Amazing Contemporary Gothic Suspense

Image copied from bookshop.org

The title and description of this book had me intrigued from the first. But oh my!! This was so much more than I expected. The mystery by itself had me compelled to keep reading, but then add in the gothic elements of the setting, a small coastal island town and the large mansion overlooking it on its lonely bluff, and I was completely hooked. It reminded me of the Victoria Holt or Phyllis Whitney romantic suspense novels that I read growing up, only better.

The romance elements were there but they were very, very small compared to the rest of this sweeping story of murder, family secrets and small isolated communities. I loved the main character Willow, who despite seeming to have it together as a musical grad student is still very lonely and adrift at the start of the novel. She returns to North Shore Island off the coast of Maine after receiving a plea from her godmother to come back so they can reunite. Willow cannot resist the chance, but is heartbroken to learn, shortly after receiving the letter, that her godmother has met with an untimely death. From there we follow Willow and a few other point of view characters throughout the story as she struggles to come to terms with what happened to her godmother and why the mysterious and very haunted Cameron House seems to be at the center of it all.

The setting, the mystery and the characters were all well drawn and engaging. I especially loved the women on the island who all seem to want to help Willow but who seem to have secrets of their own that make you wonder along with Willow who she can really trust or if she can accept their overtures to become a part of their found family. Despite the fact that the last living Cameron on the island was truly a despicable and mean old man, I couldn't help but like him a little as Willow did. Then there was the police detective who used to be Willow's nemesis when she visited her godmother, Sue, on the island in the summers. Nick is obviously secretly smitten with Willow still, but hides it well. She likewise finds he has grown up to be quite attractive, but still clings to her impression that he is a royal pain all the same. The banter between them in the few scenes where they're together was entertaining and added just the right amount of zing to the dynamics of the story. The mystery, you realize early, is one of murder and involves a plot on someone's part to claim Cameron House for their own. I was left guessing until near the very end who was behind it all and there were some wonderful twists and reveals at the climax that any mystery lover would enjoy! But then add in the ghosts and the sentient-seeming house and it takes the whole mystery up another notch in my estimation. I truly loved this book and will be getting my own copy to re-read again once it comes out this February!

If you love gothic mystery suspense with rugged settings and haunted mansions, then you will thoroughly enjoy this debut novel. 

For my next review, I'll be featuring Half City the first in a new series by Kate Golden. This one is a fun urban fantasy into dark academia. It combines the best of both worlds for me in that it is a fantasy and a mystery as most urban fantasies tend to be. I also loved the spin Golden gives to dark academia in this one. Both the book cover and blurb copied below are from Bookshop.org. As always, consider supporting your local indie bookshops or local libraries whenever possible. 

Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.

Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.

She also happens to be a demon hunter.

Ever since her father's murder, she's been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider . . . until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she'll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.

But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about, not if the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv's father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, all while trying to ace her classes, avoid falling for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?

 

Fun Historical Mystery Adventure for Middle Grade Readers

Image copied from Goodreads

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin was the first read of 2026 of my Online Kidlit Book Club. I was excited to delve into this one as it was a historical mystery that involved spies, intrigue and Bletchley Park in England. I was not disappointed. This novel was an adventure that was well balanced for the intended reading audience in terms of the history it incorporated in with the fictional suspense. It also had a lot of heart as the two main characters are a brother and sister that have become estranged by loss and the war. 

The story opens with Lizzie, the sister for the main character duo, escaping from her escort tasked with taking her to America where her grandmother resides. Lizzie is determined to do the opposite of escape to safety from the coming German Blitz on London and other parts of England that is imminent. Instead, she had decided to seek out her brother Jacob once she discovers where on the map he's dropped off to and to figure out what happened to their mother who everyone thinks is dead. Finding her way to Bletchely Park, by way of Jacob being tasked with bringing her there, the adventure begins.

Of the two characters I loved Lizzie! She is smart, determined and full of optimism even though everyone keeps telling her that her mother is dead. Lizzie refuses to believe it. She finds coded information hidden in her mother's room right before she is whisked away to Bletchley by her brother that is further proof for her that their mother was more than she seemed and is in fact very much alive still. Add in the historical details of the work that was done in Bletchley Park to break the enigma that is the German intelligence exchange system and this is a mystery that is full of tension, suspense, and heart. Lizzie soon figures out what is really going on at Bletchley despite Jacob's efforts to keep her in the dark. As someone who is hired by the general in charge of the park to be a message courier about the manor she is in able to watch and observe the hive that is the park. As clever as she is, it doesn't take her long to piece things together. 

The backdrop of the start of WWII is also a character in the story. The parts that are told from Jacob's point of view give us a glimpse into British intelligence and recruitment during the war as Jacob is recruited as a university math major to be a part of the think tank that is Bletchley. We see firsthand the pressure the people involved in this code breaking were under to prevent the Germans from invading England and to figure out what their targets would be for the bombing they did of England to break the British spirit. As the British fought largely alone at the start of the war once the Germans occupied France. A few details were also included as to how the British were able to get their hands on the enigma machines in the first place in order to start working at breaking the coded ciphers the Germans used to relay their messages. While I was not as engrossed in Jacob's side of the story, anyone interested in coding, ciphers and complex math would probably enjoy this side of it. I did like getting to see some of the real life people in the story also such as Alan Turing. The ending when the two siblings finally figure out the real story of what happened to their mom was tension filled and very like a James Bond moment. All in all, if you or a young reader that you know enjoys historical mystery fiction set during WWII then I recommend picking up The Bletchley Riddle. I think this book would also be appropriate for those teaching this historical period to upper elementary or middle school students. 

My next review for February will be a really good gothic mystery that I read as a NetGalley ARC, Murder Will Out by Jennifer Breedlove. The book cover and the description are both copied from bookshop.org. To obtain copies of either books mentioned in this post just click on the title to order a copy from bookshop.org and support indie bookstores. I also recommend supporting your local libraries by checking out or requesting they obtain copies of either of these books for their shelves as well. 

Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award winner Jennifer K. Breedlove brings coastal Maine to life in Murder Will Out, a lighter, modern gothic mystery that's as atmospheric as it is heart-warming.

Come for the memories. Stay for the murder...
Little North Island, off the coast of Maine, is so beautiful it could be a postcard. Organist Willow Stone cherishes her memories of childhood summers spent on the island with her godmother Sue... even though her visits ended abruptly, and she hasn't seen or heard from her godmother in over fifteen years. Until a letter from Sue—and word of Sue’s death—brings Willow back to the picturesque island.

The islanders rarely mention Sue without also bringing up Cameron House, and the controversy around Sue’s unexpected inheritance of the sprawling mansion. When Willow overhears someone threatening the next heir to the property, she starts to question whether Sue’s death was really an accident, and can’t help but wonder whether someone on this sleepy island is willing to stop at nothing—even murder—to claim Cameron House for their own.

Through Willow’s eyes, as well as those of others on the island, a mystery unfolds that keeps drawing Willow back to Cameron House and the very real ghosts that walk its corridors.