Harlequin Gothic Romance Series No. 32013 - Lord of High Cliff Manor

"She vowed to conquer the malevolent forces surrounding her - and found death lurking in the shadows" (cover blurb)  

 

Lucky number thirteen!  This is the thirteenth Harlequin Gothic Romance, published in September 1986 - and this marks thirteen great Gothic reads out of thirteen for the series!  I am amazed that I have yet to find a book in this series that I have not really enjoyed (but I probably should not say that, or I'll end up jinxing it!).  This is author Irene M. Pascoe's first of two books in this series, and based on this one, I cannot wait to read her second one.  I was not able to find out anything about the author, but it appears the name may be her own and not a pseudonym, as the copyright is in her name, and the dedication at the front of the book is given to her mother and father, Mary and Arthur Kasa (which is confirmed in an obituary I found online for Irene's sister, Nancy).  This book actually marks Pascoe's first of five Gothic novels she has published between 1986 and 2004.

 

Lord of High Cliff Manor is a period story, set in 1882, and follows young Jennifer Shanley as she travels to the cliffs of Puget Sound in the Washington territory, where she has been hired by Mark Kennecott as his young nephew's tutor.  But, as with any good Gothic, when Jennifer arrives, she is met with resentment and distrust.  Mark's stepmother tells Jennifer she is not right for the position and tells her to leave; however, Jennifer has no place to go (having used up all her savings to pay for the trip to High Cliff Manor), and to her relief, Mark Kennecott is determined that she will stay on to tutor young Kirk, as well as Melinda, the daughter of the manor's housekeeper.  Thus, the story is set for poor Jennifer to face the terror and danger that comes with living in High Cliff Manor...

 

The manor comes with a tragic history.  It seems not that long ago, one of the Kennecott's tug boats exploded, leaving only one man alive - Daniel Hennessey.  In that explosion, Caroline's husband, as well as the husband of the housekeeper, were killed, leaving both women widows with small children (Caroline with her son, Kirk; and the housekeeper with her daughter, Melinda).  A series of tutors have come and gone, mostly because of Kirk's horrific nightmares and his troublesome nature.  But Jennifer begins to build a friendship with the young boy in a way no one else has been able, and Mark knows he made the right choice in hiring her.  But Mrs. Kennecott and her daughter, Caroline Ramsay, are making life difficult for Jennifer so she will leave the house - or, so it seems.  First, it's a dead rat found on her pillow.  Then, a strange man appears in her room in the middle of the night.  But from there, the danger escalates.  A metal iron is dropped from an attic window, missing Jennifer by mere inches.  Then Jennifer is locked in an abandoned cabin deep in the woods, left to rot within its rat-infested walls.  It is clear someone in the house wants to get rid of Jennifer, but the question is: who?

 

Rumors in town speculate that Mark Kennecott blew up his own boat for the insurance money, as his business was floundering.  Jennifer wonders if perhaps Caroline's obvious desire to have Mark all to herself is not motive for the mysterious and deadly events.  There's always Mrs. Kennecott, who has made it clear from the first day that she does not like Jennifer and does not want her there - especially when Mark begins to show amorous intentions towards her.  And what about Daniel Hennessey?  He claims to have amnesia and wanders aimlessly through the estate - but does he have a more deadly side that no one has seen?  There plenty of suspects and more than enough motives.  Jennifer considers leaving, but she knows she cannot leave the children behind to face whatever terror haunts the great house.

 

One thing I am left wondering - the name of the character, Daniel Hennessey. In the television show, Dark Shadows, there is a character by the name of Daniel Collins when the show traveled back in time, and that character is portrayed by the actor, David Henesy.  Was this name a play on the Dark Shadows' character and its actor, or is it merely a coincidence?  I'd like to think it was a small homage to Dark Shadows, since the show epitomized Gothic tales in the late '60s and early '70s, which is the heyday period of these Gothic paperbacks.

 

Pascoe writes an excellent mystery, with a bit more romance that I've seen in most of these Harlequin Gothic tales, but not so much that it overpowers the story.  She gradually builds the suspense, dropping small hints here and there as to the identity of the one terrorizing Jennifer, and provides a tense and exciting climax that will leave the reader breathless.  This is definitely a top-notch example of what a Gothic mystery should be, and I cannot wait to read Pascoe's next book in this series!

 

RATING:   10 balls bouncing down the stairs out of 10 for the perfect mix of suspense, mystery, and romance to tell a Gothic story worthy of some of the greats!

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!