provided on the back cover, I was not able to find much information about Ms. MacLaughlin.  The frontis piece is a color illustration, which is simply the cover scene repurposed for an internal.  However, the remaining internals spread throughout the book are black-and-white line drawings that are heavy on detail and utilizes much line shading in each illustration.  With the exception of the very last illustration on page 207, none of the scenes depict anything exciting; rather, they are simply every day scenes from Sally's life, both at Carrington and in her new Haddonfield home.  I do have to say, however, MacLaughlin does manage to draw the characters at their correct ages given in the story (I always through those illustrations in the 1930s series books depicted 16-year old girls looking more like they were in their 20s or even 30s in some instances - so it is nice to see pictures where the characters are drawn age appropriate!).

While definitely not the story I was expecting, the book was certainly a good read and one I would recommend.

 

RATING:  9 excited black puppies named Cinder out of 10 for telling a brutally honest story of what life was like in the 1800s and mixing factual history with fictional adventure to craft a good mystery.