Review: The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse

I've enjoyed Kate Mosse's books in the past, but the thing that made me pick this one up was the word 'gothic' on the cover. I do love gothic novels!

The Taxidermist's Daughter is a historical murder mystery, set in the tiny village of Fishbourne (West Sussex) in 1912. It is a tradition that on the Eve of St Mark's the ghosts of those destined to die in the coming year will be seen walking into the church at midnight. The villagers have gathered in the churchyard to wait and watch, despite the pouring rain. At the appointed time the doors open - and hundreds of tiny birds fly out. It is obviously a message - but for whom? - and while watching from the shadows a woman is murdered...

Connie Gifford lives with her father in the dilapidated Blackthorn House. Huge chunks of her memory are missing after a childhood accident. Once famous for his taxidermy museum, Crowley Gifford is now more interested in drinking himself into oblivion while Connie does most of the work. What secret is Gifford drinking to forget - and is it the same one Connie can't remember?

I loved this story! It is so atmospheric - downright creepy at times - with the sinister house, the constant rain, the encroaching flood waters, the increasing body count and the very creative murderer! It is a bit gory at times though. At the beginning of each chapter is an 'extract' from a history of taxidermy, there are detailed descriptions of Connie's work, and that's before we get to the murders! So, not one for the faint-hearted but definitely recommended! 

Review: The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware

When I spotted the cover of The Death of Mrs Westaway I knew I would enjoy it. I LOVE gothicky mysteries with spooky old houses and old family secrets!

The story starts with Hal (Harriet), who is struggling to make a living following the death of her mother three years previously. Hal had to give up her dreams of going to university and instead took over her mother's job of tarot reader on Brighton Pier. Falling behind on payments to the local loan shark, it seems like a dream come true when a solicitor's letter arrives to tell her that her grandmother has died and left her a bequest. Except Hal's grandmother died before she was born, didn't she?

Ruth Ware takes familiar tropes and motifs from the traditional/old school gothic mystery and puts her own original spin on it. There is a nod towards Rebecca, with the creepy Mrs Danvers-like housekeeper, but all references are done with an affection for the genre.

Hal makes a very likeable, if unusual heroine, who has suffered several setbacks in life. I loved the way she kept telling herself that she was a tenacious rat, not a little mouse, whenever she felt herself falter! Linking in Hal's job as a tarot reader, and the way she reads the cards to help her think through problems was inspired and I was became so engrossed in the story I completely forgot to try and work out who the murderer was.

The title makes the story sound like an Agatha Christie but it's a traditional gothic mystery. Exactly who was murdered and why isn't revealed until after a superb build-up of tension. There is a thread of historical (1994!) backstory running through the plot, giving an insight into the characters' past, but it doesn't dominate the novel.

The Death of Mrs Westaway should appeal to fans of Daphne du Maurier, Eve Chase, and possibly Mary Stewart, although there is no romance.

In conclusion, The Death of Mrs Westaway is one of my favourite reads this year. I absolutely loved it. More please!


Thank you to Ruth Ware and Vintage Digital/Harvill Secker for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed.

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In a Dark Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

Review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I originally downloaded this book because the title caught my eye (I love castles!) along with the cover - and the fact that it was written by Shirley Jackson. I love her style of writing - she is one of the few authors I'm prepared to forgive for not always settling for a traditional happy/satisfying ending. 

The story is told by Mary Katherine Blackwood (also known as Merricat, sometimes affectionately, but often as an insult by the people who live in the village). The Blackwoods are a wealthy family who have lived for generations in a large house surrounded by a large estate. "As soon as a new Blackwood wife moved in, a place was found for her belongings, and so our house was built up with layers of Blackwood property weighting it, and keeping it steady against the world."

Six years ago Merricat's father, mother, aunt and brother all died when arsenic was put into a sugar bowl. Merricat's elder sister Constance was arrested for the murders, but acquitted due to lack of evidence. Their Uncle Julian was the only other survivor. Everyone in the village hates the Blackwoods, although it is unclear whether this is due to their wealth, because they are 'different' or because one of them is believed to be a murderer. Merricat refuses to be intimidated and visits the village every Tuesday to buy groceries. Constance is agoraphobic and does not like to leave the house; Uncle Julian's mind is going and he is confined to a wheelchair.

At the start the story reads like a mystery. Why do the villagers hate the family so much? What did happen six years ago? Who was the murderer? The answers are dripped in very, very slowly. The writing style is deceptively simple and yet the tension curls tighter and tighter. It is closer to psychological suspense than horror. Is Merricat an 'unreliable' narrator? Every word she speaks is the truth - but it's the truth as she sees it. She casts spells, buries objects or nails them to the trees in the wood. Is she a witch or just completely bonkers? 

When their estranged cousin turns up, hoping to divide and conquer, and make off with the family fortune, you just know it won't end well. But don't under-estimate the Blackwoods. They have always lived in the castle - and they always will.

Recommended if you love claustrophobic psychological suspense in the style of The Turn of the Screw. Avoid if you're a fan of fast-paced jump shocks and gore.

About the Author

Shirley Jackson was born in California in 1916. When her short story The Lottery was first published in The New Yorker in 1948, readers were so horrified they sent her hate mail; it has since become one of the most iconic American stories of all time. Her first novel, The Road Through the Wall, was published in the same year and was followed by five more: Hangsaman, The Bird's Nest, The Sundial,The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, widely seen as her masterpiece. In addition to her dark, brilliant novels, she wrote lightly fictionalised magazine pieces about family life with her four children and her husband, the critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. Shirley Jackson died in her sleep in 1965 at the age of 48.

Review: Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid

Cat Morland is the daughter of a vicar, and slightly naive due to being home-schooled, who longs for the kind of excitement and adventure she reads about in her favourite books (the very Gothic Hebridean Harpies series). When her wealthy neighbours offer to take her to the Edinburgh Festival for a month, she is thrilled.

I've not read the original Jane Austen version of this story, so I'm unsure how closely this re-imagining follows the original. Much of the first half of the book is taken up by Cat going to various Festival events and meeting the rather awful Thorpe family. Bella, who swiftly becomes her new best friend, mainly for their shared love of the Hebridean Harpies, and the bombastic Johnny, who decides Cat is going to be his new girlfriend, regardless of what she thinks. In extreme contrast, are the gentle, kind-hearted Tilney's - Henry, who teaches Cat to dance, his mysterious sister, Eleanor, and their 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' elder brother Freddy, on leave from the army, who delights in causing trouble.

The second half the story is where Cat is invited by Eleanor to stay at the family house - or rather, baronial castle. Expecting a deliciously gothic mansion, like the settings for one of her favourite books, Cat is rather disappointed to find the interior has been completely modernised. Still, there are lots of mysterious goings on to compensate ...

I loved the leisurely pace of this novel, so different from Val's crime novels. I particularly enjoyed all the descriptions of Edinburgh and the famous Festival, which really made it come alive for me. I also have a weakness for the same kind of gothic novels as Cat, so I appreciated the humour, and the developing romance between Cat and Henry was sweet.

Recommended if you'd like to read a clever, funny and inventive re-working of the classic Jane Austen novel, but if you're expecting something more like Val's crime novels, you might be disappointed.

About the Author

Val McDermid comes from Kirkcaldy, Fife, and read English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford (where she is now an Honorary Fellow). She was the first ever student from a state school in Scotland. Following graduation she became a journalist, and worked briefly as a dramatist.

Her first success as a novelist came with Report for Murder the first Lindsay Gordon Mystery, first published in 1987.

Among her many awards are the Portico Prize for Fiction, the LA Times Book Prize, the Lambda Literary Pioneer Award and the Cartier Diamond Dagger. She has published 27 novels, short stories, non-fiction and a prize-winning children’s book. She is a regular broadcaster for BBC radio and lives in Edinburgh.

Author Website