The Daughters of Ardmore Hall - an Ace Gothic by Dorothy Eden

This is a book that I picked up for a number of reasons:  (1) it is a gothic novel, (2) I enjoyed the last Dorothy Eden book that I read, (3) the cover art is gorgeous, and (4) the use of the word "Ardmore" in the title piqued my curiosity.  Dorothy Eden, author of Shadow of a Witch, a gothic that I read and reviewed last year, wrote quite a few gothic novels between 1940 and 1982, most under her own name (although she did write two books under the Mary Paradise pseudonym).  It is said that by the early 1980s, Eden was one of the 10 best-selling novelists in the world.  She was born in New Zealand, where she lived her entire life.  While her books are most well known as Gothic novels, they do not always follow all of the standard Gothic tropes.  This one certainly did not.

 

The Daughters of Ardmore Hall, originally titled The Schoolmaster's Daughter when it was first published back in 1946, or 1948 depending on which site you research, tells the story of two sister (and, no, they are not Mary Campbell and Jessica Tate, so don't go there!) - Charlotte Castle, the older sister, and Truda Castle, the younger one.  Truda is the main character, and it is through her perspective that the reader is told the tale of these daughters of Ardmore Hall.  What's interesting is that, despite the revised title, neither Charlotte nor Truda ever actually lived in Ardmore Hall.  In fact, of the two, only Truda ever visits the place.  As it turns out, Ardmore Hall is very tangential to the story - the Hall is actually the ancestral home of the sisters' mother, which was sold many years prior, and Mrs. Castle was forced to take all of her prized possessions and cram them into the small schoolhouse where she and her daughters now lived with Henry Castle, the school master for the small town in which they lived.  I was honestly hoping that Ardmore Hall would play a bit more of a role in the story, since the name has appeared before in other books I've read - Mildred Wirt's Ghost Gables, as well as her book Courageous Wings; in addition, Ardmore was the name of the college in the Ruth Fielding series, some of which were written by Wirt; and it was mentioned as a college attended by a character in the Madge Sterling series, also, coincidentally, written by Wirt.  Thus, with so many references to Ardmore, the title to this particular book definitely caught my attention.  All of Wirt's books appeared prior to the first publication of this story (under its original title); however, living in New Zealand, it is likely Eden's inspiration for using the name more likely came from the fact there is a large, rural town named Ardmore in New Zealand.  As for Wirt's reason in using that name so often?  Well, there are several cities in the United States by that name...

 

In any event, when reading this book, do not expect to find any gloomy mansion or large castle with hidden rooms or falling cement gargoyles.  While the cover art depicts a rather large house, the story makes it clear the house is not very big, and the furniture Mrs. Castle brought with her from Ardmore Hall makes it cramped.  From the beginning, the reader gets a clear sense of Truda's relationship based upon how each of the members of her family and close circle of friends are addressed.  Mr. Castle is referred to as "Father," while Mrs. Castle is referred to by her proper name, "Fanny."  Right away, it is obvious there is tension between Truda and her mother.  Charlotte, Truda's older sister, seems to be the focal point of all that tension - her mother dotes on her, loves her, protects her, so much that Truda is merely an afterthought, brushed aside or insulted if her actions in any way interfere with her sister's glory.  Mr. Castle, on the other hand, sees the injustice and often comes to his younger daughter's defense, as does Miss Angel, the school teacher who is a very close friend of the family.  Charlotte, with her beauty and her strong personality, demands the attention of everyone around her, and as she has matured, she has learned how to manipulate people and situations to give the appearance that she is innocent of anything other then being in the right place at the right time.  Truda sees this, but she cannot seem to help herself and repeatedly gives in to her sister's wants and demands.

 

 Until the fateful night of the big dance, when Charlotte is sick and must stay home, and Truda has a chance to go without her sister, where she meets Evan Wright.  For the first time, the world seems to be opening up and giving Truda a chance to shine and have a life of her own, apart from Charlotte.  Fate, however, has other plans.  While the synopsis on the back of the book describes how three years have passed since Evan left and Charlotte returns without a word of where she has been or what she has done, in actuality is is Truda who does the leaving, and it is actually four years that pass before Charlotte returns to the small schoolhouse.  Father has died, Truda's marriage to Evan fell apart (when she caught Evan kissing Charlotte), and Truda is raising her daughter, Honey, on her own (neither Evan nor Charlotte knows about the child).  But now Charlotte is back, and with her return (more than half-way through the book!), we finally start seeing some of those Gothic elements appear.

 

Truda meets the new town doctor, Luke, who seems to be attracted to her.  But Truda is still married to Evan, with whom she shares a child.  Charlotte, even from her sick bed, begins to shower Honey with attention, making it clear she wants to steal the child away from Truda just like she did her husband.  On the night Evan is supposed to arrive by train, a horrible storm hits.  Mrs. Castle's sister, Aunt Letty (and with that name, how could I not think of the Dana Girls' nemesis, Lettie Briggs? Thankfully, this Letty is nothing like that one!), arrives, saying she saw no sign of Evan on the train.  Mrs. Castle, Aunt Letty, Miss Angel, and Truda are all caught out in the rain and come back to the house (separately!) with muddied boots and wet clothes.  No sign of Evan.  But more odd, there is no sign of Charlotte, who everyone believes left to meet Evan on the train.  After the storm passes, Charlotte's fate is discovered - she is dead, having been forcefully drowned in a pond, formed by the rain, behind the house.  Who did it?  Evan shows up the next day, but Truda finds clues that indicate he was there the previous night.  All of the women were out, by themselves, when the storm hit, and none of them have anyone to give them an alibi.  It's actually a very well-crafted mystery, although astute readers will likely pick up on the identity of the killer pretty quickly.  I will give Eden credit for trying to play up the various suspects, but there is one that stands out as somewhat obvious, based upon that particular character's actions just prior to the murder.

 

While we do not get the typical "two men - one appears good, but is really evil, while the other seems not nice at all, but turns out to be the real hero" trope of Gothic novels, Eden does give poor Truda two men in her life (although Luke does not come into the picture until nearly three-fourths of the way into the story). There is also the small clue in Mrs. Castle's diary that raises questions in Truda's mind regarding Charlotte and why she is so important to their mother.  Throughout the entire story, it is easy to sympathize with Truda, and you quickly finding yourself rooting for her, hoping she will eventually stand up for herself and not tolerate all of the catering to Charlotte - and when she does, you will no doubt cheer like I did!

 

The cover art to my copy of the book was painted by Harry Barton (1908 - 2001), whose illustrations can be found in a number of old magazine and pulps.  His largest body of work, however, are found on the covers of books published by a number of recognizable publishing houses, such as Dell, Ace, Dial Press, and others.  This particular cover shows Truda, with the wind blowing against her (obviously just before the storm hits on that fateful night), and the house behind her with just one light on in an upstairs window (typical Gothic fare). While not completely accurate as far as the house goes, the scene appears to be straight from the opening two pages of the book, where Truda is contemplating what has happened and her mind prepares to go over everything that led up to that moment (and thus, the entire story from that point is a flashback).  What is interesting about this cover is that the copy with the glossy gold lettering has Truda heading to the right, looking back over her shoulder to the left; however, there is another copy of the book with plain white lettering which features the art reversed - or so I thought!  It turns out, by looking at Barton's signature on the painting, it is the one with the white lettering that shows the art in its original form, and it is the cover of my copy that has the reversed art (as Barton's signature appears backwards in the lower right corner).   There is yet another edition of the book which features a completely different cover, the artist of which I am unsure, since there is no signature on the cover art.  That cover (shown up above in this post) departs even further from the description of the house, making it more of a castle, and it shows one sister holding tightly to a man (presumably Evan), while the other sister stands back in the mist watching.  Honestly, I think I prefer Barton's cover better, as it not only depicts an actual scene from the book, but it definitely has a stronger Gothic feel to it.

 

Although it is not a typical Gothic tale, I did really enjoy the story (relating somewhat to Truda's position, not with regard to my parents, but with regard to my grandmother).  This book confirms my like of Dorothy Eden's work, and I need to track down more of her stories.

 

RATING:  9 fair daffodils out of 10 for family drama, dark secrets, soap opera reveals, and a good, old-fashioned murder mystery worth reading!

Shadow of a Witch - an Ace Gothic by Dorothy Eden

Not gonna lie - I picked this book up mainly for the cover art.  Sure, it's a gothic mystery, so that, in and of itself, is appealing to me.  But for this particular book, it was the cover that that attracted me to it.  Yes, it has the standard gothic trope - a woman running in the foreground, looking back at a dark, foreboding castle/mansion with just one light in an upper window, shining out against the darkened sky.  But it is the young woman that caught my eye - her facial expression, her hand coming up to her mouth, her eyes ... quite frankly, I would swear the art is done by Hector Garrido, who provided very similar art on the cover to the 75th Nancy Drew Mystery, The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery.  But, more on that later...

Shadow of a Witch is the first gothic novel I've ready by author Dorothy Eden.  And if the rest of her books are anything like this, it definitely won't be the last.  While the story was a bit slow in getting started, once it did, it had me hook, line, and sinker!  The protagonist is a young woman - Julia French - who is determined to land an interview with the elusive architect, Mark Winterton, who has completed work on the restoration of an old church.  Winterton is known for his aloofness and his unwillingness to discuss his private life after the death of his wife in a plane crash some time ago.  Julia has no intention of falling for the man, particularly after seeing him with his daughter and a woman she wrongfully assumes to be his wife (but who turns out to only be taking care of the daughter). But, in true gothic fashion, fall for him she does, and soon enough, he falls for her, and the two are married - and that's when all the problems begin.

Eden writes a tale with a number of twists and turns (and, surprisingly, several different points of view).  While Julia is the main focus of the story, Eden also provides moments from the point of view of Estelle, the woman taking care of Winterton's young daughter, Flora, and who also happens to be vying for Winterton's attentions.  But her motives are less than pure, as Julia soon discovers when she overhears a conversation between Estelle and a woman named Beryl.  We also get a few brief moments from Beryl's point of view, as well as that of Estelle's aunt, Gertrude.  Yet, despite the differing points-of-view, the story flows smoothly, and the tension builds as the mystery presents itself.  Young Flora is nearly run down by a car when she thinks she sees her mother alive and well across the street, beckoning for her.  Winterton is upset by his daughter's actions, and Winterton's older sister, Kate, who lives with them, believes Flora is merely still trying to process her mother being gone and her father taking a new wife.  All too soon, though, there is real concern that Eugenie Winterton is still alive, in which case, Julia's marriage would be a legal nullity!

The only drawback to the story is that Eden reveals too much early on.  Any astute reader (and perhaps even some not-so-astute readers) will be able to spot the devious plot that is being hatched as soon as it begins.  I think if Eden had avoided giving readers the scenes from Estelle's, Beryl's, and Gertrude's points-of-view, it might have made the revelation at the end a lot more exciting than what it was.  Yes, it was fun to read along with Julia as she slowly pieces together the parts of the puzzle, and I found myself rooting for her to realize who the real villain was before she walked into his trap.  Thus, even though the scheme was obvious way too soon, I still enjoyed the read.  Eden made Julia French into not only a very likable character, but also an almost Nancy Drew-like protagonist.  Which brings me to the cover art for this edition of the book (yes, there are other editions that have different cover art).

Sadly, the publisher does not identify the artist, and nothing I could find online revealed the name of the artist; however, the face, the post, the positioning of the hand, the opened mouth, all of these things combined, particularly when compared to Hector Garrido's other art (especially on The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery) leads me to believe Garrido may very well have provided the painted art for the book.  At the very least, it is evident the same modeling photo was used for both books, albeit in mirrored images.  But I definitely prefer the art on Shadow of a Witch better - it has a darker mood to it, the castle/mansion in the background reflects a much more gothic architecture, and for some reason, those tree branches right behind Julia as she runs from the castle really strike a frightening chord.  It is funny, though, that this scene depicted on the cover never actually takes place anywhere in the story.  For that matter, there is no "witch" in the story at all - about the closest we get to any reference is when Kate refers to her brother's deceased wife as a witch, in a figurative sense, not in the literal sense.  I can only assume the title stems from the fact that poor Julia is living in the shadow of her new husband's deceased wife, who was not a very nice person at all.

Overall, I enjoyed this read, and I look forward to reading more of Eden's works.  Hopefully they stand up as well as this one does!

RATING:  8 delicious chocolate eclairs out of 10 for tension-filled tale with a number of twists and turns that, while not totally unexpected, do make for a great read!

The Scent of Lilacs - from Ace, First in Gothics

As I have gotten more interested in the gothic paperbacks of the '60s and '70s, I find myself learning more and more about the publishers, the authors, the cover art, and the stories themselves.  It has been a great deal of fun delving into this world - ever since I watched my first Dark Shadows episode back in the 1980s (yes, I watched it in reruns - not old enough to have watched it when it first came out!), I've been hooked on gothic!  This book is a recent purchase, made because the vintage gothic group I belong to on Facebook (Vintage Gothic & Romance Paperbacks) has had some posts about how Ace publishing had helped sweep in the whole "gothic" phase of those decades, going so far as to label itself "first in gothics" on the cover of their books.  So, when I spotted a book at my local used bookstore with that tag line, I figured I had to pick it up.  I am SO glad I did!

The Scent of Lilacs may sport many of the standard gothic tropes - a young woman is brought home by her new, wealthy husband to the family home, only to discover the foreboding mansion is filled with dark secrets and people who may want to kill her - as well as a possible ghost haunted the halls!  But, it also provides readers with a truly wonderful little mystery to solve - just what really did happen to her new brother-in-law's wife, who supposedly died of a heart attack years ago?  Rumors abound within the small town of Cedar Falls, and there is talk that when she died, there was a lingering scent of lilacs in her room, and her ghost now roams the halls of the old estate.  As Laura Wainwright begins to suspect something is not right in her new home, she begins to go all "Nancy Drew" and start looking into the mystery of Deirdre Wainwright!

Quite honestly, I could not put this book down.  Once I started it, I found myself turning page after page, chapter after chapter, just dying (no pun intended!) to know what was going to happen next!  Here we start off with a very happy Laura Wainright, returning from her two-week honeymoon with the older and super-handsome Dr. Richard Wainwright, ready to begin her new life in her new home, alongside her toddler son from her first marriage (her first husband died tragically, which is why she returned to Cedar Falls in the first place).  But readers get the sense from the very first chapter that things will not go well for Laura - she arrives home in torrential downpour (always a portent of things to come), and learns from her husband that his family has issues - his brother Miles is still reeling from the death of his beloved wife, having spent a year in a mental hospital after she passed away; his sister Lydia has quite the attitude, not always welcoming to newcomers; and his sister Abby takes care of the house and family, likely the only normal one of the bunch.  

It's not long before things really do start to happen. Laura receives a note warning her it's not too late to get out.  Then she overhears the sisters debating about whether Laura married Richard for his money and how long she would last. Then the chandelier in her bedroom falls from the ceiling, missing her by mere inches.  Then she finds the typewriter in the attic that has the same type as that of the note she received.  Then she discovers the closed off chimney that leads down to a wall in her own room!  Then someone tries to chloroform her, nearly pushing her to her death off the balcony.  Then her young son disappears.   And there is that lingering scent of lilacs ... and the mysterious woman in white, with long dark hair ... and even more important, why does her own husband refuse to believe anything she tells him?   I have to give the author credit, because just when I thought I had it all figured out, BAM!  An unexpected curve is thrown into the story, and the real evil is revealed to come from the unlikeliest of sources!

Carolyn Wilson is identified as the author of this book, but quite frankly, I'm not sure if this is a real person or simply a pseudonym.  I can find no other gothic books written by a "Carolyn Wilson," and while I do find a mystery titled For Your Love written by a Carolyn Wilson, I don't believe it is the same person.  I would definitely love to know the author's true identity, as she crafted a wonderfully suspenseful tale with a fairly strong lead character. The story reads in the same way a Nancy Drew mystery does - the chapter cliffhangers, the slowly revealed clues, the determination of the lead character, and the climactic face-off between the protagonist and the villain.  Since this book was published in 1966, some 30-plus years after the Nancy Drew series began, it stands to reason the author could have been influenced by the sometimes-gothic stories of the Nancy Drew mysteries, providing inspiration while writing this one.  (And, c'mon - "Carolyn" Wilson v. "Carolyn" Keene ... The Scent of Lilacs v. The Mystery at Lilac Inn ... the cover to this Ace edition even bears a strong resemblance to the Rudy Nappi cover to the Nancy Drew title [the lilac bushes, the glowing woman, the house in the background] ... need I say more?)

 

As a quick side note, I did have to smile when Laura visited the "Ferncliff" Children's Home with her mother - "Ferncliff" is also the name of a sanitarium in the daytime soap, General Hospital, and I've seen that hospital numerous times on the show.  To see a children's home with the same name definitely made me chuckle.

This book is definitely one of the better gothics that I've read, and I'd highly recommend it not only to fans of gothic fiction, but also just mystery fans in general.

RATING:  9 unfinished letters at the back of a closet shelf out of 10 for a truly suspenseful, well-written gothic mystery very much worth the read!