Violence and murder and old tragedies. How about a historical mystery featuring a leading theatre family in London that is also a family of thieves? Sarah Rayne’s Chalice of Darkness, featuring the Fitzglens, promises all of that.
The Fitzglens are a leading theatre family in 1908 London, owners of the Amaranth theater. They are also all charming criminals, thieves who only steal from the rich. Jack Fitzglen has a plan for the family’s latest filch. Fifteen years earlier, the Talisman Chalice disappeared. Jack has two photographs and a letter to his late father who died in a fire at the Amaranth. The photos show a woman named Maude with the chalice just before it disappeared, with a warning to Jack’s father, Aiden, not to come near Vallow Hall.
Jack has found Vallow Hall in northern England, in Northumberland. He plans to find the chalice, steal it, and use it in the next production at the Amaranth. While Jack sets his plans in motion, Byron Fitzglen, the family writer, and Jack’s dresser, Gus, will dig into the superstition that the chalice brings bad luck to those who aren’t the rightful owners. With Jack’s arrival at Vallow Hall, a dark drama of violence and murder and old tragedies, combining Maude’s story and historical legend, comes to a head.
You know where this is going, right? Chalice of Darkness is an enjoyable gothic novel, with two monstrous houses, and several evil characters. And, of course, Jack Fitzglen and the family are not villains, despite their stories as thieves. Instead, Jack manages to be heroic. And, Rayne’s notes describing the basis for her mystery is intriguing. Rayne’s Chalice of Darkness is a promising start to a new series.
Sarah Rayne’s website is https://www.sarahrayne.co.uk/
Chalice of Darkness by Sarah Rayne. Severn House, 2023. ISBN 9781448306404 (hardcover), 288p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I downloaded a galley from NetGalley to review for a journal.
