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Dark Masquerade
Elizabeth masquerades as her dead sister, Ellen to claim a great Louisiana plantation, the property of Ellen's late husband, as the rightful legacy for her small nephew, only to find herself caught in a web of danger, fear, and passion
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
Jennifer Blake
160 books545 followersA pseudonym used by Patricia Maxwell.
Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.
Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.
Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.
Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 12, 2022
Dark Masquerade by Jennifer Blake is a 2014 Steel Magnolia Press publication.
This book was originally published in 1974- and it goes without saying that these older books are often hit or miss- that is especially true if you decide to pick up an old Gothic suspense novel published between the late sixties and mid-seventies. But, if you know what to expect, and are maybe familiar with Dorothy Daniels or maybe Victoria Holt- you'll probably enjoy this one- and the trip down memory lane, too.
This is a rare re-read for me. I read it back in 2014 when the author digitally formatted her Gothic collection and made them available in the Kindle store. Despite my mini collection of old Gothic paperbacks, I had no idea Jennifer Blake had ever written Gothic Suspense, having only known her as the NYT bestselling author of numerous historical romances.
Despite some legacy authors, such as those I mentioned previously, most of the Gothic suspense novels written during that brief period when they were extremely popular, were quite forgettable- and some were just plain bad, and they most definitely didn’t age well.
But now that I’ve read several of Blake’s Gothic stories, I found that her novels stood the test of time remarkably well, all things considered.
There are some dated attitudes and passages, but nothing too terrible. This one has a twofold thread of suspense, and Blake’s signature southern accent woven through it, which gave in an added layer of atmosphere.
Overall, this one is a cut above most novels published in this category -in this era- which is most likely attributed to Blake’s rapidly developing talent as a writer at the time.
I think it’s great that we can revisit these old novels now- especially as they are out of print and incredibly hard to find. It’s also fun to read an author’s very early work before they started making the bestseller lists, as well.
I had fun with this one- it was the perfect read a wet, gray and foggy day.
3.5 stars
This book was originally published in 1974- and it goes without saying that these older books are often hit or miss- that is especially true if you decide to pick up an old Gothic suspense novel published between the late sixties and mid-seventies. But, if you know what to expect, and are maybe familiar with Dorothy Daniels or maybe Victoria Holt- you'll probably enjoy this one- and the trip down memory lane, too.
This is a rare re-read for me. I read it back in 2014 when the author digitally formatted her Gothic collection and made them available in the Kindle store. Despite my mini collection of old Gothic paperbacks, I had no idea Jennifer Blake had ever written Gothic Suspense, having only known her as the NYT bestselling author of numerous historical romances.
Despite some legacy authors, such as those I mentioned previously, most of the Gothic suspense novels written during that brief period when they were extremely popular, were quite forgettable- and some were just plain bad, and they most definitely didn’t age well.
But now that I’ve read several of Blake’s Gothic stories, I found that her novels stood the test of time remarkably well, all things considered.
There are some dated attitudes and passages, but nothing too terrible. This one has a twofold thread of suspense, and Blake’s signature southern accent woven through it, which gave in an added layer of atmosphere.
Overall, this one is a cut above most novels published in this category -in this era- which is most likely attributed to Blake’s rapidly developing talent as a writer at the time.
I think it’s great that we can revisit these old novels now- especially as they are out of print and incredibly hard to find. It’s also fun to read an author’s very early work before they started making the bestseller lists, as well.
I had fun with this one- it was the perfect read a wet, gray and foggy day.
3.5 stars
September 22, 2016
Ooooh Gothic romance. I am a sucker for these…
Your sister dies giving birth to a child who should inherit a fortune. What do you do? Well, if you’re Elizabeth, you pick up the baby, take the wet nurse, hire a carriage and travel to the dead husband’s family plantation and you pretend to be your sister Ellen-Marie; the baby’s future depends on it. Lucky Ellen Marie was a recent widow and his family has never met her.
Her first night at Oak Shade plantation someone puts a jar of spiders in her bed. It is only the first of several attempts on her life.
It has the correct Gothic recipe: a lone girl, an isolated plantation, two options for hero, a mystery (the death of Gaspard), and many odd goings on. A large family: Grand’mere, Gaspard her dead son (maybe pushed off his ladder), his sons Felix (dead - married to Ellen-Marie) and Bernard; Gaspard’s second wife Alma Delacroix, her children from her first marriage (Darcourt and Theresa who is perhaps insane); Celestine, Felix’s fourth cousin and betrothed before he left for war (now keen on both Bernard and Darcourt); and Denise the old woman’s French maid.
There is also an overseer who is besotted with Alma, but sacked by Bernard for fraud.
Bernard looks like this:
And Darcourt like this:
Contrast. No?
Evidently, Felix wrote a will and posted it back with some letters about his lovely frail wife. Elizabeth isn’t frail. But what she is, is stuck. She has no money, Bernard is appointed as baby Joseph’s guardian (in the will she hasn’t seen), her maid Calliope is a runaway slave and technically belongs to the mortgagee who took over their plantation OR to Bernard as part of his brother’s estate (property of his wife and all that). She has no money, and no family of her own. There is twenty thousand in a bank account for the widow but it’s also controlled by Bernard and he wants to use it to invest in the plantation.
And she can’t even entice a man with her fortune, as the money will revert to Joseph’s estate on her re-marriage… or death.
But she can’t prove Felix married Ellen as the marriage certificate, baptism certificate and the family bible disappeared out of her luggage when someone knocked Callie out and left the baby at the top of the stairs.
I looked that up and it seems it is a myth. The button was supposed to be a cover over the stored mortgage papers. Myth because no papers have ever been found inside, and mortgages like that didn’t exist in that time either. Intriguing. How do these things even start?
***
This is another of Blake’s 1974 romances re-released on Kindle and other than a few obvious bad scanning errors, it was highly entertaining.
4 stars
Your sister dies giving birth to a child who should inherit a fortune. What do you do? Well, if you’re Elizabeth, you pick up the baby, take the wet nurse, hire a carriage and travel to the dead husband’s family plantation and you pretend to be your sister Ellen-Marie; the baby’s future depends on it. Lucky Ellen Marie was a recent widow and his family has never met her.
Her first night at Oak Shade plantation someone puts a jar of spiders in her bed. It is only the first of several attempts on her life.
It has the correct Gothic recipe: a lone girl, an isolated plantation, two options for hero, a mystery (the death of Gaspard), and many odd goings on. A large family: Grand’mere, Gaspard her dead son (maybe pushed off his ladder), his sons Felix (dead - married to Ellen-Marie) and Bernard; Gaspard’s second wife Alma Delacroix, her children from her first marriage (Darcourt and Theresa who is perhaps insane); Celestine, Felix’s fourth cousin and betrothed before he left for war (now keen on both Bernard and Darcourt); and Denise the old woman’s French maid.
There is also an overseer who is besotted with Alma, but sacked by Bernard for fraud.
Bernard looks like this:
There was a chiseled appearance to the planes of his face, in the high cheek bones, firm chin, and the contours of his mouth. Thick black brows divided by two parallel grooves, as of constant anger or irritation, gave him a forbidding look. There had been a faint French accent in his speech that might have been attractive if his voice had not been so cold. The only thing about him that she could approve was that he was clean shaven, though this was a mark of a strong, near arrogant, self-confidence in a hirsute decade. (Kindle Locations 130-134).
And Darcourt like this:
His hair gleamed in golden waves under the candlelight and his laughing eyes appeared blue, though it was hard to be certain at such a distance. As she watched he lounged back in his chair, said something to Celestine, and touched a fingertip to his neat mustache, which was a shade darker in color than his hair. (Kindle Locations 202-204).
Contrast. No?
Evidently, Felix wrote a will and posted it back with some letters about his lovely frail wife. Elizabeth isn’t frail. But what she is, is stuck. She has no money, Bernard is appointed as baby Joseph’s guardian (in the will she hasn’t seen), her maid Calliope is a runaway slave and technically belongs to the mortgagee who took over their plantation OR to Bernard as part of his brother’s estate (property of his wife and all that). She has no money, and no family of her own. There is twenty thousand in a bank account for the widow but it’s also controlled by Bernard and he wants to use it to invest in the plantation.
And she can’t even entice a man with her fortune, as the money will revert to Joseph’s estate on her re-marriage… or death.
But she can’t prove Felix married Ellen as the marriage certificate, baptism certificate and the family bible disappeared out of her luggage when someone knocked Callie out and left the baby at the top of the stairs.
To the left rose a wide staircase with a mahogany stair rail ending at the foot of the stairs in a serpentine coil that served as a newel post. In the center of the coil was fixed a smooth ivory button, a symbol that the house was paid for, that it carried no mortgage. (Kindle Locations 100-101).
I looked that up and it seems it is a myth. The button was supposed to be a cover over the stored mortgage papers. Myth because no papers have ever been found inside, and mortgages like that didn’t exist in that time either. Intriguing. How do these things even start?
***
This is another of Blake’s 1974 romances re-released on Kindle and other than a few obvious bad scanning errors, it was highly entertaining.
4 stars
November 1, 2014
Everything you expect from a gothic is here.
Handsome yet vaguely threatening hero: check.
Vulnerable heroine: check.
House full of the usual suspects: check.
A trip to the family crypt: check.
An attempt or two on the heroine's life that everyone else just brushes off: check.
The H/h barely spending any real time together yet somehow fall in love by the end: check.
Handsome yet vaguely threatening hero: check.
Vulnerable heroine: check.
House full of the usual suspects: check.
A trip to the family crypt: check.
An attempt or two on the heroine's life that everyone else just brushes off: check.
The H/h barely spending any real time together yet somehow fall in love by the end: check.
November 10, 2025
This book was ok and had most of the elements of a Gothic romance but just fell a bit flat for me. I say most because there was no romance. Also having the elements isn’t enough- they have to be put together well and this just wasn’t.
This is my 2nd Gothic romance (and 3rd book) by this author (Secret of Mirror House) and I feel if you’ve read one you’ve read them all because she basically has a set formula. Yes Gothic romances have a formula but this is really formulaic down to having two men seeming to be potential love interests and one is happy and friendly and the other is polar opposite- guess which one she ends up with? It’s the same every book I’d bet.
I think this was better than Mirror House but not much better Here, you pretty much knew who the bad guy was - even though the author tried to throw a few red herrings in there once she was attacked in the woods you pretty much knew who it could be. There was no romance at all. The happy guy sort of flirts but makes it clear he’s totally in love with someone else so it’s not even a love triangle. And the other guy doesn’t really seem like he likes her at all, then suddenly kisses her but it’s like a punishment and then later says she’s marrying him or leaving. Ooookay. Not romantic. At. All. Plus, it seems out of nowhere (one brief kiss to the hand isn’t enough to say he’s developing feelings).
I did read what I’d call a Gothic murder mystery (Stranger of Plantations Inn) which seemed a little more interesting as there were at least more potential suspects and of the three books it was probably the best but it wasn’t great either.
So I gave her a try but think I’m done with this author.
This is my 2nd Gothic romance (and 3rd book) by this author (Secret of Mirror House) and I feel if you’ve read one you’ve read them all because she basically has a set formula. Yes Gothic romances have a formula but this is really formulaic down to having two men seeming to be potential love interests and one is happy and friendly and the other is polar opposite- guess which one she ends up with? It’s the same every book I’d bet.
I think this was better than Mirror House but not much better Here, you pretty much knew who the bad guy was - even though the author tried to throw a few red herrings in there once she was attacked in the woods you pretty much knew who it could be. There was no romance at all. The happy guy sort of flirts but makes it clear he’s totally in love with someone else so it’s not even a love triangle. And the other guy doesn’t really seem like he likes her at all, then suddenly kisses her but it’s like a punishment and then later says she’s marrying him or leaving. Ooookay. Not romantic. At. All. Plus, it seems out of nowhere (one brief kiss to the hand isn’t enough to say he’s developing feelings).
I did read what I’d call a Gothic murder mystery (Stranger of Plantations Inn) which seemed a little more interesting as there were at least more potential suspects and of the three books it was probably the best but it wasn’t great either.
So I gave her a try but think I’m done with this author.
November 5, 2024
A frothy brew of one sister masquerading as another at a newly built Louisiana plantation that closely represents the famed Oak Alley, while navigating increasingly dangerous family tensions. Deeply steeped in 1830s Creole customs, thanks to author Patricia Maxwell (later Jennifer Blake)'s in-depth knowledge of Louisiana history, "Dark Masquerade" may not have any surprises up its sleeve in terms of the mystery at its core, but it's a fun example of the often bungled subgenre of plantation gothic.
August 24, 2025
Smoldering Sensuality!!!!!!
What an exciting, awesome gothic romance! I loved this book in the Seventies and beyond when it was under the pseudonym of Patricia Maxwell. It was a book I read and reread so many times the paperback was held together with glue and elastic bands. Losing it finally in a move. I searched for decades for an electronic version and recently hit the correct string of words that the book came up. Yahoo, it is just as excellent today as it was in the Seventies! Enjoy!
What an exciting, awesome gothic romance! I loved this book in the Seventies and beyond when it was under the pseudonym of Patricia Maxwell. It was a book I read and reread so many times the paperback was held together with glue and elastic bands. Losing it finally in a move. I searched for decades for an electronic version and recently hit the correct string of words that the book came up. Yahoo, it is just as excellent today as it was in the Seventies! Enjoy!
December 1, 2019
I have enjoyed every book I have ever read by Ms. Blake and this one is no exception. Elizabeth assumed her dead sister's identity to secure her nephew's future. Fearful of getting of caught at any moment, she is faced with distrust, dislike and disgust by the family that should have embraced their fallen hero's widow.
June 9, 2019
Keep me interested and a fast read. It needed more romance.
July 9, 2018
Awful. There was no romance between the lead couple. I was fooled by the modern looking cover. This is an old book which has not aged well.
February 12, 2014
It’s not easy for Elizabeth to pretend she is her dead sister, Ellen, but she knows she must stick with the masquerade for the sake of her nephew, baby Joseph. Her own secret isn’t the only one that lingers at the grand Louisiana plantation, Oak Shade. Dark mysteries abound. Pretending to be a widow becomes even more difficult when Elizabeth meets mesmerizing Bernard Delacroix, a handsome Creole that possesses the power to peer deeply into her very soul. How can she resist him? Yet she must if she is to help Joseph and accomplish her mission at Oak Shade.
A classic gothic romance, DARK MASQUERADE is a fascinating read with well-developed characters, a quick-moving plot and an aura of mystery that continues from page one clear to the end.
A classic gothic romance, DARK MASQUERADE is a fascinating read with well-developed characters, a quick-moving plot and an aura of mystery that continues from page one clear to the end.
April 3, 2015
Jennifer is one of those authors that always amazes me. She punches out books like some kind of coffee fueled writing machine. Her stories are always fantastic, her characters are always unique and her romance hooks your heart in through every single new addition. Dark Masquerade is another paranormal wonder creating a quick read with enough intrigue to keep a reader happy.
February 7, 2014
Elizabeth comes to Louisiana posing as her deceased sister for the sake of her baby nephew Joseph. Elizabeth wants Joseph to be raised with his fathers heritage, but there is something dark going on here. Who can she trust, and do they see through to who she really is?
January 16, 2025
Jennifer Blake is unable to manage the suspense or atmosphere required of a gothic novel, but at the same time does not replace the atmosphere with more traditional historical romance content, leaving the whole thing rather flat.
September 9, 2014
Fascinating
The story kept changing angles so the reader is never sure what to think. Good reading with a wonderful sort of intrigue to it
The story kept changing angles so the reader is never sure what to think. Good reading with a wonderful sort of intrigue to it
June 28, 2015
I can always count on a Jennifer Blake book to be good. A little peril always makes a story move faster.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews