A Dreadful Splendour

By B.R. Myers. Harper Collins.

Back when I was a teenager, we didn’t have the lovely young adult books available today. Once you were beyond what I called chapter books that were common for young readers, there were only adult books to read. I quickly took to reading books my mom read, many of them gothic romances. Think Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, etc. I loved the combination of mystery, darkness and romance these combined. This genre seems to have fallen off my radar upon adulthood.

While this book isn’t quite the same, it is a gothic murder mystery and there is a romance that evolves. And it definitely evokes some of the feelings of those books from my youth.

Genevieve Timmons is a spiritualist who communes with the dead for clientele that consists mostly of rich families wanting to come to terms with the loss of a loved one. Unfortunately, her sham trade lands her in trouble with the law and she’s just a step away from the noose when she is suddenly whisked away to a country estate to ease the upset of Mr. Pemberton on the loss of his fiancee. But when she gets there, she is met with a man who believes his fiancee was murdered and insists upon her assistance to discover the perpetrator.

The story goes through twists and turns and we come across a few red herrings. It’s very well done and keeps the reader guessing until the end when all is revealed. We come to know both of the main characters by looking to their backgrounds and we meet a cast of characters who have a variety of motivations. It’s all perfect for such a gothic mystery and is a delight to the end.

Overall, I give this four solid stars.