Tag Archives: fiction

Hestor Fox’s Gothic Mysteries: The Witch of Pale Harbor, The Witch of Willow Hall, and The Orphan of Cemetery Hill

10 Dec

Hestor Fox is now known for her lush, historical fantasies. But, before that? Gothic mysteries. The former museum curator and historical archaeologist built her career on tales woven through the macabre. Let me point to the original three that launched her career – The Witch of Pale Harbor, The Witch of Willow Hall, and Orphan of Cemetery Hill. These are all excellent novels that express the dreaded and dreary themes of the Gothic genre alongside the macabre tones of Edgar Allan Poe. 

  1. The Witch of Pale Harbor: Psychological suspense mixed with the foreboding of an isolated New England town in the 1830s. Fox captured me with her spirited language and vivid imagery – from one of the very first scenes when the protagonist finds himself exploring his new parish. The sense of claustrophobia intensifies as suspicion grows around a reclusive governess. Small-town judgment and hysteria blend well here.
  2. The Witch of Willow Hall: Critically, the best-rated of her original three gothic stories. Three sisters flee scandal and take refuge in their family’s retreat, Willow Hall. Guess what? It’s haunted with a terrible curse that sustains the sisters with palpable dread and a psychological toll that bellows heavy like a grandfather clock. 
  3. The Orphan of Cemetery Hill: Rich with the Victorians’ death obsession and an intense psychological terror mystery. We move on to Boston in the 1840s. What could possibly plague someone who works as a medium and facilitates seances? It’s all about helping others…until someone from her past appears as a result of this activity. The protagonist must now confront secrets of her own. What transpires is a confrontation of the dark secrets of her own identity.

Eerie whispers of a classic Gothic tale mixed with atmospherically convoluted moral struggles that thrust characters into conundrums and challenge their own code – that’s what you get here.

Which novel will you be checking out? Each title is linked to their BCCLS page, so go ahead and make your reservation. 

Post a pic and tag @hobokenlibrary on Instagram once you get your copy from the library.

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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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Great Mysteries Part 1: Celebrating with Tea with Jam & Dread and Icing on the Murder

30 Jul

Tea with Jam & Dread
Vicki Delany
I was new to Vicki Delany’s Tea by the Sea series of which Tea with Jam & Dread is the sixth book in the series. Most are set in Cape Code where Lily Roberts owns a tea shop next door to her grandmother’s Bed & Breakfast. However, in this novel, Lily along with her grandmother Rose and best friend head to England for a special 100th birthday gala for Rose’s former employer and dear friend Elizabeth, the dowager countess of Frockmorton, whose family’s castle is now running a hotel. Elizabeth’s family are loath to lose their blood blood status which provides plenty of drama. When there is first a murder and then a missing priceless necklace the trip becomes even more exciting than Lily could have ever imagined. I enjoyed the vivid way that Delany brings the setting to life and gives us an interesting postcard view of Yorkshire. I plan to check out other books in the series. If like me you are charmed by this story, Delany has written several other mystery series including The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries, The Year Round Christmas Mysteries, the Constable Molly Smith Mysteries and the Ashley Grant Series.

Icing on the Murder
Valerie Burns
The protagonist of Valerie Burns’ Icing on the Murder also has plenty to celebrate with her wedding day drawing near. But on top of baking her own cake and one for a bridal expo, Madison is soon drawn into the mystery of a diva of a wedding planner’s demise. This is the fourth in the Baker Street Mystery series, which I’ve been meaning to check out for awhile. Madison is a great and unique mystery protagonist, a young black woman who previously was a social media influencer, but is now running a bakery she had inherited along with a giant bull mastiff named Baby. There is a little something for everyone in this novel, a sweet romance between Madison and her fiancé, a curious crime with plenty of potential culprits, strong family and found family bonds, and even at the end some tempting apple recipes based on dishes mentioned in the book. You can enjoy reading this book without having read the previous in the series, but if you are curious about how it all started I’ll have a review of book 1 in the series in my blog post Great Mysteries Pt 2 out next week.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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