Book picks similar to
Crystal Shadows by Michele Y. Thomas


gothic
historical-romance
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The Shadowing


Rhiannon Ward - 2021
    Mercy was pregnant - both her and the baby are said to be dead of cholera, but the workhouse hasn't had an outbreak for years.Hester discovers a strange trend in the workhouse of children going missing. One woman tells her about the Pale Lady, a ghostly figure that steals babies in the night. Is this lady a myth or is something more sinister afoot at the Southwell poorhouse?As Hester investigates, she uncovers a conspiracy, one that someone is determined to keep a secret, no matter the cost...

The Secret of Greystone Hall


Elizabeth Wilde - 2014
    Then suddenly the man vanished. All too soon she finds that the corridors of the gloomy mansion are filled with sinister secrets. To her sheer horror she begins to question whether the old man could be behind terrifying events that shrouded the ancient walls and stalked her into the very shadows of death and madness.

In the Shadow of Lakecrest


Elizabeth Blackwell - 2017
    Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape—as long as she can keep her past concealed.After exchanging wedding vows, Kate quickly discovers that something isn’t quite right with her husband—or her new family. As Mrs. Matthew Lemont, she must contend with her husband’s disturbing past, his domineering mother, and his overly close sister. Isolated at Lakecrest, the sprawling, secluded Lemont estate, she searches desperately for clues to Matthew’s terrors, which she suspects stem from the mysterious disappearance of his aunt years before. As Kate stumbles deeper into a maze of family secrets, she begins to question everyone’s sanity—especially her own. But just how far will she go to break free of this family’s twisted past?

Tregaron's Daughter


Madeleine Brent - 1971
    It had been a sunny afternoon when she glanced from the cliff where she sat reading and saw below her in the sea a sight that would change her life.Set in England and Italy in 1910, this is the story of a young English girl who by accident starts to unravel the unknown elements of her grandmother's past and is brought by the mystery to the faraway city of Venice. There among the gondolas and canals, she slowly comes to comprehend the meaning of two strange and puzzling dreams--dreams that seem to hold an eerie and menancing prophecy of the future.Here is all the grandeur and excitement of the ageless glory of Venice and the handsome beauty of the English countryside combined in the romantic and suspenseful story of a young girl's confrontation with the past.

A Hero's Heart


Sylvia McDaniel - 1998
    Then her father was murdered in a vicious Indian raid, leaving Rachel and her family alone on the rigorous trail west. A hardened gambler with seductive eyes was the only man to deliver them to safety and Rachel to a passion she had never known.UNTIL HE GAMBLED ON LOVE Wade Ketchum might have been raised in a saloon, but he was determined to find the only family he had left in the world. A spinster with a wagonload of Bibles and three small children was more trouble than he needed along the way. Yet he couldn't leave them to the trail's cruelties. And he couldn't deny the desire that overwhelmed him whenever he kissed the lovely woman who believed that he still had a heart.

The Dead Travel Fast


Deanna Raybourn - 2010
    With a modest inheritance and the three gowns that comprise her entire wardrobe, Theodora leaves Edinburgh--and a disappointed suitor--far behind. She is bound for Rumania, where tales of vampires are still whispered, to visit an old friend and write the book that will bring her true independence.She arrives at a magnificent, decaying castle in the Carpathians, replete with eccentric inhabitants: the ailing dowager; the troubled steward; her own fearful friend, Cosmina. But all are outstripped in dark glamour by the castle's master, Count Andrei Dragulescu.Bewildering and bewitching in equal measure, the brooding nobleman ignites Theodora's imagination and awakens passions in her that she can neither deny nor conceal. His allure is superlative, his dominion over the superstitious town, absolute--Theodora may simply be one more person under his sway.Before her sojourn is ended--or her novel completed--Theodora will have encountered things as strange and terrible as they are seductive. For obsession can prove fatal...and she is in danger of falling prey to more than desire.

Wildfire at Midnight


Mary Stewart - 1956
    She was standing as if frozen, her back to me, her hands up to her throat.Then she screamed, a high, tearing scream."The murderer. Oh my God, the murderer. . . ."She grabbed my arm and pointed to the bed, her lips shaking so much that she couldn't speak coherently.I stared down at the bed, while the slow goose flesh pricked up my spine.Lying on the coverlet was a doll, the kind of frivolous doll I had seen dozens of times.But this one was different.It was lying flat on its back on the bed, with its legs straight out and its hands crossed on its breast. The contents of an ash tray had been scattered over it, and a great red gash gleamed across its neck, where its throat was cut from ear to ear... A young crofter's daughter is cruelly and ritually murdered on the bleak Scottish mountainside. In the deceptively idyllic Camasunary Hotel nearby, the beautiful but troubled, Gianetta Brooke cannot seem to escape her pain or her past -- not even in the remote hotel on the Scottish Isle of Skye. When she discovers that her ex-husband has booked into the same hotel, the peaceful holiday for which she had hoped takes on quite another complexion.Very soon Gianetta finds herself tangled in a web of rising fear and suspicion. One of her fellow guests, however, is also hiding secrets... and a skill and penchant for murder. And now the killer only has eyes for Gianetta....

Dark Desires


Eve Silver - 2005
    Damien Cole. Ignoring the whispered warnings and rumours that he's a man to fear, she takes her position at his eerie estate, where she quickly discovers that nothing is at it seems, least of all her handsome and brooding employer. As Darcie struggles with her fierce attraction to Damien, she must also deal with the blood, the disappearances ... and the murders.With her options dwindling and time running out, Darcie must rely on her instincts as she confronts the man she falling in love with. Is he an innocent and misunderstood man ... or a remorseless killer who prowls the East End streets?Note: All books in the Dark Gothic series can be read as stand-alone novels.

The Secret of Mirror House


Jennifer Blake - 1969
     After Amelia Harveston loses her mother to tragic circumstances, she fears she will be forced into poverty and the position of a desperate woman. When distant relatives invite her to live with them at Mirror House, the plantation home built by her grandfather, she readily accepts. Her expectations of a warm family embrace where she'll be loved and protected, though, are soon shattered. Mirror House is a home haunted by the past, by dark secrets and by the cruel games its inhabitants play. Alone and with no one to confide in, Amelia struggles to unearth the house's secrets. Then the accidents begin, and Amelia knows she's become the target for the hate that infests it. Out of the despair, two seeming allies appear. Two offers of marriage promise sanctuary. Both men claim to love her. One of them is lying. Amelia must choose the one man whose embrace promises the love and safety her very life depends on. But the house, it seems, has other ideas...

The Mystery at Falconbridge Hall: An atmospheric historical mystery and a slow-burn romance!


Maggi Andersen - 2012
    When the position of governess at Falconbridge Hall, a huge rambling mansion in the countryside outside London, is offered to her, she considers herself well qualified to teach Blyth, his lordship’s ten-year-old daughter. A scientist and dedicated lepidopterist, Julian, Lord Falconbridge, is about to embark on an expedition to the Amazon in search of exotic butterflies. An enigmatic man, he takes a keen interest in his daughter's education, and Vanessa fears that he may disapprove of her modern methods. While Vanessa prepares her young charge to enter into the modern world, she finds the girl far too subdued. As she learns more about Blyth and her new home, more questions arise. Why doesn't the child feel safe? Why is the death of her mother, once famed society beauty Clara, never spoken of? And why did the former governess leave suddenly without giving notice? “The author deserves high praise for her ability to capture the reader’s attention and engage one in both the mystery and the romance of this delightful story!” InD’Tale Magazine

To Woo an Heiress Boxed Set


Lindsay Randall - 2015
     Includes: Lady Lissa's Liaison: Too many suitors hungering her newly-acquired inheritance, Lady Lissa Lovington plants a devious rumor: she's had a liaison with the notorious Earl of Wylde. The rumor works like a charm, until the mercurial Lord Wylde returns to turn the tables. Miss Marcie's Mischief: After escaping Mistress Cheltenham's School for Young Ladies on the eve of Saint Valentine's Day, heiress Marcie Darlington is nearly run down by the London Mail Coach, commandeered by the Marquis of Sherringham. Both are trying to escape a scheming Cupid. Neither will succeed. A Dangerous Courtship: Traveling to the Yorkshire moors by horseback to investigate another of her naïve friends' suitors, Veronica is set upon by a pack of wild dogs—and rescued by a handsome stranger who also seems on the brink of madness. Reviews: "Ms. Randall displays a wonderful talent for writing humor." ~Rendezvous To Woo an Heiress, in series order Lady Lissa's Liaison Miss Marcie's Mischief A Dangerous Courtship Miss Meredith's Marriage Also by Lindsay Randall Rescued by a Cowboy Slow Dance with a Cowboy For Love of a Princess Meet Lindsay Randall By day, Lindsay is a development writer for a private university. By night, she pursues her passion—writing romance. She's written twelve novels and has received a Reviewers Choice Award from RT BookReviews.

The Orphan of Cemetery Hill


Hester Fox - 2020
    It makes her special, but it also makes her dangerous.As an orphaned child, she fled with her sister, Alice, from their charlatan aunt Bellefonte, who wanted only to exploit Tabby’s gift so she could profit from the recent craze for seances.Now a young woman and tragically separated from Alice, Tabby works with her adopted father, Eli, the kind caretaker of a large Boston cemetery. When a series of macabre grave robberies begins to plague the city, Tabby is ensnared in a deadly plot by the perpetrators, known only as the “Resurrection Men.”In the end, Tabby’s gift will either save both her and the cemetery—or bring about her own destruction.

Death in Kashmir


M.M. Kaye - 1953
    M. Kaye, Death in Kashmir is a wonderfully evocative mystery ...When young Sarah Parrish takes a skiing vacation to Gulmarg, a resort nestled in the mountains above the fabled Vale of Kashmir, she anticipates an entertaining but uneventful stay. But when she discovers that the deaths of two in her party are the result of foul play, she finds herself entrusted with a mission of unforeseen importance. And when she leaves the ski slopes for the Waterwitch, a private houseboat on the placid shores of the Dal Lake near Srinagar, she discovers to her horror that the killer will stop at nothing to prevent Sarah from piecing the puzzle together.

Moura


Virginia Coffman - 1959
    Once there, Anne found herself fascinated by Edmond, the brooding surly master of Moura.

Falconridge


Jennifer Wilde - 1969
    When lovely, young Lauren Moore arrives at Falconridge, a mysterious mansion with many hidden secrets, to live with relatives, she becomes caught up in the house's dark mysteries and falls in love with a man who might be the evil force behind it all.