FROM SATAN WITH LOVE

Lucifer Cove #6

by Virginia Coffman

SIX WOMEN
had come to Lucifer Cove, each searching for personal happiness...only to meet with disaster, as they came up against the secret of the Cove's true master.

Now it was Maeve Weils' turn. She was there only because her niece, Jenniver, hurt herself in a foolish accident, and was taken to the Cove as the nearest place with a hospital. Maeva had no choice but to remain there, at first only for a night...but when she tried to take Jenniver away the next morning, sudden obstacles were thrust in her path.

What was the secret of the Cove? Why was Marc Meridon so intent on keeping her there, against her will? Would she finally break free, in time to save herself and Jenniver? Or would they be forced, as had others before them, to face the prospect of losing their immortal souls?

Genres: Horror, Gothic

206 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

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

[Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. NOTHING happens in this book. When the heroine accidentally ends up in Lucifer's Cove with her niece, she begins to take notice of people's strange behavior, and eventually all that behavior adds up to a strong suspicion that something isn't quite right. But nothing happens, and she's able to dismiss everything for most of the book. She isn't dumb, but her willingness to overlook the strangeness while still feeling suspicion was quite frustrating. I also wanted this book to be much more salacious than it was. There are odd men in town, one of whom she's very attracted to, and the story wanted to be salacious so badly.

So much potential here, but ultimately disappointing.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Virginia Coffman books and wish she was alive to write more books. I read this as a teenager and had to read again. The only problem is that you can no longer order them. I had to find someone on Amazon who had them for sale.