The House on the Left Bank

by Velda Johnston

Martha Hathaway resolves to remain in the war-torn Paris of 1870 in order to solve a tragic crime.

Genres: Gothic, Mystery, Fiction

214 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1975

About the author

Velda Johnston was a writer of romantic suspense. She also wrote under the pseudonym 'Veronica Jason'.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martha Hathaway, at thirteen, moved to Paris with her mother after the death of her father at Chancellorsville. She was immediately put into a convent school wile her mother lived in a house on the Left Bank, where she was the mistress of Baron Phillippe Perruchot. At twenty, Martha volunteers at the Belleville Ambulance (hospital). At theater, she meets American John Lowndes, a reporter for the New York Observer. Not too long after that, the Baron is killed in battle, and then her mother is murdered by an intruder. Martha is determined to discover who murdered her mother. She is also falling for John Lowndes. Will she learn who killed her mother and why? And what of John?

[Alonzo Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martha Hathaway, recently graduated from the school at the convent, is the restless daughter the mistress of a rich (if stingy) baron. As the Franco-Prussian War rages around her, she finds an alarming number of secrets and plot twists in the House on the Left Bank. Will Martha find romance with the handsome young baron, the dashing reporter, the effete aristocracy of 1870 Paris? Or will she just find death and treachery?

Perfectly OK, but no more. The plot sort of rambles through intriguing threads that don’t add up to much. The setting is less vivid than one would hope.

[Melissa Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed!

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trip down memory lane. I used to read Velda Johnston in my high school days.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Paris 1870-71. American girl sets out to find who murdered her mother - mistress of a French Baron in the period of uprising after the Franco-Prussian War. Suspenseful Gothic novel. Good.