The Secrets of Hartwood Hall

 The Secrets of Hartwood Hall is the debut novel of Katie Lumsden.  This is a entertaining and intriguing manor house mystery novel.  

Beautifully descriptive the author takes the reader back to 1852 and the English countryside.  On a dark and stormy night Margaret Lennox, newly widowed, arrives at her new place of employment.  The large rundown and isolated country house is where Margaret will be the governess to ten year old Louis.

As Margaret tries to figure out the unusual relationship between Louis and his mother, she is hearing strange rumors in town about the house and the people who live there.  It is a lonely place until she befriends Paul the gardener. 

But all is not as it seems, secrets are being kept by everyone in the house, from the handsome gardener, Paul to the kitchen staff.  Of course Margaret is also seeing stranger figures in the dark and hearing noises coming from the closed off East Wing of the house.  

Should she investigate or keep quiet because Margaret has secrets of her own she does not want to share.  

An entertaining novel in the gothic tradition.  A manor centered mystery with twists and turns around every corridor  and down every hallway. Secrets kept behind closed doors.

The Chateau

 The Chateau written by Jaclyn Goldis is labeled as a thriller.

This novel starts out slowly as a simple story of four college friends coming together years later for a reunion.  They became close friends during their year abroad and visited Darcy's grandmother's chateau a few times during that year.  But now as they come together for a reunion requested by Darcy 's grandmother, each one finds out that even though they thought they all were close friends there are secrets that have never been revealed. Even  Lady of the Chateau, Séraphine Demargelasse has secrets she wants to share with her granddaughter and her friends.

Wonderfully descriptive as the women travel through markets and the small towns of France.  Perfect build up of each character's personality and the secret they are holding close to their chest.  Suspense builds slowly in this thriller mystery novel.  

The Mitford Affair

 The Mitford Affair is written by one of my favorite authors, Marie Benedict.   It is a historical novel about a topic and family I had never heard of before.  So that combined with the fact that it is just written to pull the reader in, the subject material is also fascinating.

The Mitford family lives in Britain in the 1920-30s. The Mitford sisters are well liked and are part of the best social circles. The oldest sister, Diane is beautiful and married to a very important and wealthy man. Then she divorces her husband and gets involved with a fascist leader.  Unity is the most quiet and plain sister, with questionable political views.  She becomes enamored of the German chancellor rising to power, Adolf Hitler.  Sister Nancy is clever and an author, who watches her sisters becoming more and more involved in the atrocities happening in Germany.  She writes a novel using her sisters and their friends in a thinly veiled call to action. 

This novel shows the power of words to hold sway over people.  Also the need for love and attention to draw people together and pull them apart.  A look at how the people were drawn in by Hitler and Mussolini.