Quite a last couple days. Drove to Akron on Sunday, a two hour drive, and went to see The High Kings and Gaelic Storm in concert on St. Patrick’s Day. What a high energy show! Exhausted afterwards, and I wasn’t a performer. Then, we drove back in snow yesterday, and had Guinness Irish stew and soda bread at my brother-in-law’s last night for dinner. Frankly, I’m just ready to sleep.
But, before I do that, I’ll give you a peek ahead to Carol Goodman’s new gothic mystery. Return to Wyldcliffe Heights comes out July 30. I’m currently reading it for review. Goodman wrote two books that won the Mary Higgins Clark Award. The Widow’s House won in 2017, and The Night Visitors won in 2019. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, says that, in her opinion, a gothic has to have a great house. Both of Goodman’s winning books did, and so does Return to Wyldcliffe Heights. Here’s the publisher’s summary.
Jane Eyre meets The Thirteenth Tale in this new modern gothic mystery from two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Carol Goodman, about a reclusive writer who is desperate to rewrite the past.
Losing yourself inside of a book can be dangerous. Not everyone finds their way out.
Agnes Corey, a junior editor at a small independent publisher, has been hired by enigmatic author Veronica St. Clair to transcribe the sequel to her 1993 hit phenomenon, The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights. St. Clair has been a recluse since the publication of the Jane Eyre-esque book, which coincided with a terrible fire that blinded and scarred her. Arriving in the Hudson Valley at St. Clair’s crumbling estate, which was once a psychiatric hospital for “wayward women,” Agnes is eager to ensure St. Clair’s devoted fans will get the sequel they’ve been anticipating for the past thirty years.
As St. Clair dictates, Agnes realizes there are clues in the story that reveal the true—and terrifying—events three decades ago that inspired the original novel. The line between fact and fiction becomes increasingly blurred, and Agnes discovers terrible secrets about an unresolved murder from long ago, which have startling connections to her own life. As St. Clair’s twisting tale infiltrates Agnes’s psyche, Agnes begins to question her own sanity—and safety. In order to save herself, Agnes must uncover what really happened to St. Clair, and in doing so, set free the stories of all the women victimized by Wyldcliffe Heights.
I’ll remind you about this book for Treasures, and at the end of July.
Glad you are safely home. It was sixty here. Clear skies and some wind. Snow free zone. 😎
Snow! I hate snow. I’d take 60!
I used to annoy Sandi with insisting that snow was really just just Flat Hail. I said it so much one day as we were shopping in a grocery store before a storm hit here, that she screamed out, “Will you shut the F5cK Up?” Made several people crack up when I said something along the lines of –Babe, We are inside. You need to use your inside voice.
We did not shop there again for over six months.
I can see why you didn’t go back for six months!
Back in college, I used to get up at 5 in the morning to eat green eggs and ham and drink green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. Good times!
Oh, to eat green eggs and ham. That’s funny, Glen. And, if you remember good times, the green beer must not have been bad.
Oooh, as a devoted Brontë fan – visiting the parsonage and walking the moors they walked is #1 on my bucket list – this sounds wonderful!
I’ve only read a fourth so far, Ellen, but I think you’ll like it!
Guinness Irish stew? Yum. Count me in!
It was near 90 here yesterday, but surprisingly, it was fairly comfortable. Back to the low 70s today, thankfully.
Oh, it was great, Jeff! I have plenty of leftovers!
After the snow, I’d take 90 or 70.
It’s only Tuesday, but the second reference I’ve seen this week to The Thirteen Tale. Might be time for a reread.
Well, that’s interesting, MM.