Betrayal at Blackcrest

by Jennifer Wilde

Determined to find out what has happened to her lovely cousin, whom no one seems to remember, Deborah Lane leaves the safety of London and journeys to Blackcrest Manor, where she falls under the spell of its master, Derek Hawke.

Genres: Gothic, Fiction, Romance

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

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 3 out of 5]

I felt like bursting into tears. Instead, I let loose a series of highly descriptive words that were not ordinarily a part of my vocabulary. That relieved me somewhat, but the rain still poured on the roof of the car and I was nowhere nearer a solution to my dilemma....I had a spare tire in the trunk and all the tools necessary to put it on. However, I was wearing my best white heels and a dress of white muslin printed with tiny pink and green flowers, my best, and I would starve to death before getting out in the rain thus attired.

T.E. Huff’s tongue-in-cheek amusing voice shines through despite the over-the-top plot and his most blitheringly idiotic heroine. Deborah Lane, an actress, is concerned about her cousin Delia, also an actress. The last she heard from her, she was getting married to Derek Hawke the master of an ancient manor/castle/ estate. That was a month ago, and Deborah has not heard from her further. She travels to the village of Hawkestown to find her, make sure she is alright, and have a little vacation. As soon as she meets Derek, who denies, very very plausibly, even knowing Delia, she is convinced that he has murdered her or is holding her prisoner somewhere. It does give her pause for about a second that there is absolutely no credible motive and that there is considerable evidence from the very beginning that Delia was not telling the truth about her romance with Derek. But Deborah mulishly refuses to see sense. Throughout the whole darn book.

She gets a job being a secretary to Derek’s delightfully scatty aunt, meets her ward, a fey “angelic” teenager in love with an unsuitable village boy, and Derek’s black sheep lookalike cousin, an author of violently disturbing mysteries. All proceeds as all Gothics do, but this one has two quite surprising twists near the end. We are also treated to some funny encounters with the eccentric denizens of the village while Deborah is “investigating.” Despite way too much time exploring hallways, staircases, cellars, and dungeons with determined Deborah, this one mostly held my attention.

Fans of "Jennifer Wilde's" early historical romances might recognize the name "Derek Hawke". Our modern Derek is apparently a descendent of the Derek Hawke who was either a hero or a villain, I'm not sure which, in the popular "Marietta trilogy". So that's kind of fun.

https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Betrayal at Blackcrest by Jennifer Wilde is a 1971 publication- reissued in 2015 by Open Road Media.


Thank goodness ORM and Jennifer Wilde- who wrote the book as “Beatrice Parker” digitized this book- and many others by this author. There are very few of these older ‘Gothic/Romantic Suspense’ novels digitized- even by some of the more popular authors like Dorothy Daniels, for instance.

I loved reading these back in the day- they pre-dated the explicit ‘bodice ripper’ that pretty much sent this genre to its grave- and was ‘safe’ reading for teens and young adults. Many were mass produced and one author would write under multiple pseudonyms sometimes- which is also kind of funny- so they weren’t all created equal. This one is certainly above average.

There is no supernatural quality to this one- it’s pretty much a straight up romantic suspense novel- but with very little romance- one ‘bruising kiss’ and that’s about it. Yes, it’s dated. Duh- but the plot is pretty darned good, considering. The atmosphere was fantastic and there really were a few spinetingling moments. There were also some pretty farfetched eyerolling situations too- and some really horrible misogyny from some of the men in the story-but… this came from the bad guy… so there’s that. The behavior of our ‘hero’ is also really bad, but is usually the case in these books, he’s also mostly misunderstood.

Frankly, I had a blast reading this story. It was clean and suspenseful and had me turning pages- and even had a nice little twist I didn’t guess- though I’m so familiar with this format I knew who the bad guy was right from the beginning. Overall, a fun ‘retro-read’ for me.

*This book is available with Hoopla- and some Libby libraries may have it as well. It is also available in digital format in the Kindle store.

[Lola Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging story. A mystery, a little romance, a creepy mansion, a fiesty old lady, a stormy night and murder - although you don't know who was murdered or who did it until the end. A very fast and entertaining read.