When Emmalynn Remembers

by Jennifer Wilde

The weathered blood of Henrietta Stern still stained the veranda of the dilapidated seaside mansion she had willed to Emmalynn, who lapsed into a state of amnesia rather than remember the horror of the ax murder she had witnessed.But perhaps it would be better to close the case as the police had done when Burt Reed, the accused murderer, died in jail. Certainly it would be wiser, for Burt's brooding, attractive son George would stop at nothing--not even endangering Emmalynn's life--to clear his father's name. And as the bedazzling Boyd Devlon, who kept suggesting an intimacy with Emmalynn, was quick to point out, if Burt were indeed innocent, the actual killer would be adroit in his ability to muffle Emmalynn's smallest mote of memory.And then Emmalynn found Henrietta's diary ...and a lurid nightmare of a killer in pursuit of her oblivion began...

Genres: Gothic, Fiction

295 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Jennifer Wilde is a pseudonym of T. E. Huff (Thomas Elmer Huff). He also wrote under the names Edwina Marlow and Beatrice Parker.

Reviews

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amnesia or no, Lock, you’ve got to admit she’s got spunk!

This one had a lot in common with Wherever Lynn Goes. A girl in swinging ‘70s London with a wacky roommate gets drawn into mystery and danger at an isolated old mansion. In both of the books, the loyal gal-pals almost steal the show from the heroines. They insist on schlepping along with them (Lynn and Emmalynn) out of loyalty or love of adventure and take an equal role with the heroine in investigating the mystery. In several instances, they take the lead. Mandy and Billie are both gorgeous party-lovers who are used to having men worshiping at their feet as opposed to our beautiful but sensible heroines. But while they come across as flighty, they are both keenly intelligent. And they both are can-opener challenged:

As I set the table, Mandy tried to open a tin—for her a highly dangerous process which might well result in a surprise appendectomy.

I wondered how long it would take Billie to cook dinner. I privately doubted if she could even open a can without performing a surprise appendectomy…”

But enough about the sidekicks. Our likable heroine witnessed the murder of her former employer in the lonely old mansion, but she has amnesia. The eccentric old woman has left Emmalynn the house, and of course, she must go there. Part of the fun in a T.E. Huff is trying to guess who the romantic interest of our leading lady might be vs. The Killer. In this one, we have three men and a possible long shot. Two of them ruled themselves out pretty quickly as the love interest. One because

He’s smooth and polished and—I suppose you’d think him handsome. He never did a day’s work in his life, although he piddles with stocks and investments and always managed to run through all the money Henrietta let him get hold of.

Romantic heroes never "piddle" are always responsible with money. The other because

The pants were a bit too tight, the shirt showed a little too much bronzed muscle, his hair was just a bit too shaggy and sun-streaked. He was a stunningly handsome man, but his good looks were too calculated for my taste.

Once you know who the hero is, you then know who the killer is, because it always is the other one. In this case, we know that neither of these dudes is the hero, so one of them must be the ax murderer. According to the playbook. And yes, Henrietta was decapitated with an ax.

The third guy seems promising from what we hear about him. He’s a socially conscious doctor who is trying to prove his Dad is not an ax murderer. And he’s a dog owner. But Emmalynn has almost no interaction with him. We meet him briefly about a third of the way through, and they have a hostile public interaction about halfway through, but then he all but disappears. I admit I was stumped. There has to be a romantic interest in a gothic…doesn’t there? Admittedly T.E. Huff keeps the romance in his novels pretty uneventful, but this was ridiculous.

At a little over halfway through the book an alert reader learns that Emmalyn is keeping something from us. COULD IT BE SHE DOESN’T REALLY HAVE AMNESIA??!!!

This was a solid “3 out of 5”: Not the best Thomas Elmer Huff but very enjoyable with an engaging writing style as always. But the last chapter was so delightful that I am bumping this up to 4 stars (for what it is-a quick, light and entertaining read).

https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennifer Wilde was one of my favorite writers of historical romance back in the 70s-80s. So when I had an opportunity to read a Jennifer Wilde book I jumped at it. Jennifer Wilde was actually a pseudonym for T.E. Huff, an man who wrote under a number of female pseudonyms and in fact when this books was first published in 1970, it was under another of his pseudonyms, Edwina Marlow.
This often reads like something written in 1970 - the language, the clothes, the overall feel of the book all took me back. For me it was obvious that this was the case, and I enjoyed the nostalgia aspect that it gave the book. For younger readers, that may well translate simply to “dated”, and be offputting. But personally, I enjoyed the mystery and the tension of never being quite sure about the characters who surrounded Emmalynn. It won’t be for everyone, but I quite enjoyed this one.

Copy provided by Netgalley and Open Road Integrated Media in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a story out of usual genre, but I loved it! These pages seemed to fly by as I was so drawn to not just the story but the characters. Can't wait to read more from this author!

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Highly improbable, and kind of boring, to boot.

[Angel Hatfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emmalynn worked for a photographer named Clive who kept her very busy.Clive was doing a book on London Life and was being pressured from his publishers to finish it. Emmalynn shared an apartment with Billie and they got along fine. There is only one thing wrong with Emmalynn she had partial amnesia . Her doctor is Peter Clarkson and he helped her get her job as Clive was his nephew. Emmalynn had been working for Mrs. Stein and had left and went to London for a couple of days then she felt guilty and returned as she had left the elderly woman alone and felt bad about it and returned. Emmalynn had seen Mrs. Stein be murdered with an axe but has no memory at all of her time in Brighton. An officer Steven had found Emmalynn walking around in a daze he knew Peter and toke Emmalunn to him. When Emmalynn got home home Peter was there with an attorney and the attorney tells her that Emmalynn is to inherit that property which Emmalynn doesn’t remember even though she had been there several months.
I didn’t hate this but i didn’t love it. It seemed to lack something for me. It wasn’t as bad story I really liked the twists and turns of the story alot.
I received an ARC of this story for an honest review.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a passage at the beginning of this one that is almost word-for-word a passage from the other Wilde book I just read. Mabye that's how 70s gothic romance writers rolled? It threw me, to be sure. Anyway, convenient amnesia is one of my least-favorite plot devices, so those things coupled together made this not an entire winner in my book, although it served it's purpose.