A touch romance, regency, and mystery with a nicely added chill. Great characters, swift moving story. Information from the book A DARK CASTLE, HOWLING WINDS, EERIE SURROUNDINGS. The perfect setting for danger...and desire. Why, it coudl have been one of theose sily Gothic novels, but the situation was perilously real! They were seven, summoned by eccentric Great-Aunt Cecily to the misty foreboding Scottish highlands, where she would choose one of them to be her heir.
Barbara (Booth) Hazard, a resident of Exeter, NH, died on October 25, 2019 in Boston, MA surrounded by family. Born in 1931 in Fall River, MA, the daughter of Albert L. and Lillian (Holland) Booth, she was raised and educated in New England. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1953 and was briefly employed by Ginn & Company in Boston as a Technical Editor. She married Donald T. Hazard in 1954 and next worked as a Graphic Designer/Artist for a Concord, NH advertising firm.
Originally trained as a musician, Mrs. Hazard also studied oil painting with Amy Jones and for a time had several shows in New York and Vermont. She began to write historical fiction in 1978. First published in 1981, she went on to write and publish 48 books, several of which are also in circulation abroad. She won several awards for her writing.
Mrs. Hazard wrote that there were several things in her life that she was most proud of; being Concertmaster of the MA All State Orchestra in Symphony Hall in Boston, having a successful career as an artist and as a writer, which was her greatest love besides her husband, three sons and their wives.
She loved New England and in particular, Cape Cod, which she visited every year for most of her life. Her other loves included her family, reading and music. She also wrote under the pen name of Lillian Lincoln.
[From back of book: A dark castle. Howling winds. Eerie surroundings. The perfect setting for danger...and desire. ..... Why, it could have been one of those silly gothic novels, but the situation was perilously real! They were seven, summoned by eccentric Great-Aunt Cecily to the misty, foreboding Scottish highlands, where she would choose one of them to be her heir. ..... Yet among them lurked a murderer! ..... But who, Caroline Covington pondered? Fat, greedy Lord and Lady Danvers? Fair cousin Cecy? Foppish Alistair? Illegitimate Mr. Covington-More? Darkly handsome John St. Williams? ..... How astounded Caroline was to discover that she, too, was suspect...in the eyes of the one man whose good opinion she most desperately longed for!]
Probably more of a country house (Scottish castle) who-done-it mystery than romance, although the romantic happily ever after was quite nice. There was one bit of melodrama/misunderstanding between H and h, but overall the heroine was down to earth and the story was fun.
So this is basically the first version of The Scottish Legacy. The basic premise of the story and its conclusion are the same. However, this one is written in third person, and there are some small differences in the heroine and one of the cousins, Alistair. The most obvious is the name change but, since the other book is written in first person, you learn a lot more about the heroine there. In this book, she was never in love with Alistair and he, in turn, was a nicer character as well. There was also a plot point that was different but in essence this is the same story. I've no idea how the author was able to get away with it.
I usually prefer third person point of view, but I have to say that I enjoyed The Scottish Legacy better. Lila was such a great character, and the romance was a bit more exciting as well. In this book, it seemed that the main characters fell in love out of thin air. It's possible that part of the reason I wasn't as excited about this book is that I knew what to expect. Still, if you're interested in the premise, I recommend The Scottish Legacy over this one even though this is still an entertaining book.