The Mist at Darkness

by Virginia Coffman

book

Genres: Gothic Romance, Gothic

278 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1968

About the author

Virginia Edith Coffman aka Jeanne Duval, Diana Saunders, Victor Cross, Ann Stanfield, Virginia C. Du Vaul, Kay Cameron.

A native of San Francisco, Coffman contributed movie reviews to the Oakland Tribune from 1933-40. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1938 and was a movie and television script writer for Columbia, RKO, and other Hollywood studios in her early writing career (1944-56). She had her first success with writing novels in 1959, when Crown Publishing decided to take a chance on Moura, and the novel was showcased by Library Journal. By the 1980s, Coffman was recognized as "the author largely responsible for setting off the Gothics craze of the 1960s, "earning her the reputation of "Queen of the Gothics."1

She quit her day job in Reno and became a full-time writer in 1965. While historical romance novels seldom find their way into the literary canon, Coffman, who was both prolific and dedicated, took her writing seriously. Her research for historical fiction was meticulous. She also drew upon personal experience as a world traveler when setting some of her novels in Hawaii, Paris, and other romantic locales. Several of her historical romances and gothic mystery novels were translated into other languages, and many have been published in large print and audio editions.

She was recognized by Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who in the West. She was a member of the Authors League of America and the Mystery Writers Guild of America. The Reno Gazette-Journal featured Virginia Coffman and her sister in a biographical story on April 4, 2002. In 2003, she donated a collection of her gothic mystery and historical romance novels to the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries.

Reviews

[Sarah Mac]

Meh. 2.5, rounded up to a weak 3. The first half is excruciatingly dull, & the narrator is yet another Coffman-esque snob. But...she was a widow, & one who actually loved her first husband, so her patronizing dismissals of Louis' sex appeal & Amanda's behavior could be (somewhat) justified by her own experience. And I did like the near-end scene in the crypt with the statues -- because y'all know I love macabre moments in gofficks. :D Alas, I just can't make myself like her flat, dispassionate prose -- it sucks the life from her books, which are already handicapped by their molasses pacing. *yawn*

So, overall it wasn't great. But at least it was better than other Coffmans.

[Robert Fontenot]

I had a real sense of vertigo at the beginning of this novel, as it is clearly an alternate draft of the author’s own The Beckoning from Moura. The further it gets into the story, the more it diverges, and in the end, I found it to me much more engaging book than it’s doppelgänger. The main character has just as much agency, but the story itself has more layers, more intrigue, and a much better sense of place. Most of the stuff surrounding the crypt setting was really quite good. The plot also makes more sense.

[Erica-Lynn]

A rare REGENCY Gothic Romance (hooray!) with a compelling heroine and suitably creepy setting.

[Berri Beatty]

Excellent little Gothic Regency romance!!