A Rather Charming Invitation - third in a series of "Rather" mysteries

I did not even realize it had been nearly eight months since I read the previous book in this series, so it was definitely time to delve back into the world of Penny Nichols and her ever-so-charming fiance, Jeremy Laidley. I absolutely love these characters - not just because the title character shares the name of a vintage sleuth written by Mildred Wirt Benson (under the pseudonym Joan Clark), but also because Penny and Jeremy truly come alive on the page.  Their banter, their reactions, their choices - they are all filled with every normal human trait that we experience in real life - humor, fear, tenderness, anger, love, and pretty much every other emotion.  Author C.A. Belmont truly draws you into their lives and adventures, making each of these books a true page-turner that you literally cannot put down until you finish!

 

A Rather Charming Invitation takes readers on a wild ride leading up to Penny and Jeremy's wedding day.  (Which is rather amusing, since the most recent Posie Parker mystery I read also involved the main couple facing adventure and mystery leading up to their wedding day!)  It all starts with the surprise visit from a French cousin that Penny never knew she had.  It seems there is a whole side to her father's family of whom she had been unaware - until now.  With the arrival of Honorine, Penny's world widens all that much larger, as she comes to meet her very prim and proper aunt Leonora, her somewhat more relaxed uncle Phillipe, and her all-business cousin, David.  Much to her dismay, she quickly learns that her aunt expects her to have her wedding to Jeremy at their chateau - and Leonora even "allows" Penny to use a rather elaborate bridal tapestry for the backdrop of her wedding.  But who said she even wanted it?  Well, the more Penny studies the antique tapestry, the more she realizes there is more to it than anyone realizes.  The intricate designs, the exquisite details, and the beautiful images all form a rather unique message ... and more than that, they hide a map to a long-lost dowry that could change all of their lives!

 

Belmond takes Penny and Jeremy all over Europe in this adventure, as they travel from London to Mougins to Antibes to Paris to Grasse to Lake Geneva to Monte Carlo - so many cities, so many clues to follow up on, so much adventure, so much danger - so much fun!  Despite the trouble between the families (Jeremy's English relatives want the wedding in London their way, Penny's French relatives want the wedding in France their way, and Jeremy thinks they should just elope and avoid it all!), Penny and Jeremy manage to keep up the usual banter that will make the reader smile.  And while the mystery surrounding the tapestry and all the danger that comes with it once the tapestry is stolen and Penny learns the true message it holds, Belmond never lets the readers forget that Penny and Jeremy have a wedding to plan.  The question is - will they ever actually find time to sit down and plan it?  For that matter, does Penny even really want a wedding?

 

I enjoyed the fact that Belmond did not make it obvious from the get-go just what was so important about the tapestry.  It was obvious there was going to be some sort of secret it held, particularly once it is stolen.  For Penny's relatives, it is the historical significance and its potential high value if it were to be sold that made them so determined to get it back.  For Penny, it was simply her natural curiosity about the man who wove the tapestry and the history surrounding its creation.  But for someone, the tapestry held the clue that could lead them to a long-lost treasure that could be worth more than anything else in the world.

 

It is fun to see some of the previously introduced supporting cast make their appearances - even cousin Rollo seems to have turned over a new leaf - well, a little bit, at least.  Penny's parents are always a hoot, and Jeremy's mother and her beau (a clockmaker named Guy) are quirky in their own ways.  Even Penny's former co-workers, Erik and Tim, put in an appearance to help with the wedding plans.  But it is the introduction of Penny's French relatives and Jeremy's stern and controlling grandmother who really take center-stage in this book, and they help Penny grow as a character as she must find ways to not only satisfy both sides of the family, but to also stand up to them and not allow them to take control of a day that is meant to be hers and Jeremy's.  I think every reader will be thrilled with the final wedding adventure - oh, and believe me, it is an adventure!  It's the kind of wedding that middle-class people like us could only dream about, but the multi-million dollar American heiress who is living in London can afford to get married in style, and boy, does she!

 

The one new character that really packs a punch in this story is Parker Drake - an obscenely wealthy collector who is so crazy rich that his parties are the ones anyone who is anyone are dying to get invited to - and only so few are chosen!  Well, as fate would have it, Penny and Jeremy just have to get into one of his parties to follow up on a clue regarding the missing tapestry.  Needless to say, they manage to worm their way into some tickets, and they sneak onto the Drake property and manage to connive their way into a yacht party for some deadly snooping and tricks that nearly cost them their lives!

 

At more than 400 pages, this mystery is quite lengthy; yet, it is so engaging from the very first page, that it won't take long for you to work your way through it (I finished it in two days, I just could not put it down!).  The only sad thing about the book is the fact that this is the next to the last book in the series.  Book four concludes the adventures of Penny Nichols and Jeremy Laidley, and I do not look forward to seeing their sleuthing tales come to an end!

 

RATING:  10 gold Lunaire coins out of 10 for keeping the romance, mystery, adventure, suspense, and danger all so equally balanced as to make for superb reading! 

Marriage is Murder - A Posie Parker Mystery, Book 9

I did not realize it has been over a year since I read my last Posie Parker mystery.  I love this 1920s female sleuth, who shares the same last name as Mildred Wirt's teenage detective from the 1940s and whose name is the reverse of a certain American actress of today.  Author L.B. Hathaway has crafted a world and characters that draw you into the story so easily, and murder mysteries that will keep you guessing right up to the end!  The world Hathaway describes is so vibrant and real, it is so easy to picture in your mind, and the characters are so distinctive and well-rounded, that you cannot help but love or hate them (depending on what the story calls for).  When I got this ninth book in the series from Amazon, I will admit I was surprised at how thin it was - I did not realize when I purchased it that it was simply a novella - a short story that tells the story of how Posie Parker and Scotland Yard's own Richard Lovelace finally tie the knot.  But, of course there are some complications along the way...

 

Marriage is Murder?, and yes the question mark is a part of the title, is only 66 pages in length, but it sure packs a lot into those 66 pages!  It opens with what is supposed to be the most magnificent day of Posie Parker's life. With two previous fiances left behind, Posie is absolutely sure that Richard Lovelace is the one.  After all the dangers they have faced together solving quite a few murder mysteries, and now that they are adopting Katie, the little baby left behind with no family but Posie and Richard, there can be no doubt that the finest that Scotland Yard has to offer is the man who will finally become her husband. So, why, then, is she so nervous?  Is it simply pre-wedding jitters?  Or is a premonition that even the best laid plans never go off without a hitch.  And boy, is there a hitch or two (or three, or even four!) this time!

 

First, the flowers are wrong.  Posie arrives at the church to find yellow mimosa all over the place, instead of all of the white roses she had ordered and paid for herself.  Where did her flowers go, and who replaced them?  Then, who is that minister standing at the altar?  That's not Father Rene Hoffman, the French-speaking reverend who Posie and Richard had specifically hired for their ceremony.  And what in the world was that persistent knocking noise, that seemed to come from somewhere behind the minister?  And more important than any of those things, where in the world was Richard Lovelace?

 

It seems the mystery is one of a missing person.  Until they hear the faint cry for help from behind the wall in the cupboard.  Until the telephone call the Chief Inspector takes that provides a riddle as to Richard's whereabouts.  Until Posie goes racing off to find her betrothed, unaware of the guns being fired into the church sanctuary.  Until Posie arrives at Scotland Yard to find it completely empty - not just of law enforcement, but of all the criminals where supposed to be locked in their cells.  Until Posie discovers she has been tricked, led into a deadly game of cat and mouse.  Until she finally comes face-to-face with an old enemy, one she thought long dead - one who intends to make her his own wife and take her far away from England and the man that she loves. And that is when Posie does something she thought she would never have to do.  What is that, you ask?  Well, you really don't think I'm going to tell you and spoil it!

 

The story is a fun-filled romp from the blessed halls of God's house to the filthy boardwalk along the wharfs, with Posie running here and there and everywhere in her beautiful wedding down and veil.  Oh, and yes, this is the dead of winter, so it's freezing outside, snow on the ground, and a harsh snowfall raining from the sky.  As if things could not get any worse for poor Posie.  It's a thoroughly enjoyable read that flies by way too quickly.  It's a good thing I found a number of the remaining books in this series at my local used bookstore, because now I do not have to wait to receive them from Amazon in order to read the next book - I already have it in hand!

 

If you are not reading this series, you should.  You must!  Hathaway is an amazing author, her mysteries are perfectly plotted, and Posie Parker is definitely one of the finest female detectives out there - right up there next to Miss Marple and Nancy Drew!

 

RATING:  10 cases of mistaken identity out of 10 for a wonderful winter wedding murder mystery well worth the read! 

Jennings Follows a Clue - Second in the series of Jennings Books

This is one of those books I had a friend pick up on a lark, and it turned out to be surprising in a number of ways.  The title sounded like a fun read, and since the publisher was Collins, I knew it was a British book.  However, I was completely unaware that this was actually the second book in an on-going series of tales about a precious young boy named J.C.T. (John Christopher Timothy) Jennings and his best friend, C.E.J. (Charles Edwin Jeremy) Darbishire, who are students at the Linbury Court preparatory school.  The series is authored by Anthony Buckeridge (1912-2004), a British author who is best known for this series, as well as another about another schoolboy named Rex Milligan.  The Jenning series lasted for a total of 24 books, with the first book (Jennings Goes to School) being published in 1950, and the final book (That's Jennings) being published 44 years later in 1994.

 

As I began reading Jennings Follows a Clue, I began to wonder if this be a book a simply read and passed on, as it was not overly exciting.  It begins as simply another book about boys at a prep school and their misadventures as they look for ways to have fun and try desperately to avoid any kind of school work whatsoever.  Jennings and his cohort, Darbishire, are some extremely imaginative children, whether it be playing cops and robbers, spies and thieves, cowboys and Indians, or any other made up adventure.  When Jennings gets a little too rambunctious as a gyro-copter and knocks into Mr. Carter, the teach takes it upon himself to introduce Jennings and a couple of other students to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, reading aloud tales of the great detective.  Little does he know that the reading of this book inspires young Jennings to open up his own detective agency at the school, enlisting Darbishire as his very own "Watson."  Now, if they could only find a real mystery to solve...

 

 While the book has a slow start to it, the reader quickly begins to realize the story is more than just a tale of boys' life at a prep school - it is almost an Airplane! or Naked Gun or Scary Movie version of boys' life.  The number of crazy circumstances, the number of bumbling comedy of errors, and the number of Abbott-and-Costello-like dialogue exchanges will more than make you smile, and pretty often make you giggle and laugh out loud.  Jennings and Darbishire are right there at the middle of everything, and despite all of their best intentions, their over-active imaginations lead them into one big mess after another.  The Headmaster, Mr. Carter, and Mr. Wilkins all attempt to reign the boy in, but with Jennings, there is simply no controlling the boy!  He is determined to be a detective, and with Darbishire at his side, the Linbury Court Detective Agency (or Ln. Ct. Det. Ag., for short) is going to solve every mystery the school has to offer - and as luck would have it, one does fall right into their laps, even if no one believes them.

 

The boys make their share of mistakes trying to find a mystery, but when they spot the shadow of a man in the infirmary late at night, when no one is supposed to be there, they believe they are on to something.  They keep their suspicions under wraps, Jennings determined to get real evidence of a thief before they present it to the Headmaster; and with the big Sports Day games coming up, the Ln. Ct. Det. Ag. have very little free time to devote to their detecting.  One fateful night, they chance to see the intruder again, so they sneak over to the infirmary to catch the man in the act - only, the tables get turned, and they are the ones caught instead - locked inside a room while the thief gets away!  At first, the Headmaster does not believe their story, until they return to the school and find that someone has stolen all of the boys' Sports Day trophies from the library!  The game is now afoot, and unwittingly (or, perhaps we should say, dimwittedly!), Jennings and Darbishire follow up on their one clue - a button torn from the thief's shirt - to track down and ultimately unmask the crook.  (And if you pay attention while reading the book, you'll be able to spot the thief fairly easily - but blink, and you might miss it!)

 

Now, there are some things worth mentioning about the story, particularly the time of year.  On the very first page of the first chapter, the author describes "the grumbling February sky" (p. 9), yet, just before that, indicates that this takes place "[d]uring the first half of the Easter term" (p. 9).  This seems rather odd, since Easter normally takes place between March 22 and April 25, and it never falls in February.  So, perhaps the reference to "Easter term" is actually just another way of describing the "Spring term" for the school?  Next, the author makes a passing reference to "Dick Barton" (p. 50), when Jennings suggests to Darbishire that they will hail the next car and ask the driver to follow the one they are chasing, because "[t]hat's what 'Dick Baron' does anyway, and it always works" (p. 50).  I looked it up, and it seems Dick Barton was a radio-serial about a special agent that used to be broadcast on the BBC between 1946 and 1951 - and since this book was first published in 1951, it would have been right around the time that serial was coming to an end (but clearly, young boys like Jennings and Darbishire would still have listened to the stories and be familiar with the character).

 

In addition, readers get a brief lesson in Latin, when the boys are in class, using the pronouns hic, haec, hoc as sound effects for their imaginary plane battle - which comes to an abrupt end when the teacher enters the room, albeit Jennings misses the queue and keeps his "gun" firing:  "Hic-haec-hoc ... hic-haec-hoc ... hic-haec-hoc ... B-A-N-G!" (p. 181).   They jokingly utilize  the feminine ablative, accusative singular, genitive plural, and other variations of the words in their battle, naming their conjugations as they bleat them out in their fantasy battle.  I found this to be an ingenuious way of the author to insert a bit of actual learning into the story.

 

I am not sure who did the cover art  for this edition, but it is a beautiful, wrap-around scene that depicts the opening sequence, when Jennings and Darbishire are attempting to play a quiet game of chess while all the other boys in their grade (or "form," as it is referred to in the book) are wildly engaged in noisy activities, one of which sends a boxing glove right into the chessboard, knocking over all of our main characters' pieces.

 

While I ultimately enjoyed the story, and found a number of conversations to be very much along the lines of the 1980s and 1990s parody films, I am unlikely to search out any other books in the series.  A quick glance at the list of books on the back inside flap of the dust jacket reveals that this book appears to be the only one with any sort of mystery to it. All of the other books appear to be simply tales of Jennings' life at the boarding school and the various misadventures he and Darbishire find themselves in time and time again.  These are not my typical reading material, and so this is just a one-off that will find itself on my shelf of British children's books, never to have any of the other books in its series around it.

 

RATING:  7 Grossman Cine Camera de Luxes out of 10 for a slapstick style misadventure filled with plenty of misunderstandings, crack comments, and a touch of mystery. 

 

The Fortune Hunters - A Bantam Gothic Novel

This is a couple of "firsts" for me when it comes to reading Gothic novels.  It is my first Bantam Gothic Novel that I've read, and it is also the first Gothic I've read by author Joan Aiken (1904 - 2004).  Unlike many Gothic authors, Aiken is actually the author's real name.  An English author, Aiken wrote more than 100 books in a variety of genres, although many were children's books and Gothic thrillers.  According to Elsa Radcliffe's annotated bibliography of Gothic novels, Aiken enjoyed writing, and that she admitted "[t]hinking back over my children's books and my adult thrillers ... I honestly can't recall difference in the writing process ..." (cited from Contemporary Authors, Vol. 9-10, p. 14).  In that aspect, I have to wonder if that is why I have grown to love these Gothic novels so much - to a certain degree, they follow a number of the same patterns as children's mysteries (well, the mysteries of yester-year, at least...).

 

The Fortune Hunters was originally published by Doubleday in 1965, and this Bantam Gothic Novel edition was published a year later in 1966. Set in a small fictional town of Crowbridge, along the coast of England, the story centers around young Annette Sheldon, the editor of the Eyewitness magazine who has purchased a small bungalow in the tiny village, so that she can get away from it all and recover from a debilitating illness that has left her completely drained.  Not to mention, the time away will give her time to come to terms with her father's death, as well as her recent windfall of winning 500,000 pounds (which would equate to over 12,000,000 pounds in today's value!).  While she comes to Crowbridge with high hopes, her ideal getaway turns into a nightmare of unseen terrors, as the front cover blurb cries out!

 

The story is a bit convoluted in the beginning, with a lot of disjointed information being throw at the reader without much explanation (but, give it time, as Aiken eventually gets around to explaining everything by the end).  One of the big questions is this windfall that Annette "wins."  At first, I thought it might be the inheritance from her deceased father, but she keeps referring to "winning" the money - and eventually, it is revealed that is is from a football pool (p. 51).  I have to say, that's quite a huge sum of money to win from a simple football pool, but who's to say how big they get over in England?  Another unexplained happening involves Annette suddenly forgetting things that have just happened.  The book opens with Annette driving to Crowbridge during a dark and rainy night, when she picks up an elderly woman with her wheelchair bound ward - and unexpectedly, the bundled up ward reaches out and begins to choke Annette!  After dropping them off, when she reaches her cottage, she has no memory of the woman or being choked!  A few more instances of sudden amnesia occur throughout the story before it is finally revealed that she has been suffering these blackouts since her illness.  (As one might expect, poor Annette has a blackout near the end of the book, which makes her, and I'm supposing the reader is expected to as well, believe that she has killed someone during the time she cannot remember!)

 

Aiken introduces a number of quirky characters.  Joanna is the self-absorbed false friend who is the editor of a sister magazine, and who has taken over duties of editing Annette's magazine while she is recuperating.  It is pretty clear from the beginning that she is not looking out for her friend's best interests.  Philip is Annette's ex-fiance, who turns out to now be engaged to Joanna for reasons Annette cannot fathom.  Crispin James is the famous artist who has only recently moved back to Crowbridge, and who happens to be Joanna's cousin - giving Annette (a budding artist herself) the opportunity to meet the man.  Noel Hanaker is the archaeologist from New Zealand who is excavating some old ruins in the area, and who is also vying with Crispin for Annette's attention.  Mrs. Kundry is the elderly next door neighbor who is a bit of a recluse, who knew the previous owner of Annette's home (the previous owner being Joanna's deceased aunt) and seems very nervous and withdrawn most of the time.  Mrs. Fairhall is the housekeeper that came with Annette's new home, and she seems overly fussy about making sure Annette gets her complete and necessary rest so that her health with improve.  With so many differing characters, it is hard at the beginning to see where the story is going to go.

 

Eventually, the Gothic elements start to creep in, as we get more dark storms, shadowy figures in Annette's back yard garden, a collapsing chunk of a castle wall, a misty bog that holds unseen dangers, and a sinister plot to steal Annette's fortune - a plot that leads to multiple deaths and a house set on fire with Annette still inside!  The further one gets into the story, the more the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together, and the reader is left to wonder how Annette herself cannot see what is going on about her. 

 

The cover art (which I was beginning to wonder if the scene even existed within the story!) actually does appear eventually, when Noel takes Annette to visit the ruins of Poyns Castle (pp. 51-53) and a thick mist settles over the grounds, leaving it difficult for them to see anything.  When the pup Noel gave Annette disappears, the two separate to search for him.  As with many Gothic covers, there is no signature to identify the artist, and no credit given within the book.  I do love the cover art, even though you can't see Annette's face at all, as she is looking back at the opened door to the castle.  We do not get the typical "light in the upper floor window," but instead, a crumbling castle that seems so lonely and desolate in the green mist, with that front door half-opened, as if beckoning you to come in to whatever horrors wait inside!

 

One thing I thought rather humorous was Noel and Annette's discussion of a "violent pink comic called 'Spiffer' which, it seemed, had circulated in New Zealand too" (p. 61).  The two reminisce about characters they read about, such as Plato and Tato, the Galloping Greeks; Whizzbank Wilkins, the Wacky Wizard; boys who drove a tracker down Mount Vesuvius; and the prehistoric animals that appeared in so many of the stories.  Britian used to boast a number of weekly or monthly magazines aimed at boys and girls (such as The Boys' Owne Paper, Schoolgirl, Hotspur, Girls' Friend, and numerous others) - but I found no reference to a real comic called "Spiffer" - which is a shame, as I would love to have found some with stories about that crazy named characters Aiken has them reference in this discussion.

 

While the book gets off to a rather peculiar and awkward start, it does build momentum, and as it raced to the conclusion, I admit I got caught up in what was going to happen and could not put it down until I finished the story!  Thus, I would have to say it was worth the read.

 

RATING:  8 bodies found in a pear tree out of 10 for stretching the Gothic tropes beyond dark, foreboding mansions and giving our heroine dangers to face from pretty much all directions! 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #28 - Who Killed Me?

There are several important things to point out about this Zebra Mystery Puzzler, the 28th in this series of murder mysteries that allows the reader the opportunity to solve the crime before opening that final, sealed chapter.  First, this is the final book in the series to sport a full-cover painted scene.  The format of the cover changed with the next book in the series, reducing the cover art to a small circle inside a magnifying glass (thus, limiting the amount of space for the cover art to provide a clue to the crime).  Second, this is the first book in the series authored by Joan Allan (more on the author below), and the first to feature advertising account executive-turned-sleuth Valerie Lambert.  Third, it offers up what turns out to be a very well-crafted mystery, with clues so subtle you do not even notice them until they are pointed out at the end!

 

Who Killed Me? is taken directly from the note that is found on the dead body of  Nelson Bishop, an up-and-coming executive in the Associated Cosmetics company who has managed to make an enemy of pretty much everyone who knew him.  Thus, the question printed out on the back of a theater ticket and left on his corpse for the police to find is most appropriate.  The suspects include pretty much everyone who is involved in the photo shoot for the ad campaign for the company's new line of cosmetics named after the actress, Meri Milton.  Now, it is up to Valerie Lambert (whose name is included on that ticket, indicating the police should ask her who did it) to figure out which one of the likely suspects actually did the deed.

 

Something that came across as too unrealistic is how quickly Inspector Haverstock was willing to allow Valerie to become a part of the investigation.  Now, any real police detective who has a dead body with a note that specifically identifies one person on it would NOT partner with the person to find the murderer, but would more likely take that person as a suspect until evidence would show otherwise.  (And, yes, evidence does clear Valerie by the next day, since she was having dinner with the commercial director that night, then took a taxi back to her hotel at the time the murder took place - but still, that inspector did not know this when he agrees to let Valerie help with the investigation!).  Putting that aside, though, it is only through Valerie's persistence that the real murderer is revealed.

 

Allan gives readers a truly puzzling mystery with this one.  The knife used to kill Bishop is a left-handed knife (with the grooves on the handle made specifically for a left-handed person).  The note left on the body is written on the back side of an unused theater ticket and written with specialty ink.  The rare button missing from his suit jacket was cut off, not torn.  And there just happens to be a specialty store in London that sells only items for left-handed people.  And there is a shop in London that specializes in the kind of ink and pen used to write the note.  And an antique store in the area happens to reveal that someone Valerie knows purchased a set of those exact buttons not long ago - a set that was short one.  All of these clues lead directly to one specific suspect, all nice and tidy.  And when that suspect winds up dead, an apparent suicide by jumping off a bridge into the frigid waters of the river below. the Inspector is sure the case is resolved.  Valerie, however, is not satisfied.  It is all too convenient.

 

The clues to this crime are so very subtle, I was getting frustrated by the time I reached that final chapter trying to figure out whodunnit.  I took a stab in the dark based on the idea that the least likely suspect will turn out to be the killer - and boy, was I wrong!  When Valerie unmasks the killer at a party she hosts in her lavish hotel room (very Agatha Christie-like!), and she starts walking Inspector Haverstock through all the clues that led her to the realization of the killer's identity, I could only shake my head.  Sure enough, the clues were there - on the cover, in several of the illustrations, and in the story; but my keen eyes simply glossed over them and did not pick them up for what they were.  Which, in my book, made this a SUPERB story!  While I do enjoy being able to figure out who the killer is before the end, sometimes it is nice to be taken completely off-guard, especially when the author points out that all the clues were there if I had simply paid closer attention along the way.  So, kudos to Allan and the publisher for making this one so crafty! 

 

As with a number of the books in this series, there is no identification of the artist for either the cover or the interior illustrations.  While I do love both, as the artwork is beautifully rendered, I am disappointed that the publisher failed to give the artist a proper description for Valerie Lambert.  In the book, she has "long ash blond hair that spilled over her shoulders" (p. 6); yet, on the cover, she clearly has a dark, reddish-brown hair, and on the only internal in which Valerie is seen (p. 58), she is again depicted with dark colored hair.  I realize this is being a bit nit picky, but I do not think it can be that difficult for an artist to be given an accurate description of the main character in a book!  That being said, I love the internal artist's depiction of actress Meri Milton on page 17 - very "Marlene Deitrich" in appearance and pose.

 

"Joan Allan" wrote only three books in this series - this one, volume 33 (Who's Next?) and volume 47 (Who's on First?).  I can find absolutely nothing about this author anywhere, other than the fact that she (he?) wrote the three books in this series.  There is something in the front of the book, however, that raises a question as to the author's identity - on the copyright page, there is a dedication to "Marjorie, Martin and Geoffrey Eric Grove."  As fans of this series might recall, Marjorie Grove is the named author of a number of books starring Maxine Reynolds - but "Marjorie Grove" is actually Martin A. Grove (and there was a sly reference in the first book in this series to Martin Grove, his wife Marjorie, and their son, Geoffrey!).  Thus, is "Joan Allan" simply another pseudonym for Grove, allowing him to create another sleuth for this series? Or is "Joan Allan" someone who knows the real Grove family, and gave a nod to them, perhaps as a word of thanks for helping him or her get their work published in this series?

 

A couple of things worth pointing out from this book.  The author elects to avoid the "555" telephone exchange when giving numbers in the book; instead, the author puts forth potentially real numbers:  "836-4343" as the number to call for Valerie Lambert (p. 34); and "286-6010" as the number of the taxi service (p. 41).  I wonder how many people, back in the day, called those numbers just to see who would answer!  The other item of interest is the reference to the exchange rate between the United States and England.  The shopkeeper informed Valerie the cost will be "two pounds sixty-six" (p. 102), to which Valerie quickly figures out the American equivalent would be "$5.32" (p. 103).  According to what I could find online for 1979, the exchange rate was 0.4713 British pound to one American dollar.  A quick search online shows the exchange would have been closer to $5.64 in American dollars; however, the rate fluctuates, so at any given time, depending on when the book was actually written, that exchange rate given in the story could have been accurate.

 

Overall, a really great read, and I look forward to Allan's other two books in this series!

 

RATING:  10 stubbed out cigarette butts out of 10 for a wonderfully written, excitingly engaging, perfectly puzzling murder mystery well worth the read! 

Flashing Mountain - a Children's Press Mystery

It's been a bit since I last read a mystery from The Children's Press, and this one was picked up for my by a friend of mine from a library in Canada.  I don't often see many of The Children's Press books here in the States, and most of the ones I have came from beyond our borders.  This one is authored by Edwin Johnson, who wrote a couple of other books for this publisher, with titles such as The End of Project 38 and The Devil of Bruges.  With these kind of titles, one would think the books were aimed at adults, rather than young adults or older children; however, all three of these books were published by The Children's Press, and as such, were marketed for young readers.  I did find a number of other books by "Edwin Johnson," but I have a feeling this name is associated with different authors, as the topics range from Christianity and the origins of the Christian religion to poetry to books about sexy Asian girls.  I cannot, for the life of me, imagine all of these varied subjects were written by the same Edwin Johnson!

 

That being said, Flashing Mountain follows the adventures of fifteen-year old Charles "Chip" Wood, an orphaned young lad living with his already overworked aunt, who has her hands full with her own family.  Despite attempts to stay under the radar, Chip ends up on the run from a gang of bullies and ultimately finds himself saving the life of one Dr. Mandrake, an archeologist with a special mission, to assist a physicist friend who needs to borrow some specialized electronic equipment for a discovery he has made.  Chip joins Mandrake on a ship bound for an island off the coast of South America - to an island known as "The Island of the Four Apostles" (p. 26), or as it is referred to in French, "L'Ile des Quatre Apotres."  This is likely based upon the Ilots des Apotres (Apostle Islets), which in the real world are some uninhabited rocky islands located in the southern part of the Indian Ocean (south east of the southern tip of Africa - they are nowhere near South America, as the island in the book is).  In the book, Johnston indicates the name "comes from four hills at the north of the island," named by a shipwrecked Frenchman who was so thankful for not perishing in the wreck that he named the hills for the apostles (p. 26).  Of course, the mission turns out to be much more dangerous than originally anticipated.

 

Before they even arrive at the island, they learn the man Mandrake is supposed to meet is dead.  They also discover there are two men on the boat with them who are determined to learn what the scientist's discovery was and get to it before Mandrake can.  Thus, from the beginning, the reader knows it is going to be a race to see who can solve the mystery of what the scientist discovered first.  Mandrake and Chip must not only deal with the president of the people on the island, but they must also contend with a wealthy treasure-hunter who has basically taken control of the island in the hopes of uncovering the scientist's secret, as well as a group of revolutionists who want the interlopers gone and also want to overthrow the president!  With the help of some unexpected allies, Chip and Mandrake manage to escape after being captured and make their way through the jungles to the area known as "flashing mountain" - and they learn exactly what the scientist discovered and why that mountain has the name it does!

 

This is definitely a boys' adventure story, as it is chock full of adventure and danger for our main characters.  It also does not shy away from violence and death - even some very gruesome deaths that involve melting faces!  There are also deadly natives on the island, and mysterious legends regarding the formation of the island and the hills.  The climatic scenes where Chip uses his ingenuity to destroy the flashing mountain, ensuring that no one would ever be able to mine what the mountain was hiding (and trust me, considering what it was, Chip definitely did the right thing!) - and in the process, he causes the deaths of two of the bad guys.  Certainly not something you would ever read in a Stratemeyer series book, that's for sure!

 

Sadly, there are no internal illustrations (in fact, I don't believe any of the books I own that were published by "The Children's Press" have internals), and there is no identifying information for the artist who painted the cover.  The scene depicted on the cover is somewhat misleading - it comes from that final chapter, where Chip sets off explosives to cause the destruction of the flashing mountain, however, Chip and the man helping him were wearing considerable protective gear (otherwise, they would have been melted down, just like some of those natives had been!).  I guess showing the main character completely covered from head to toe would not make a great cover, so they simply placed Chip at the scene in his regular clothing.

 

As someone who much prefers mystery stories to adventure stories, this book was not overly captivating to me.  Sure, it had plenty of adventure and chapter cliffhangers; but the lack of mystery just made me want to speed through it and get finished with it so I could move on to another book.  This book would probably be enjoyed more by those who like Tom Swift, Rick Brant, Ken Holt, or series such as that.

 

RATING:  6 small ticking boxes out of 10 for an adventure story filled with more danger and death at ever turn than most young adult stories I've read!

A Rather Curious Engagement - second in a series of "Rather" mysteries

It has been a year since I read the first "Penny Nichols" mystery, written by C.A. Belmont.  I still can't get over the name of the title character - I cannot believe it is merely a coincidence that her name mirrors that of Mildred Wirt Benson's character from her series of children's mysteries published back in the late 1930s, especially since the title character's mother wrote a series of book about "Penny Nichols, Girl Detective" (named after her daughter), and Penny's mother's name happens to be Nancy (after an even more famous girl detective, perhaps?).  I tried reaching out to the author via her website to inquire as to the names, but I never got a response, unfortunately.  Perhaps now that I have read the second book in her series, I'll try again and see if I have any better luck this time (you know the old saying: if at first you don't succeed....)

 

A Rather Curious Engagement picks up not too long after the last book.   Author C.A. Belmond drops us into a rather ritzy auction, where Penny and her step-cousin / boyfriend, Jeremy Laidley, are waiting to bid on an item - THE item - that Jeremy was willing to splurge on and sink a large chunk of their combined inheritance to win.  But rather than reveal that right away, Belmond instead turns back the clock to that exact moment when the last book ended - and Penny walked into Jeremy's apartment, only to be met with a rather snooty woman who believed she was the one and only Mrs. Laidley.  Fortunately, Penny was already aware of the former Mrs. Laidley, now the ex-Mrs. Laidley, and so she set about to show this woman that she would not be intimidated.  And thus begins a subplot that manages to maneuver its way through the entire book, pitting the current love of Jeremy's life against his former love - and poor Jeremy is stuck in the middle!

 

But this is not a romance novel!  Or, well, at least, the romance side of things is not the main story.  No, the main story is supposed to be a mystery, and I had to bide my time until I was nearly 200 pages into the story before I finally reached the point of the mystery - the ever elusive and more-than-likely mythical Beethoven Lion.  It seems that the gorgeous yacht that Jeremy and Penny won at the auction (yes, that was Jeremy's dream - to own a yacht) comes with a backstory.  The previous owner was a collector, and one of his most precious items was an aquamanile known as the "Beethoven Lion" (because the sculptor crafted the bronze lion to look like the great composer!).  The lion seems to have a sordid history, changing hands from one family to another, back and forth, and Count von Norbert, the previous yacht owner, had finally got his hands on it - but upon returning home in a horrific storm, the Count's health not only deteriorated under unexplainable circumstances, but the lion also disappeared.  Now, it is up to Penny to put her research skills to use and see if she and Jeremy can locate the missing lion!

 

 The story takes our sleuthing couple from England to France  to Italy and some little islands along the way - from the apartment house of Penny's aunt to the villa Jeremy inherited to a foreboding castle to a small grave to the stormy seas - Penny finds herself following up one clue after another, digging into the history of not only the Beethoven Lion itself, but also its creator's family and the sad love story that goes with it.  Belmond takes readers on a ride, because just like with Penny, the reader is constantly changing direction as to who might be the one currently in possession of the lion.  As we learn more about the family history of the lion's sculptor, the more complicated the story becomes.  Plus, there's a seer who gives out dire warnings, a blind woman who can sense the truth, a photographer who wants nothing more to do with the lion after accidentally photographing it, and a dangerous antique dealer whose connections are less then reputable.  And on top of all of that, there is plenty of fun and moments of humor along the way to keep the story from becoming too dark.

 

Oh, and did I mention that the Beethoven Lion holds another secret within its empty shell?  A secret that is literally worth millions and could very well be the reason why so many are after the famed sculpture...

 

I mostly enjoyed this story, as I did the first book; however, I was a bit annoyed that a couple of plot threads were never resolved.  The first is the Count's strange illness.  His family reveals that the Count went away to buy back the lion, but when he returned, he was ill and was no longer his former self (which is why the family sold the yacht).  There was never any explanation as to what the illness really was, how he contracted this unnamed illness, and why it affected him the way it did.  The second is the shooting that takes place in Calvi, on the island of Corsica.  As Penny and Jeremy are heading back to the yacht after meeting with the family who once kept the lion, someone takes several shots at them, forcing them to run through the thickets to get down to the docks.  They never really follow up on this, and it is never revealed who took those shots (while Penny's other cousin, Rollo, suggests it was someone hired by the antique dealer, that is never actually confirmed).  It is almost as if these elements were put into the story to strengthen the mystery elements, but without any explanation for them.  Oh, well, I suppose there is plenty that happens in the real world that goes without explanation, so why not in fiction, too?

 

The book ends with a phone call that Penny is about to answer - but before she does, she breaks the fourth wall and tells the reader, "But that, I'm afraid, is entirely another tale."  Which, one can assume, is the perfect lead in for the next book.

 

RATING:  8 small Chinese sailor clocks out of 10 for a good European mystery that takes the reader from country to country, while also moving the story of Penny and Jeremy's personal life forward, as well! 

The Summer of the Great Secret - the second Romney Marsh story

I honestly cannot recall where I got this particular book - I think, perhaps, it was a book my friend picked up at a library book sale at the library where she works (but I cannot guarantee that).  However this book came to be in my possession, I can say it was the title that caught my attention.  Obviously, based on the publisher (Collins), I knew it was going to be a British publication, and, therefore, the story was likely to be set in England (and it was).  The edition I have is from the early 1960s, but a little research online reveals the story was first published back in 1948 - which does explain some of the questions I had regarding the girls' complete lack of knowledge regarding film making in the story.  I also discovered that this book is actually the second in a series of stories by author Monica Edwards (I'll get more into that later...)

 

The Summer of the Great Secret reads almost like a mish-mash of various series book stories.  It's a story about a girl's love of horses and an accident that leaves her unable to walk and possibly never ride again; it's also the story of a group of smugglers who are accidentally revealed by two young girls playing around on an old, weathered shipwreck; in addition, it's the story of a town excited about a film crew coming to make a movie in their sleepy little village; if that weren't enough, there's also a short tale of a haunted house; and it's the story of a mysterious greasy man whose true intentions are suspect.  While these four stories may sound completely unrelated, author Monica Edwards manages to weave them all together in one somewhat enjoyable story.  (No, it's not the most exciting book I've ever read, but it does have some good moments and fun adventures in it, and the movie making scenes remind me much of the Moving Picture Girls books.)

 

The main characters in the book are Tamzin Grey and Charissa ("Rissa") Birnie, best friends who share a love of horses and a sense of adventure.  While swimming in the bay, they decide to jump off the wreckage of an old ship that had long ago come to rest on the shore - but Rissa accidentally falls through the deck into the level below, where the girls unexpectedly find boxes of liquor and perfume!  Realizing the ship was being used as a hiding place for smugglers, the girls soon learn that the smugglers are none other than men in the village with whom they are very familiar.  They promise to keep the secret, even from their own parents, and soon become messengers of sort for the criminal fishermen.  While this story is developing, readers learn that Lesley Frampton, a friend of Tamzin and Rissa, is out west, recovering from an injury that has left her paralyzed.  Lesley is set to come back for a visit, and she is anxious to see her pony, Cascade, who now belongs to Tamzin.  Ultimately, it is this visit and Cascade who give Lesley the fire to walk again!

 

The book weaves back and forth among the various plots, an an incident with a car being caught in the high tide leads to the girls meeting a movie producer - a producer who comes back to their small town because his film studio wants to do a movie there.  Tamzin's father, who is the town vicar, is called upon as a historical advisor for the film, and Tamzin, Rissa, and even Cascade are all given parts in the film!  Of course, while all of this is going on, the authorities have also come to town, looking to smoke out the smugglers.  Tamzin and Rissa keep their word and say nothing (which is a bit on the unbelievable side, as the authorities do not take any action against the girls, even though both admit they know the smugglers, but will not give up their names - in the real world, they would tell or face some severe consequences!).  Along the way, a "greasy man" as Tamzin describes him comes to town looking for information on the smugglers - his identity, and his fate, are ultimately revealed to be something less than stellar by the end of the book.  (And why is it that villains are never described as handsome or beautiful; they are also greasy with horrific facial features?)

 

The book is illustrated by Anne Bullen, who provides 19 internal line illustrations (nearly one for every chapter).  Bullen is known for illustrating books about ponies, but she and her husband also bred ponies.  Her illustrative work was mostly for Collins.  She did the full colour dust jackets for the first four books by Monica Edwards, but I can't be sure she provided the art for the edition that I have (1963), as the book gives no credit to the cover artist.  Apparently, though, Edwards was not overly thrilled with the humans in Bullen's illustrations, and after The Midnight Horse, published in 1949, Edwards' books were illustrated by a different artist.  (Anne Bullen, Artist)

 

The book has gone through several editions over the years, and with it, the cover art has changed (although three out of the four covers focus on Tamzin and her horse, Cascade - the fourth book features the smuggling aspect of the story).  My edition, the first cover shown above, has both Tamzin and Rissa - Tamzin wth her horse, Rissa with her bicycle. Another edition features the two girls with Cascade, with another has Rissa with a chestnut colored pony.  The later, paperback Armada printing has Tamzin and Rissa coming out of the boat with one of the smugglers helping them up onto the wharf.  

 

Now, with respect to the series of which this book is a part, it turns out Edwards wrote fifteen books in a series of novels about "Romney Marsh."  The first book, Wish for a Pony, was published in 1947 (one year before the original publication of this one), and features Tamzin and Rissa in their first adventure.  As the series progresses, the characters age and are joined by other new characters, and by book fifteen, the stories become much more mature in nature (as the last book deals with one of Tamzin's friends becoming blind and having to deal with the emotional trauma associated therewith).  Apparently the stories are based upon real people in Edwards' life (Tamzin's father being based upon Edwards' father, who was a reverend) and the locations were very real, simply renamed.  While this story was somewhat enjoyable, I don't know that I will actively seek out the other books in the series - if I happen across one, I might pick it up if the price is right; otherwise, this is not a series for which I am anxious to read all the books.

There is one horrible thing that occurs in the book that I simply could not overlook.  One of the smugglers, Jim, has a cat in his home that gives births to kittens.  He offers them to Tamzin and Rissa, and while Rissa declines, Tamzin agrees to take the one tiger-colored kitten.  The remaining kittens?  Well, Jim tosses them out into bay and drowns them all!  I could not believe such a thing would be written into a children's story.  Researching the matter online, it seems back in the day this was a fairly common practice to keep the population of unwanted, stray kittens and puppies down.  I just cannot even imagine such a thing!  Definitely did not raise my opinion of this book by any means... 

 

RATING:  7 cat-related advertisements for fertilizer out of 10 for managing to mix smugglers, ghosts, filmmakers, and sleazy criminals into one story and keeping it coherent enough to read!

The Captain's Lady - a Zebra illustrated gothic

It's been over a year since I read my first Zebra Illustrated Gothic (Summerhaven), so I figured it was about time I give another one of these a try.  As anyone who reads this blog knows, I've been reading the Zebra Mystery Puzzlers for some time now, and these Zebra Illustrated Gothic novels were published around the same time (the end of the 1970s), and based upon the illustrations in each series, it would appear Kensington Publishing Corp. used the same artists for both the mysteries and the Gothics. It's funny, because I've been reading so many of the Zebra Mystery Puzzlers, in which the illustrations have clues to "whodunnit" in the mystery, I found myself inspecting each of the illustrations in this book, wondering if there were any clues as to the mystery within Elswick Manor (and, of course, there were not!).

 

The Captain's Lady was written by Rachel Edwards, which was a pseudonym for Brenda Castle (who also wrote under the name "Georgina Ferrand").  Castle was quite the prolific author of romance novels between 1973 and 2010, and she managed to sneak in a few Gothics, such as this one, along the way.  The story opens much like the start of Dark Shadows - in fact, it felt almost as if I were reading a version of the show when the author has the main character, Elinora Vernon, reflecting that she was "going to a place she did not know, to people had not seen" (pp. 6-8) in order to be a governess for a young child.  Gee, sound familiar?  That is nearly a mirror image of the opening scene to the first episode of Dark Shadows - except, instead of Victoria Winters riding on a train bound for Collinsport, Maine, we have Elinora riding in a stagecoach on her way to the small England town of Elswick.  Both young woman move into a dark foreboding mansion that overlooks the ocean, with waves crashing down on the rocks below.  The author here even makes reference to a "Collingford Inn" (p. 6) that certainly sounds a lot like "Collinsport Inn" from Dark Shadows!  Now, there are no vampires, werewolves, or witches in this story, but there is certainly the threat of a ghost called "The White Lady" that haunts the great manor.

 

Edwards a/k/a Castle provides readers with a haunting tale of passion and horror as Elinora is pursued by two very different men, all while trying to protect the young child she is tutoring.  The question is, from whom is she protecting Prudence? Is it from the girl's guardian, Captain Gideon Lang, a former seaman who is said to have once loved Prudence's mother before she married another man?  Did he really kill the girl's father and is now after her inheritance, as Prudence believes?  And what about Reid Sterling, the rather all-too-forward man of the world who has somehow wormed his way into the Manor as a guest of the Captain?  Are his advances towards Elinora sincere, or are his intentions less than pure? What hold does he have over the lord of the manor?  Then there is Elsie, the housekeeper's daughter.  Elinora cannot help but notice the relationship between her and the Captain is much too friendly for a lord and his servant.  Is there a more personal relationship between the two?  And one cannot overlook the west wing of the great house, which has been closed off ever since Captain Lang purchase the manor some ten years ago.  Why does Elinora keep seeing lights from that part of the house, and whose face is she seeing in the upstairs window?  Everyone tells here there is no one there, but Elinora knows what she saw.  What dark secret is being kept within those darkened halls...?

 

Oh, and we cannot forget the White Lady, the ghost that the villagers say haunts Elswick Manor.  Elinora is just one in a long list of governesses who have come and gone, and despite warnings from the villagers, Elinora is determined to stay.  After all, she does not believe in ghosts.  But young Prudence is insistent the White Lady is real, and that the ghost is determined to kill her!  The longer she stays in the house, the more Elinora begins to realize there is something dangerous going on within its walls.  Danger lurks around every corner - is it really the ghost of Prudence's mother come back to exact revenge; or is the culprit very much alive and hoping to steal a fortune by taking the girl's life and blaming it on a ghost?  Edwards a/k/a Castle sets up a great mystery.  Although fans of Gothic tales will pretty much guess what is going on long before the reveal in the final chapters, it is still a great read with some engaging characters and perfectly-paced suspense.

 

There is no signature on the cover art, so it is not possible to say who painted the cover.   It is definitely one of the better Gothic covers I've seen, with poor Elinora shivering as she looks back at the terror-filled Elswick Manor.  The barren tree limbs, the ocean waves crashing against the cliff side, and the rolling fog around the mansion blend together to create a scene that would give anyone goosebumps!  There is also no credit given to the artist who provided the interior illustrations, which is a shame.  The black and white illustrations throughout the book are so wonderfully rendered, filled with exquisite detail, they nearly come alive off the page!  From the rendition of the towering manor on page 17 to the scenes of the interior of the great house on pages 43, 62, and 83 (shown to the right, here), the artist manages to bring life to the words on the pages, and one can easily picture themselves there in the manor with Elinora!  The final illustration, a drawing of the White Lady terrorizing poor Prudence, it truly frightening - I did not show it here, as I do not want to spoil it for anyone who wants to read this book.  That face is straight out of a horror movie!

 

One thing I did find extremely odd about this book was the transition from Chapter 10 to Chapter 11 - or, to be more accurate, the complete lack of transition.  In fact, the last sentence of Chapter 10 does not even end; rather, it carries directly into the first line of Chapter 11:

She reached it just as Prudence did.  They both stared down at it as it was washed to and fro against

 

Chapter Eleven

 

the sands by the gentle movement of the incoming tide.  The bloated and distorted features of what was once a man lay face upwards... 

(pp. 176-77).

 

I have to say, I have never in my life seen a book that starts a new chapter in the middle of a sentence.  I am unsure if this was intentional on the part of the author or the publisher, or this was merely a printing error, or what.  In fact, the end of the first paragraph in Chapter 11 seems more like the ending point of Chapter 10, because the second paragraph of Chapter 11 has a bit of a time and spatial jump, going from the rocky beach to the parlor of Elswick Manor hours after the body was found.  I'm aware there are other editions of this book (I believe it was later re-published under the Linford Romance Library line of books in the 1990s), so I wonder if those editions have this same transition, or if it was corrected.

 

In any event, The Captain's Lady turned out to be a wonderful read, and I'll certainly be keeping my eye out for any more of Brenda Castle's Gothic novels under whatever pseudonym she chose to use!

 

RATING:  9 coarse kerseymere gowns out of 10 for pure Gothic suspense in the vein of Dark Shadows

 

Harlequin Gothic Romance Series No. 32011 - Shadows Over Briarcliff

"Her visit vividly brought back the unhappy past - and with it an unknown evil presence..." (cover blurb)

 

I finally reached the first entry into this series by Marilyn Ross (a/k/a W.E.D. Ross, best known for his series of Dark Shadows novels based on the successful television show of the '60s and '70s, as well as his countless other Gothic novels written under various pseudonyms).  Ross wrote a number of series (the Dark Shadows tie-in novels, the Fog Island series, the Dark Harbor series, and others), but he also wrote a few books in various other Gothic series, such as the Birthstone Gothics for Beagle Books, as well as the Gothic Romance line for Harlequin.  This is the first of only two books that Ross wrote for the Harlequin line, and while he captures the Gothic feel of the story perfectly, the ending was somewhat of a disappointment.

 

Shadows Over Briarcliff (I suppose he had to sneak the work "Shadows" in there somehow, eh?) is set in 1884 and features a rather dark mystery surrounding the death of the main character's sister. Jessica Rice's sister, Ann, married well when she wed Stephen Briar.  But something was amiss, and when Jessica leaves London to visit her sister at the somewhat isolated Briarcliff manor, she can sense her sister is worried about something.  Before she can uncover the truth, there is a horrific carriage accident, and Jessica awaks to learn that her sister plunged into the ocean, her body never recovered and presumed to have been washed out with the tide.  Jessica returns home, ultimately leaving her unscrupulous guardians and moving in with a friend's family who help her regain the wealth her guardians had been stealing.  A note soon arrives from her brother-in-law, asking her to come back to Briarcliff, as he was still grieving Ann's death.  Jessica decides to make the trip, but she soon discovers there is evil awaiting her at Briarcliff!

 

In true Gothic fashion, Ross weaves a tale of intrigue, secrets, and possible ghosts that will leave you guessing at the truth.  Is Stephen's stepmother conspiring to regain control of Briarcliff taken from her when Stephen's father died?  Is the neighbor's daughter plotting to marry the grieving widower in the hopes of becoming the new mistress of Briarcliff?  Is Stephen, himself, looking to remove anything and anyone that might reveal the truth about his indiscretions?  Is Adrian Swift, the son of Stephen's stepmother and a flippant gambler, causing problems as a way of getting even with Stephen?  Or is it something far more sinister and far more supernatural - has Ann's spirit returned to the world of the living to stop Jessica from becoming involved with her former husband?   Plenty of questions, plenty of motives, and plenty of suspects ... but so few answers ...

 

The story follows poor Jessica as she must not only cope with her sister's death and Stephen's grief, as well as her own growing attraction to her sister's husband - but she must also face the various attempts to scare, injure, and even kill her.  Plus, there are the mysterious appearances of a ghostly woman in a shawl, wearing the same perfume that Ann wore.  Is her sister's spirit really come back from the grave, or is someone simply trying to make Jessica think that so she will leave Briarcliff and never look back.  

 

There can be no doubt that Ross knows how to build suspense and tension (he certainly had plenty of practice!).  Unfortunately, he spends so long building up the mystery that when the resolution comes, it is a bit of a let down.  For 200 pages of great Gothic storytelling, Ross resolves the mystery, has Jessica face off against her adversary, and gives her a happily-ever-after all within the last four pages of the book!  I don't recall ever seeing a story wrapped up in such a short amount of pages before - I would have preferred to see a more dramatic confrontation, with lots of dramatic fighting and scares before the truth is revealed and the villain ultimately vanquished.  I think this is the first Harlequin Gothic that did not give me full satisfaction with the read, which is surprising, since Ross is one of my favorite authors.

 

The cover art, depicting the scene where Jessica awaits to not only smell the scent of her dead sister's perfume, but also finds one of her sister's handkerchiefs on the floor (p. 99), was pained by Len Goldberg (a/k/a Leonard M. Goldberg), who also provided the cover art for two prior Harlequin Gothics:  Castle at Jade Cove and The Blue House. A superb artist, Goldberg is an expert at capturing terrified expressions on the faces of his women, and it's almost a shame he did not provide the covers for all the books in this series!

 

The next book in the series is also by Ross, so we will see what that holds in store...

 

RATING:  8 large carriages careening off the side of a cliff out of 10 for a psychologically thrilling tale of ghosts, mystery, suspense, and moments of terror!

The Manor House School - a "Book for Girls" from Blackie's List

This was a book purchased for me by a friend who was at Half Price Books in Marietta, Georgia earlier this year.  He was browsing through the vintage book section, showing me (via FaceTime) what books they had on their shelves, and I happened to notice the spine of the dust jacket, so I asked him to pull it out.  He showed me the book, and for only $5, I thought, "Why not?"  The cover depicted a rather odd scene of two girls being turned out of their canoe into the water, and the title seemed to hint at something a bit unusual (after all, how many schools are actually in a manor house?).  I finally decided to the give the book a read, and I was pleasantly surprised that the story offered up a rather good mystery!

 

The Manor House School was written by Angela Brazil (1969 - 1947), who was considered "one of the first British writers of 'modern schoolgirls' stories' ... intended primarily as entertainment rather than moral instruction" (Angela Brazil).  She authored more than fifty books for girls between the years of 1899 and 1946, with this particular book first being published in 1911 - Brazil's twelfth published novel.  While the story involves all of the girls at Winterburn Lodge and their temporary relocation from the boarding school in London  to the country manor owned by the Courtenay family for their summer term, the author does narrow down the focus to two particular girls - Lindsay Hepburn and Cicely Chalmers.  These two make an interesting pair - while the set up seems similar to the Stratemeyer Syndicate's Dana Girls mysteries, the title characters could not be more different (and, remember, this book came out twenty-some years before the Dana Girls ever appeared on the scene!).

 

Lindsay Hepburn is described as "a short, plump, fair, jolly-looking girl of twelve, with a very energetic disposition" (p. 22).  I found this rather unique, since I cannot recall any American children's books which featured a "plump" lead character - normally the overweight characters are regulated to the main protagonist's cohorts and friends.  Cicely Chalmers, who is said to be six months younger than her friend, is described as "much more quiet and steady on the surface, though her twinkling brown eyes belied her demurer manners, and proclaimed he ready for anything in the shape of fun" (p. 22).  Lindsay definitely has the stronger personality, with Cicely, more or less, being her "toady" (similar to Ina Mason's relationship with Lettie Briggs in the Dana Girls' series).  While Lindsay and Cicely are not troublemakers by any means, they do certainly wind up in some precarious situations and find themselves being scolded or punished time and time again for their rather rambunctious adventures.

 

The first few chapters of the book give it the feel of a typical British schoolgirls' story, as the thirty girls under Miss Russell's tutelage are forced to relocate from their city school due to problems with the drains throughout the school and must take up residence in a country manor home rented from one Mrs. Courtenay, who takes her daughter to stay in a nearby town.  The daughter, Monica, makes her appearance at the manor house, as she will be taking some classes while dividing time in town taking care of her ailing mother.  There is also Mrs. Wilson, the overly gruff housekeeper who remained at the manor house to help cook and clean for the girls, and her disagreeable nature earns her the nickname "The Griffin" by the girls.  In addition, there is a groundskeeper named Scott, who seems very secretive and who appears to be in cahoots with Mrs. Wilson about something.  The girls explore the great house and learn some of the history regarding its ownership, and along the way discover that Monica's great-uncle, Sir Giles Courtenay, supposedly had a fortune when he did, all of which was left to Monica in a will - the only problem is, no one has ever been able to find the fortune!  And this is where the mystery a/k/a treasure hunt begins.

 

Brazil (pronounced "brazzle," by the way) provides some rather tense moments for the two girls as they search for Monica's missing inheritance.  At one point they are trapped in a church and must climb a steep staircase to the top of the bell tower in order to ring the bell for aid; another time, they explore the attics to discover a small staircase (there seem to be staircases everywhere they turn!) that leads to an empty room above the attic - a room where Mrs. Wilson disappears, where they hear strange groaning sounds, and where they uncover a secret door that hides a dark, ominous chamber beyond!  There is also the moment near the end when they are playing hide and seek, and the two girls hide inside a settle (which is a long wooden bench, which, in this case, has a storage box beneath it) and unwittingly discover it has a false floor that drops them into a hidden room beneath the house!  There are also a number of mishaps, such as the overturned canoe (which is their own fault for "borrowing" a boat that was not their own!); the unfortunate cloud that descends and leave the girls and their friends unable to find their way off the hilltop where they are picnicking; the small island they discover that turns out to be just a growth of plants above the water, nearly plunging them into the muck of the river; and the moment when one of them nearly falls throw the floor of the attic into the floor below!

 

As can be expected from a book such as this, Lindsay and Cicely manage to find the missing treasure and enable Monica to get the help her mother needs to save her life.  The book has gone through a number of editions throughout the years, offering a variety of covers - from the very simple girl sitting in a chair holding a book to a scene of Lindsay and Cicely looking up at the great house to the girls getting ready to hide in the settle to the unfortunate overturning of their boat on the water, and even one with the scene of the girls trapped in the bell tower.  It seems most of the editions were published by Blackie & Son Ltd., although at least one edition (paperback) was published by Armada.

 

One odd tidbit I noticed while reading the book was the notation that appeared at the bottom of certain pages:

 

            Page 11 at the bottom had "1*            (c 191)"

            Page 35 at the bottom had "2              (c 191)"

            Page 43 at the bottom had "2*            (c 191)"

            Page 67 at the bottom had "3              (c 191)"

 

and so on.  The final notation is found on page 235, which has "8*          (c 191)" at the bottom. From what I can gather, these were some form of marks or codes used in bookbinding to indicate where certain sections of the book began - "signature marks," is what I was able to find they are called.  It is interesting the publishers would leave these marks on the final product which is to be sold to the public.

 

While this is by no means a piece of great literature, it is a fun little story with an enjoyable mystery - worth the purchase!

 

RATING:  8 paintings of a young woman holding a bunch of red roses out of 10 for a quirky little girls' school story with two very likable protagonists! 

The Heir of Starvelings - a Gothic Novel of Innocence and Evil

This book is one of those that I picked up because of the cover art.  Yes, yes, I know the saying - don't just a book by its cover.  Yet, there are plenty of times that I see cover art that just cries out for me to pick up the book, and this is one of those instances.  However, it was more than just the heavy greens and blacks and the beautiful blond woman - as it turns out, this cover appeared on at least two different gothic titles!  But I'll get into that later.  There was also that title that caught my attention - a unique title that begs the reader to open the cover to find out just want it means (although, let's face reality - I don't think any title is quite as unusual as Let the Crags Comb Out Her Dainty Hair).  Thus, the book ended up in my hands and ultimately among the stacks of gothic novels I have yet to read.  Only, now, this one has been read...

 

The Heir of Starvelings is, as the title page describes, a tale of innocence and evil. First published in 1967 (my copy is a reprinting by Dell in 1968), it was written by Evelyn Berckman, who is known for her post-war detective fiction.  She was born in the United States, but later moved to England in the 1960s.  She also wrote a number of plays and historical non-fiction, as well as horror and gothic novels.  A quick search online reveals that The Mugar Memorial Library at Boston University has a collection of the author's manuscripts, including early drafts and final proofs (The Evelyn Berckman Collection). This is the first work by Berckman that I've read, and although it gets off to a somewhat lackluster opening, the story does pick up to the point where I was glued to the pages, unable to close the book until I was done!

 

The story centers around lovely Davina Milne, the daughter of the Reverend Frederick Milne, who lives in a small English town, near a decaying old house known as Starvelings.  There are plenty of rumors about the seemingly abandoned property and its owner, Lord Stanyon. These rumors mean nothing to Davina, who is mourning the death of her fiance, Nevil Stonor, of whose death she and her father were notified from the war office. Fate plays a wicked game, though, and an attorney for distant relatives of Lord Stanyon appears on her doorstep, looking for a governess for Lord Stanyon's young son. Although the offer was not meant for her (the lawyer came to see if Reverend Milne knew of any women in town who might be hired), Davina knows this is the thing she needs to distract her mind from Nevil's death.  The lawyer, Mr. Truscott, warns her that not only is the boy wild, unbathed, and likely unlearned, but Mr. Stanyon and his servant, Porcher, are difficult men who will not make her job any easier.  Davina is insistent, giving Mr. Truscott and her father no other choice.

 

Davina is not your typical gothic heroine.  From the very start, she is determined, she is strong, and despite her grieving soul, she finds sympathy and concern for the young William Stanyon.  She quickly learns what incentives she can use to not only get him to wash, but also to practice his speech, writing, and reading.  Despite his rebellious and wild side, she manages to gain his trust while exploring the mysteries of Starvelings.  Where is Lady Stanyon?  Why is William so afraid of the Folly on the grounds?  Who struck William so hard as to cause a loss of hearing in one ear? What happened to the Staynon's fortune? And how can Davina save William from the tragic life to which he is subjected in that house?  Davina sets out to find answers to all of those questions, even though it puts her in danger, not only from Porcher, but from Lord Stanyon himself.  As for Lady Stanyon, well, she is nothing at all what Davina would have expected, and she seems to be more afraid of Porcher than of her own vile husband.  Berckman provides readers with a dark and sometimes depressing mystery that throws in a few twists and turns before it is all revealed in the end.

 

And Berckman's descriptions - she certainly sets the mood with the detailed pictures she creates of the aging house, the overgrown grounds, the moody inhabitants, and the desolation and emptiness within the halls of Starvelings.  The reader immediately sympathizes with William, roots for Davina to overcome all of the evil within the house, and is disgusted by Porcher and Lord Stanyon - especially near the end when Davina has a final confrontation with the two men in the dark recesses of the Folly, which holds some of its own mysteries.  Berckman also includes some very human aspects to the story, with William's fascination with the Queen and his ardent desire to meet the Queen, a wish that surprisingly gets granted in part thanks to Mr. Truscott's feelings for Davina.  Yet, despite having his wish fulfilled, it is bittersweet, as a part of that dream did not see fruition, bringing bitter disappointment to a young boy that could not understand the full impact of the opportunity that he had been given.  Scenes like this are what tug at the heart of the reader and make it all the more real.  That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected event at the end of the story, which took the characters in a much different direction than I would have ever anticipated.  I won't spoil it, but I will say that it is most definitely an ending that Davina deserved!

 

Now, some other unusual aspects about this book that are worth mentioning are the dedication, the introduction, and the epilogue.  Berckman dedicates the book "In Memory of Rupert Gunnis, Who Told Me This True Story."  This leads directly into the one-page foreward, "Rupert Gunnis, 1899-1965."  The author provides readers with a bit of background on Mr. Gunnis, who was a real person, a historian as well as collector of British sculpture.  Berckman indicates this story founds its origins in Gunnis' love of buried historical facts, and although she changed the names of the persons involved, the geography and events are said to be true.  Gunnis also appears in the epilogue, which is set nearly 70 years after the events of the story in 1855, and in which young William is now an elderly man, searching for a connection to his past in paintings now owned by another family - paintings that fate uses to bring Gunnis and the elderly Lord Stanyon together, bringing the story full circle.  I don't believe I've ever seen an author meld alleged truth and fiction together to create a story like this, and its curious nature certainly adds to my liking of this tale.

 

Going back to the cover art, depicting Davina as she walks through the halls of Starvelings, that painting of Lord Stanyon just behind her, I wish the artist was identified, as the shadows, the colors, the expression, the candles - they blend so perfectly to create the somber mood that permeates the story within.  And, apparently, Dell (who published this edition of the novel) liked the art so much, the company reused that same art just three years later in 1971 on the cover of its Gothic Romances magazine (issue 2 of the 3-issue series of magazines containing short gothic tales by recognizable authors such as Dorothy Eden, Virginia Coffman, and many others).  The larger art on the magazine cover loses a lot of the shadows from the top and left side, but it does give us a better look at young Davina's face - a face that very much resembles that of Nancy Barrett, the actress who played Carolyn Stoddard in the gothic television drama, Dark Shadows.  Makes one wonder if the author perhaps used Ms. Barrett as a model for this cover art.

 

Having read this book, my search now begins for Evelyn Berckman's other gothic novels...

RATING:  9 peer robes of red velvet out of 10 for a gothic tale of an innocent child, a vile father, an evil servant, and a strong-willed governess ... and a god-forsaken house filled with secrets and broken dreams.