House of Dark Laughter - an Avon Gothic Original

Any fan of the Gothic novels from the 1960s and '70s knows that the plots to these books all follow a similar formula - a young woman goes to a mansion/house/castle for whatever reason, and she faces multiple dangers from unknown sources, all while fending off two men, one of whom is good and one of whom is bad - but which is which?  Sure, the settings change, the characters change, and some plot elements same, but they all basically boil down to the same story when you get down to it.  This particular book, published by Avon Books in July 1972 under their "Avon Gothic Original" line, not only follows that pattern, but it shares a lot of story elements with other Gothic novels that I have read in recent years.  Two are The Dornstein Icon and The Ravens of Rockhurst (in which the main character goes to a house to evaluate antiques, like our young heroine in this book does); and the other is ... well, if I said which book it was, it would definitely spoil the big surprise in this one!

 

House of Dark Laughter was written by Melissa Napier.   I was unable to find any information about the author online, so it is uncertain whether "Melissa Napier" is the author's real name or simply another pseudonym.  The copyright page for this book does not offer any aid, as the copyright is to Script Associates, and not the author.  (And as a side note, the copyright page indicates this book was "Published by arrangement with Script Associates," which was a book packaging agency back in the day.)  This might tend one to believe the author's name is merely a house pseudonym for this agency.  In any event, the story itself is not half-bad, although the main character is certainly put through the wringer!  Betsy Vaughn is a young woman who is about to start a new job.  Hired by Carter Willard, Betsy heads off to a remote town in Pennsylvania where she will be cataloguing antiques in the stately Dalton Mansion.  Old Man Dalton has been ill for some time, and he wants all of his possessions catalogued and valued before he dies.  Carter, as the man's secretary, has brought Betsy to the great house, as she is an expert in her field.  The only problem is, the members of Dalton's family do not want her there (big shock)!

 

Dalton's wife, Alice, is a nasty piece of work who makes it clear from the moment Betsy arrives that she runs the household and Betsy had better not be snooping and better stay out of her way!  Dalton's nephew, Derek, and his niece, Lorna, are spoiled and want nothing more than to see their uncle die so they can get their hands on his money.  Even Edith Austin, the Daltons' housekeeper, runs hot and cold - one minute she is friendly, and the next she is spewing nothing but hatred.  Betsy quickly learns no one can be trusted in the house - not even Carter, for whom she is beginning to develop feelings.  Everyone seems to simply be biding their time until Mr. Dalton dies.  But the mystery lies in the question - why is everyone so dead set on getting rid of Betsy?  She is simply there to catalogue, evaluate, and value all of the contents of the house.  Wouldn't they want to know the value, so that when they do get their grubby little hands on the countless antiques, they will be able to sell them for what they are really worth?  What possible reason could they have for trying to get Betsy to leave?  And who is so dead-set against her being there that they would be willing to kill her?

 

Yes, poor Betsy suffers more in this book than even Nancy Drew did in any of her mysteries.  Betsy gets conked on the head not once, not twice, not even three times - but on four separate occasions over the span of just a week or so, the woman is knocked unconscious by the cruel culprit determined to rid the house of her presence!  She is also attacked in the basement, nearly electrocuted, and near the end, she is almost buried alive!  All of this because of a secret of which she has absolutely no knowledge.  Oh, the reader surely will begin to suspect about half-way through the story when there is a passing mention of a certain incident from the Dalton family's past; but Betsy does not make the connection, as it is so far-fetched and not within her realm of knowledge that she would never even suspect the key that she holds.  Overall, the mystery and suspense are built at a pretty rapid pace, which makes the story much more engaging than it might otherwise be.

 

The title is somewhat misleading, as there is only one very brief moment in the book where there is any "dark laughter."  With that title, I was expecting Betsy to hear laughter reverberating through the house and the hallways late at night or when no one else was around, but that is not the case.  Rather, the only time the laughter is heard is for a brief second before Betsy falls unconscious after being struck on the head (twice, to make sure she goes out!) when she is about to enter a dark room where she was lured by the villain.  The woman's laughter, combined with the smell of perfume that Betsy remembers lingering in the air just before she was knocked out, is what helps our young heroine figure out who is trying so desperately to get her out of there. 

 

As with so many of these books, there is no credit given for the cover art, and the art itself shows no signature.  However, a quick online research reveals the artist is Robert McGinnis (1926 - 2025), who only recently passed away last year.  McGinnis was quite the busy artist, painting covers for countless paperback novels - including men's adventure series, romance books, historicals, westerns, and Gothic novels - as well as a large number of movie posters and art for magazines.  You can check out his work at the official Robert McGinnis Artwork website.  The one thing I should note about the cover for this book is that the woman running away from the house is definitely NOT our heroine, Betsy Vaughn.  The cover depicts a young blonde beauty running fearfully from that mansion in the background; yet, in the story, Betsy is described as having hair that is "thick and as luxuriantly black as a raven's wing" (p. 6).  Thus, either the artist was not given any description of the characters from the book when commissioned to do the cover, or the publisher simply chose an already completed painting and slapped it on as the cover for the book without any regard as to whether it matched the story or not (which, as we all know, happened quite often during this period).  Despite this discrepancy, the cover art is beautiful in its own right and can be appreciated for the gorgeous work that it is.

 

While not necessarily one of the best written Gothics of the period, it is a fairly enjoyable read.

 

RATING:  7 original manuscripts of Samuel Clemens out of 10 for crafting a wickedly fun tale filled with absolutely vile people, a determined young heroine, and a house filled with more danger than you can shake a stick at! 

Secret Passage - a Mystery Story for Girls

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

 

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