The Secret of Everdon Manor: A modern Gothic (Everdon Series Book 1)


L.C. Kincaide - 2017
    Almost immediately, she is drawn into the family’s dark and violent history and realizes that all is not as it first appeared. Wary guests, family secrets, and unexplained events leave her questioning what is real and what is illusion.What promised to be a fabulous weekend getaway at the family’s ancestral Georgian manor quickly devolves into a nightmare. Someone has an ulterior motive for keeping her trapped there, and by the time she discovers why, it may be too late.

The Eye Stones


Harriet Esmond - 1975
     She soon discovers that both her sister and her new husband have tragically perished in a fire which destroyed their home. Alone in the bleak Norfolk brecklands, Deborah is at first forced to accept hospitality from the handsome yet forbidding widower, Sir Randall Gaunt. Yet even when Deborah later stumbles upon the warm companionship of Lord Stannard, the charming young aristocrat wooing her with such passionate urgency, the strange events that follow cause her feelings of uneasiness to grow. And then, before long Deborah becomes inextricably involved in a nightmare of unimaginable evil…

The Shivering Sands & The Secret Woman


Victoria Holt - 1983
    There, she finds herself caught up in the drama of that ancient house and the unusual members of the Stacy family. When Caroline Verlaine's sister, the archaeologist Roma, disappears, Caroline is forced down to Lovat Stacy in an attempt to discover what has happened. She finds herself caught up in the drama of the ancient house and with the unusual members of the Stacy family. But it is Napier Stacy, recently returned from years of banishment for apparently killing his brother, who she is especially drawn to. Napier is haunted by the tragedy, and Caroline becomes determined that he should put his past behind him and not allow, what she insists was an accident, to cloud his life for ever. At the same time, she becomes equally determined to solve the mystery of her own sister's disappearance. Why has Roma vanished? Was it an accident or has she been murdered? As the tension mounts Caroline soon realizes that this quest to uncover the truth is a dangerous one and is marking her out as the next victim. /////// 2) The Secret Woman (1970) - To all appearances, Anna Brett was a quiet, capable young woman whose only ambition was to carry on the profitable antiques business bequeathed her by a spinster aunt. And so she was - until the memory of a cherished moment with a blue-eyed stranger suddenly returned to haunt her with savage intensity. It was then Anna discovered the secret woman who waited within her - impetuous, daring . . . and dangerous.

The Mystery of Drury House


Elizabeth Wilde - 2015
    For Jack Saxon, a semi-retired magician from the mainland, the icy weather is an acquired taste to say the least. After Saxon inherits an enormous mansion and vast fortune from an eccentric recluse named Drury, disturbing things begin happening on the island. A young girl vanishes without a trace. A woman takes her own life under mysterious circumstances. And finally, a vicious murder is committed, shocking the peaceful residents of the normally placid island. All too soon, Saxon finds himself in the middle of a deadly game of madness and deception… Original American title: Mystery of the Red Alders

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King - A 30-Minute Summary


Instaread Summaries - 2014
    Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King - A 30-minute Summary of the Novel Inside this Instaread Summary: Overview of the entire bookIntroduction to the Important people in the bookSummary and analysis of all the chapters in the bookKey Takeaways of the bookA Reader's Perspective Preview of this summary: Part1Chapter 1Down-on-his-luck, Augie Odenkirk helps homeless Janice Cray care for her baby as they wait in the early morning fog for a job fair. A gray Mercedes plows into the crowd. Augie, Janice and the baby are among the victims.Part 2Chapters 1-3About a year after the Mercedes crash, Retired Detective K. William Hodges watches more grubby reality shows, fails to enjoy his beer, and thinks, again, of shooting himself. The arrival of the mail distracts him. A letter, allegedly from the driver of the killer Mercedes, stuns him. The writer brags about killing eight and wounding many. He says that he got off sexually at he drove into the crowd. He wore a condom and used bleach to get rid of any DNA. He wore a hair net under a clown mask for the same reason. He knows Hodges is miserable and hopes the letter cheers him up. He gives Hodges a website where they can talk, including a username: kermitfrog19.Chapters 4-6Hodges wonders if he should turn the letter over to his former partner, Pete Huntley. He believes the writer is the killer because he knows inside information about the condom and the bleach. The idea of using this letter, and chats on line, to catch the killer gives Hodges a reason to live.Chapter 7-9Hodges analyzes the letter and sees that the writer has several identifying traits, including misusing perk for perp and peppering his words with an image of a smiley face. The same smiley face was glued onto the steering wheel of the Mercedes. Hodges calls Pete and makes a lunch date....

The Deadly Travellers


Dorothy Eden - 1959
    But when a small Italian girl, whom she had been hired to escort across Europe, vanished into thin air on the Paris Express, even Kate was assailed by doubts and fears. Why had no-one admitted to seeing the girl board the train? And which of the two men in Kate's life was desperately trying to kill her? Caught in a terrifying web of betrayal and deceit, accused on all sides of being the victim of hallucinations, Kate found herself questioning which was the friend, and which the enemy—with absolutely no help to hand.

Calamity Jayne Boxed Set


Kathleen Bacus - 2011
    Tressa is determined to prove there's more to this cockeyed cowgirl than meets the eye and she’s just been handed the perfect opportunity to get "Ranger Rick" and a skeptical citizenry to finally take her seriously. How? By solving a murder no one else believes happened...No one, that is, except the killer. CALAMITY JAYNE RIDES AGAINTressa’s off to the State Fair to work at her Uncle Frank’s ice cream concession stand. But when a soft-serve saboteur appears at the same time her cousin, Frankie, goes missing, it's another fine, sticky mess she's gotten herself into. With a string of malicious pranks, to scary, psycho dunk-tank clowns, two geriatric Jessica Fletcher wannabes, a dishy state trooper, and a sister who may have her eye on a certain ranger-type, and it's mayhem on the midway time. GHOULS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUNTressa thinks she on to a scoop when eccentric and reclusive bestselling writer, Elizabeth Courtney Howard comes to Grandville to finish her latest book. So, what's stopping Tressa from scoring this journalistic coup? Only the fact that the skeletons to uncover in this little exposé are all in a closet in Haunted Holloway Hall--a house only Norman Bates could love.CALAMITY JAYNE GOES TO COLLEGEAce cub reporter Tressa Jayne Turner is back in college and nothing’s going to stop Tressa from making the grade. Well, except for a wrinkled roommate rekindling an old flame, maid of honor madness run amok, a botched betrothal that’s more than just schoolyard gossip and a campus criminal out to teach the student body a lesson—one one crime at a time. Failure is so not an option.CALAMITY JAYNE HEADS WESTTressa Jayne Turner’s off to Arizona to see her gammy hitched. Her cousin’s keeping secrets, Ranger Rick Townsend is sending signals—more of the smokin’ than smoke variety—and it seems Tressa’s not the only person with an attachment to “Kookamunga”, the fertility figurine she picked up at a roadside stand. Throw in a washed-up actress out to kick-start her career, a suspect spiritual advisor, locals with a cause, and a ten-year-old who’s a chip off a certain ranger’s blockhead and it’ll be a vision quest to make Thelma and Louise’s southwestern spree seem like amateur night at the OK Corral. May the best spirit guide win.ANCHORS AWEIGHTressa Jayne is off on a post-wedding cruise. Good food. Warm beaches. Romantic sunsets. Nothing can take the wind out of Tressa’s sails this time. Nothing that is except this particular Love Boat has Iceberg ahead! written all over it. Why? It’s a lo-cal “biggest loser” cruise, Tressa’s bad-boy faux fiancé and his marriage-minded aunt Mo are stowaways, and Tressa’s barely got her sea les before a dastardly murder plot bobs to the surface and Tressa Jayne knows just how Capt. Jack Sparrow feels when the rum is gone. Yo ho ho and a bottle of V-8!

The John Connolly Collection #2: The White Road, The Black Angel, and The Unquiet


John Connolly - 2012
    It's a case that nobody wants to touch, deeply rooted in old evil—and old evil is Charlie Parker's specialty. He's about to enter a living nightmare, a dreamscape of sorrow haunted by the murderous specter of a hooded woman, by a black car waiting for a passenger that never comes, and by the sinister complicity of both friends and enemies in Larousse's brutal death. Soon, all will face a final reckoning in an unearthly realm where the paths of the living and the dead converge. A place known only as the White Road. THE BLACK ANGELWhen a young woman disappears from the streets of New York City, ties of friendship and blood inevitably draw ingenious, tortured detective Charlie Parker into the search. Soon he discovers links to a church of bones in Eastern Europe, a 1944 slaughter at a French monastery, and to the myth of an object known as the Black Angel—considered by evil men to be beyond priceless. But the Black Angel is not a legend. It is real. It lives. It dreams. And the mystery of its existence may contain the secret of Parker's own origins. THE UNQUIETDaniel Clay, a once-respected psychiatrist, has gone missing. His daughter insists that he killed himself after allegations surfaced surrounding the harm done to patients in his care. Now, a killer obsessed with finding the truth about his own daughter’s disappearance is seeking revenge—and private investigator Charlie Parker finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Clay’s disappearance to be revealed, and those who will go to any length—no matter the cost—to keep a deep, dark secret about a local town hidden.

Rock Paper Scissors Sneak Peek


Alice Feeney - 2021
    Rock Paper Scissors is an exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, about a couple who thinks they know each other well, but realize on a ten year anniversary trip things might not be all that they seem... Rock Paper Scissors goes on sale September 7.

Sandra Brown Suspense Collection: The Switch, Envy, The Crush


Sandra Brown - 2003
    The next morning Gillain is found brutally butchered in her own bed. Determined to avenge the murder, Melina vows to stop at nothing to learn the truth. But soon she is on the run from police, the FBI, and the mastermind whose evil plot to engineer the perfect "switch" could result in disastrous consequences on a global scale."ENVY"Read by Victor SlezakBook editor Maris Matherly-Reed receives a tantalizing partial manuscript submitted by a writer identified only as P.M.E. Curiosity compels her to track down the author, Parker Evans, and work with him to complete the novel. But as the story unfolds, Maris becomes convinced it is more than just fiction. When someone close to her dies, the presence of evil looms even closer..."THE CRUSH"Read by Tom WopatWhile serving as a juror on a high-profile murder trial, Dr. Rennie Newton finds herself defending the inalienable rights of the accused -- even though there is considerable evidence of his guilt. When she arrives home, five dozen roses ominously await her. As she becomes the obsession of Lozada -- the accused murderer she helped acquit -- Rennie is drawn into a ferocious endgame with an embittered cop who wants Lozada -- by any means necessary.

The Vanished Bride of Northfield House


Phyllis M. Newman - 2019
    Times are hard. Anne Chatham is a clever, modest young woman with little money, no prospects for marriage, and a never-shared secret—she can see spirits. Anne finds employment as a typist at Northfield House, the grand country manor of the Wellington family. Her employer, the wheelchair-bound Mr. Wellington, is kindly. His haughty wife is not. He has two handsome sons, the wry and dashing Thomas and the dark and somber Owen. Anne feels sure her prayers have been heard. Until the terrifying night she stumbles upon a tortured spirit roaming the dark halls of Northfield, a spirit that only she can see. In a search for answers, she finds herself drawn to Owen as they unearth a tragic story from the Wellington family’s past—a beautiful young bride gone missing on her wedding day. Then tragedy strikes again on the night of a glittering masquerade ball...

House of Men


Catherine Cookson - 1977
    Even so, Kate found it difficult to understand his peculiar hatred of his elder brother Logan, on whose charity Maurice was obliged to depend. But when she accidentally stumbled upon Maurice with Logan's fiancée , she became aware of some of the secrets of Tor-Fret, and realised she was getting too deeply involved with Logan Rossiter and the other inhabitants of the mysterious household.

A Woman Named Smith


Marie Conway Oemler - 1919
    Amusing mystery story, its melodramatic plot unwinding against the charming background of a South Carolina townlet stirred to its depths by the passing of an historic mansion, through a spite will, to the possession of "a Yankee woman named Smith".

Summons to the Chateau D'Arc


Kay Cornelius - 2005
    She finds herself falling for the attractive estate manager, who carries secrets of his own. As the tension grows more unbearable, Ellen will have to risk everything she holds dear to discover the secrets that lurk in the shadows of the Chateau D'Arc.

The Neglected Garden


Suzanne Winterly - 2019
    A property developer with secrets. Will the restoration of an old walled garden dig up more than they can handle? Ireland, 2010. Gilly Townsend’s beloved landscaping business doesn’t survive the financial crash. Just when she thinks she’ll have to move back home, a profitable project to restore an inspirational walled garden lands in her lap. But she never expected her wealthy boss from London to inspire her as well.Marc Fletcher just wants an escape for him and his four-year-old son. As he tries to forget a dark past, Gilly’s skills in the garden bring light back into his life. As he and his landscaper grow closer, a family shadow threatens everything he holds dear. Amidst increasingly angry blackmail, Marc and Gilly’s love starts to blossom. But when threats transform into criminal action, will the developer’s poisonous past bury Gilly six-feet-under?The Neglected Garden is a standalone novel seeded with intrigue. If you like gutsy heroines, enigmatic heroes, and twists you won't see coming, then you’ll love Suzanne Winterly’s captivating garden mystery. Buy The Neglected Garden to untangle a romantic mystery thriller today!