The Shadow Of The Lynx by Victoria Holt

Thomas Tamasin spends his life chasing rainbows and leaves his daughter Nora firmly ensconced at school as he chases the biggest one of all and heads for the gold fields of Australia. He soon dies and leaves Nora in the care partner/employer Charles Herrick – also known as The Lynx for his dominating personality. Charles’s son Stirling arrives in England to escort Nora to Australia, but they make a curious stop at a country estate called The Whiteladies (named for the nunnery it had been at one time) and Stirling seems to have a strange interest in the estate and it’s inhabitants. Stranger still, when Nora arrives in Australia the Herrick home is a copy of Whiteladies.

Nora soon discovers that The Lynx has a mysterious past of his own, falsely accused of theft in England and deported to Australia as a criminal. As the Herrick family’s fortune increases it leads them ever closer to the obsession of Charles – enacting financial havoc on those he blames for his false conviction. Nora and Stirling return to England with Stirling bent on completing his father’s plans for revenge. They soon insert themselves into the lives of the residents of Whiteladies as Nora fights to stop Stirling before his lust for revenge destroys all their lives.

Whew, that’s more plot description than I care to give but there’s not much on the product page. I found this book a bit slow paced at times and a tad too predictable, especially the murder attempts on Minta. I also found the alternating POV’s between Sara and Minta in the latter part of the book quite distracting. A nice comfort read for a rainy day – it’s a good book, just not a great one.

Mistress of Mellyn ~ Victoria Holt

 

“There are two courses open to a gentlewoman when she finds herself in penurious circumstances…….One is to marry, and the other to find a post in keeping with her gentility.”

With no other prospects in sight, Martha Leigh takes a position as governess for eight-year-old Alvean TreMellyn at her family’s estate Mount Mellyn in Cornwall. Alvean’s mother Alice has been dead for a year, after she ran away with her lover they both died in a tragic train wreck – burned beyond recognition. Her father Connon is cold and withdrawn, especially with his daughter. Martha settles in and builds a relationship with both Alvean and the waif-like Gillyflower and she also finds herself attracted to the master of the house (well of course!), but then things soon begin to go bump in the night in typical Holt fashion.

Does Alice’s presence still live on at Mount Mellyn? Did she really die in the train wreck? Why is Connon so remote from his daughter? What about Connon’s relationship with the beauteous but haughty Lady Treslyn? Who framed the last beautiful governess for theft so that she lost her position and was forced to leave? Does someone want Martha out of the way as well? What about these mysterious blinds in the house where one can watch what is going on in another room without being seen? Does the house have more unknown secrets?

That’s as much as I’m going to tell – read it for your self! Like a couple of the other reviewers, I noticed a definite similarity between parts of this story and Rebecca and Jane Eyre (but that’s a good thing), although she’s still got a surprise or two in store for you that will keep you turning the pages until the very last reveal (gad, what a nail biter). While she’s not quite up to the perfection that is Du Maurier, I think you’ll find this a perfect comfort book to curl up with in front of the fire with a glass of red wine and chocolate.

King of the Castle by Victoria Holt

Um, did I read a different book than everyone else?

Or am I burned out after reading four Holt’s in a row? Inquiring minds want to know…..

Dallas Lawson was trained to follow in her father’s footsteps restoring old paintings but when he dies she’s left at a crossroads – take a position as governess, take charity from relatives or try to continue the career she’s trained for in a man’s world. A commission comes in for her father from the Comté de la Talle of Chateaux Galliard and she accepts, although she “forgets” to mention her father is dead and she’s coming in his place, much to the chagrin of everyone at the Chateaux.

Dallas settles in to life at the Chateaux and begins work on the paintings, but in typical Holt fashion our heroine soon finds things amiss in the household. The Comté is dark and brooding (of course) and suspected of killing his first wife. His daughter Genevieve is a spoiled fourteen year old brat with a penchant for shutting doors at the most inappropriate times (remember that), a mystery surrounding some Emeralds lost during the Revolution along with Dallas’ discovery of a long hidden wall painting that may reveal a clue to the location of those emeralds.

On paper that all sounds appealing to fans of Holt and the romantic suspense genre, but unfortunately this one fell flat as a pancake – at least for this reader. I just did not warm to Dallas; I found no chemistry whatsoever between Dallas and the Comté, Genevieve pretty whiny and irritating, a mystery that wasn’t much of a mystery at all, and worst of all a baddie was pretty easy to guess. Meh. Only for die-hard fans of Holt set on reading all of her books, otherwise I suggest you pass.

Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt

A good comfort book

Raised by a wealthy distant cousin after the death of her mother, Ellen Kellaway is forever reminded that she is the Poor Relation. Resigned to her eventual fate as a governess, she is suddenly taken by surprise when childhood friend Phillip Carrington declares his love and proposes a whirlwind marriage, much to the chagrin of Cousin Agatha who was counting on wealthy Phillip marrying her daughter Esmeralda. Curiously, Phillip’s family is thrilled with the match to a girl with nary a penny to her name. Fate takes a sudden turn before the marriage can happen, and out of the blue appears a distant relative from her father’s side of the family offering her a home on Far Island off the coast of Cornwall. Ellen loves the island and the Castle the Kellaways built hundreds of years ago (dungeons and all), and she soon finds herself falling in love with the island’s owner, Jag Kellaway.

In true Holt fashion, Ellen soon finds herself in the midst of a mystery and things begin to go bump in the night. What is it about her father that none of the villagers wish to talk about? Why did her mother pack up and leave him when Ellen was little more than a toddler? What about the drawings her mother left behind, including one of the room she’s been seeing in her dreams for years? Who is the mysterious girl Silva raised on the Island and presumed dead? Is Ellen just accident prone or is someone trying to do her in? If so, why?

While I enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to Holt fans, it just doesn’t quite come up to a four star read. Perhaps it’s because she took too long setting up Ellen’s background and romance with Phillip and then realized at the end she had to hurry up and wrap-things-up-before-the-book-gets-too-long. It is a good book and a perfect comfort book for cuddling up with on a rainy afternoon; it’s just not a great one.

Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart

 

“Somehow, in that unguarded moment of memory, he had managed to reach me”

Bryony Ashley’s father is critically injured by a hit and run driver, and he’s only able to live long enough to leave a cryptic warning that she’s in danger, the rest of his words seem to make no sense at all. Or do they? Devastated, she returns to her cottage near Ashley Court, the family’s ancient estate in England, which cannot be sold or broken up without the approval of all members of the Ashley family. As she tries to sort the puzzle left by her father, Bryony also has a secret of her own to resolve – longer than she can remember she’s had a telepathic connection with an unknown “lover” who she believes will reveal himself in the flesh to her when the time is right, and she’s always felt it was her cousin James. Or is it James’ younger brother Francis? I promise, you will never guess.

Ashley soon finds things amiss at the Court. Small, but valuable items are missing. A mysterious stranger is spotted shuffling through church records, and a book of ancient records turns up missing. Who is the Cat her fathered referred to in his last words – the family emblem of the Scottish Wildcat and their motto Touch not the cat? Or is Cat for Cathy, the Underhill’s daughter? How is it that the long neglected garden maze is the same design as the family emblem? Is there a secret tied into the pavilion at the center of the maze, and the Ashley ancestor who built it for his lovers? What secret does the book found in the old library with the same family emblem hold?

Need the answers? Read it for yourself. Although this one started off a bit slow and it took me forever to see where Stewart was taking the story, once she gets all the lose ends wrapped up they all came together in a spectacular nail-biting finish in the midst of a whopper of a storm with deadly consequences. There are plentiful twists, turns and surprises that will keep you guessing and turning the pages. A definite must for Stewart fans.

The Moon Spinners by Mary Stewart

Why do I love Mary’s writing? Let me count the ways:

“Sometimes, when you’re deep in the countryside, you meet three girls, walking along the hill tracks in the dusk, spinning. They each have a spindle, and on to these they are spinning their wool, milk-white, like the moonlight. In fact, it is the moonlight, the moon itself, which is why they don’t carry a distaff. They’re not Fates, or anything terrible; they don’t affect the lives of men; all they have to do is to see that the world gets its hours of darkness, and they do this by spinning the moon down out of the sky. Night after night, you can see the moon getting less and less, the ball of light waning, while it grown on the spindles of the maidens. Then, at length, the moon is gone, and the world has darkness, and rest…..

…on the darkest night, the maidens take their spindles down to the sea, to wash their wool. And the wool slips from the spindles into the water, and unravels in long ripples of light from the shore to the horizon, and there is the moon again, rising above the sea….Only when all the wool is washed, and wound again into a white ball in the sky, can the moon-spinners start their work once more….”

Wow. Can this woman write or what? Nicola Ferris takes a vacation from her job at the British Embassy in Athens and plans on meeting her cousin Frances in a small village on the island of Crete. Arriving a day early, she decides to traipse through the White Mountains and in true Stewart fashion soon finds herself in the thick of danger, mystery and of course a hero in need of feminine assistance. Mark Langley and his younger brother Colin had been attacked after witnessing a crime, Mark was wounded and they assume Colin is murdered or been taken hostage. Nicola spends a night tending to Mark as Lambis goes for supplies and she is then forcefully sent on her way to forget what she’s seen and continue her holiday. But of course it’s not quite as simple as that and once settled into her hotel she recognizes Mark’s attackers from the description he gave her and the adventure begins.

And that’s all I’m going to tell. What follows is a darn-near unputdownable tale of mystery, cat-and-mouse intrigues and unexpected plot turns all leading up to one incredible nail-biting finish (I must get hold of the film now). I really enjoyed the characters of Nicola and Mark, they had just the right spark and spunkiness to play off of each other and add a perfect light-heartedness to the story (lol, his comments at the end where she had to wear his brother’s slightly too tight pants), and I loved the way she can set up her scenes – everything on the island literally came alive for me from the tiniest flower, to the windmills, the mountains as well as those treacherous rocks alongside the bay. She made me want to jump on a plane and see it all for myself. Don’t miss this one – I’m now off to get my hands on the movie.

The Gabriel Hounds by Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart puts her own spin on the Hester Stanhope legend as second cousins Christy and Charles Mansel, while on separate holidays, bump into each other on a street called Straight in Damascus. With the devil may care attitude of the wealthy and privileged, the two decide to look up Great Aunt Harriet, an infamous recluse holed up in her palace in the mountains outside of Beirut. Christy gets there first and after literally barging her way in soon finds herself in the midst of a seriously creepy palace right out of the Arabian Nights peopled with insolent servants, crumbling plaster, leaking roofs as well as the hounds who prowl the grounds at night like the spectral Gabriel hounds of the otherworld.

And that is really about all of the plot I am willing to give away – any more and I’d ruin it for you. Suffice it to say that Christy and Charles soon find themselves in the thick of things as they try to unravel the mystery surrounding their reclusive Aunt Harriet and the servants determined to keep her away from all visitors. I loved loved loved the way Stewart set the scenes, particularly the very spooky palace with the secret staircases, hidden doorways, crumbling plaster, a rusty nail breaking the silence as it falls, all topped off with a fabulous nail biting finish as the island in the midst of the Seraglio (harem) becomes the author’s own take on Noah’s Ark during a sinking ship. Despite being a bit too wealthy and spoiled, the banter between Christy and Charles was fun and refreshing and added the perfect zest to your basic heroine in peril needing to be rescued by the hero. 4/5 stars.

Bride of Pendorric by Victoria Holt

 Eking out a living with her widowed father in his art studio on the island of Capri, Favel is swept off her feet by visitor Roc Pendorric and they are married, although her happiness is marred by the sudden death of her father. Upon arrival at Roc’s Cornwall estate, Favel learns of the legend of the Brides of Pendorric – married into the family for their money and die mysterious deaths at a young age and then destined to haunt the halls until another bride dies and takes her place. Not surprisingly, things soon begin to go bump in the night – is it possible that the ghost of Roc’s mother really does haunt the home? Is Favel destined to be the next Bride of Pendorric to die and haunt the mansion, or is something more sinister involved?

As Favel begins to experience unusual accidents she begins to wonder about her husband Roc. Did he really fall in love with her or was there an ulterior motive? How did he happen to show up at their studio in Capri? Just a coincidence or did he know her father beforehand? What about the three former lovers of Roc? Do they want Favel out of the way? Or is it Favel’s sister or one or her two young daughters? Who is the mysterious wealthy old man in the large

Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart

A mystery, a romance and the perfect blend of gothic spookiness, what’s not to love? Linda Martin arrives at the Chateaux Valmy high in the French Alps to care for young Comte Philippe, recently orphaned and in the care of his uncle Leon and step-aunt Heloise de Valmy. When Leon’s son Raoul arrives, Linda finds herself falling in love, although things are not as they appear and Philippe begins to have several life threatening accidents. Or are they accidents? Is there something more sinister involved? Could the person behind these attempts want to set Linda up as the scapegoat? What about her beloved Raoul? Could he have a part in this deadly scheme?

That’s about all I’m going to tell, you know I’m not into book reports or spoilers. Linda was a charming Jane Eyre-ish type of heroine, and I loved the dark mysterious Raoul (ooh, that midnight “buffet”). Stewart has a lovely, subtle style of story telling and keeps the plot moving without too much in-your-face telling instead of showing and very reminiscent of Du Maurier. I also loved how she worked the mists and clouds of the high mountains (as well as that hair raising zig-zag drive to the Chateaux) to set a properly spooky atmosphere,

“Out into a patch of clear darkness, and then another cloud was on us, but this time thin, so that our yellow-dimmed lights made rainbows in it that wisped away along our wings, and we were through.”

All in all a perfect book to cuddle up with for a rainy day, my only complaint is she took a tad bit too long to wrap all the lose ends up, so I’m knocking off one star. 4/5.

Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart

Tags

Mary Stewart, Romantic Suspense

   A perfect book to snuggle up to on a stormy afternoon

Page 51,”The whispering stopped. It stopped as abruptly as an engine shuts off steam. Silence dropped like a blanket, so that in a matter of seconds the memory of the sound seemed illusory, while the silence itself surged with millions of whisperings, all equally unreal. But the sense of desperation was still there, even in the silence. It was as if the stillness were a held breath, that might burst at any moment in a scream.”

Page 142,
“I turned to look back at Blaven, only to find that the mist was, indeed, rolling down the slopes behinds us like a tide of smoking lava. Blaven was already invisible, and a great wall of mist bore steadily across the glen behind us, obliterating the afternoon.”

Can that woman write or not? Seeking relief from her hectic life as a model as well as the crush for the 1953 coronation, divorcee Gianetta leaves London for a vacation at a rustic resort on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, although she’s a bit flummoxed at the surprise appearance of her ex-husband Nicholas Drury as one of the inn’s guests. Gianetta soon finds herself in the midst of a murder mystery with a dead body or two and suspects everywhere – a local girl was murdered in a ritual resembling the ancient Beltane rites.

Soon two female guests disappear while climbing Blaven – but who was the third person seen heading towards the mountain with them? Could Gianetta be marked as the next victim? Inquiring minds want to know, but I am not telling – read it for yourself. This was a fabulous fast paced read and Stewart keeps you guessing to the very end with a doozy of a nail-biting finish set amongst the swirling mists, shifting bogs and the rocky crags of the Cuillin on the Isle of Skye.  Written in the 1950′s its a bit dated in places (I just cringed every time someone tossed a cigarette but down the mountainside) but other than that another solid read from Dame Mary Stewart.

A very cool pic of Blaven and those treacherous mists can be seen here, and don’t miss looking at the rest of her work. Awesome.