It's beautiful Victoria Bastion, former kitchen maid at Padthaway and its master's would-be bride, who is found dead. Because she is who she is, we know she'll survive and thrive. As the daughter of famed British actor Sir Gerald du Maurier, her name, unlike that of Rebecca's narrator, is not only known but renowned. For example, Challis's resourceful heroine is more than a match, socially and intellectually, for the Hartleys of Padthaway, so she arrives on the scene in a position of power. At the same time, it puts a twist on many familiar tropes. Murder on the Cliffs pays tribute to the genre and one of its modern masters, Daphne du Maurier. What longtime fan could resist this cover? So when I got word about Joanna Challis's new historical mystery, I knew I had to read it. I can picture the covers easily: the heroine fleeing in her flimsy nightgown at midnight, her long hair whipping in the wind, a lone candle flickering in the dark mansion behind her.Īlthough the genre has declined in popularity since, regrettably so, I'm still very fond of Gothics. She fights her attraction to the titled master of the house, a guarded, solitary man whose first wife died under mysterious circumstances. In a typical storyline, an attractive but naive young woman encounters danger and romance when she takes a position at a crumbling old castle or haunted mansion in the English countryside. They were the perfect escape, and I devoured them by the boxful. When I was a teenager, Gothic novels formed a good part of my pleasure reading. Guest post from Sheramy Bundrick: Van Gogh, Reader.Book review: Sunflowers, by Sheramy Bundrick.Book review: Murder on the Cliffs, by Joanna Challis.Book review: Death at Hull House by Frances McNamara.

Murder on the Cliffs by Joanna Challis