An atmospheric gothic mystery that beautifully brings the ancient Cornish countryside to life, Armstrong introduces heroine Ruby Vaughn in her Minotaur Books & Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut, The Curse of Penryth Hall.
After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She’s always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall.
A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby’s once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It’s an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse. It also brings Ruan Kivell, the person whose books brought her to Cornwall, the one the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn’t believe in curses—or Pellars—but this is Cornwall and to these villagers the curse is anything but lore, and they believe it will soon claim its next victim: Tamsyn.
To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night.
JESS ARMSTRONG is the USA Today best selling author of the Ruby Vaughn Mysteries. Her debut novel, The Curse of Penryth Hall, won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition. She has a masters degree in American History but prefers writing about imaginary people to the real thing. Jess lives in New Orleans with her historian husband, two sons, yellow cat, speckled dog, and the world’s most pampered school-fair goldfish. And when she’s not working on her next project, she’s probably thinking about cheese, baking, on social media or some combination of the above.
My thoughts: Cornwall is a place steeped in magic and mystery – long thought the land of Arthur and his knights, there’s many stories about piskies and spells in England’s southernmost county.
Ruby Vaughn is tasked to deliver a chest of books, despite not wanting to go anywhere near the home of her former close friend Tamsyn Chenowyth. But of course she visits Tamsyn and something terrible happens – Edward Chenowyth is murdered.
The Pellar, a sort of wise man, is called to inspect the body – as well as the constable, as there’s a curse on the family, or so they and the village believe. Ruby, being a modern scientific minded woman, doesn’t believe in curses or magic, she believes a human hand is behind all of it, and she will prove it. Even as she and Ruan Kivell (the Pellar) are drawn together.
The atmosphere does start to get to Ruby, but she’s determined to help Tamsyn, who is terrified her young son will be next. The answers lie in secrets from the past, things kept hidden, in grief and rumour.
I was gripped by this clever, sinister and compelling story, I really liked Ruby, her bookseller employer/surrogate father, the pompous house cat who keeps turning up everywhere, the housekeeper who over feeds everyone, they’re a delightful crew and there’s a hint at the end that there will be more to come….
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 