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Dark Desire
After her brother and his wife are killed, Alain Devoit meets and falls in love with her brother-in-law Nicholas Bertold, the co-heir to the estate and the chief suspect in the deaths
- GenresFranceHistorical Romance
378 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
30 people want to read
About the author
Virginia Coffman
90 books44 followersVirginia 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 18, 2019
Nope. This is even slower than her ancient Rome fiction (written under Jeanne Duval). I feel like I'm reading Coffman wrong, because everyone seems to love her books -- yet I'm paging through, skimming chunks, & wondering when the heck something's gonna happen besides the endless yammering about whatever key point drives each book.
In this case, the lynchpin is the hero being accused, released, & yet still suspected of murdering the heroine's brother...which you'd think would make for a tense setup, but instead she's hating on him for one lonely chapter before falling all over herself to treat him like an honored guest & feed him according to his 'continental tastes.' And that's it, really. It's not so much that he gradually changes her mind by being awesome (cuz he's not very interesting, imo) as she immediately forgets to hate him because he revs her hormones. Idiot.
I read the reveal at the end, re: the true murderer. And it was pretty obvious. Yawn.
As I said, part of me wonders if I'm being too hard on Coffman...but then I think of Phyllis Whitney or Vicky Holt or Evelyn Grey or Florence Stevenson, all of whom write these types of books, yet rarely do they fail to entertain yours truly. *shrug* Eh. It happens. Some authors are hit-or-miss. But hopefully I like VC's short gothics better than her long fiction.
In this case, the lynchpin is the hero being accused, released, & yet still suspected of murdering the heroine's brother...which you'd think would make for a tense setup, but instead she's hating on him for one lonely chapter before falling all over herself to treat him like an honored guest & feed him according to his 'continental tastes.' And that's it, really. It's not so much that he gradually changes her mind by being awesome (cuz he's not very interesting, imo) as she immediately forgets to hate him because he revs her hormones. Idiot.
I read the reveal at the end, re: the true murderer. And it was pretty obvious. Yawn.
As I said, part of me wonders if I'm being too hard on Coffman...but then I think of Phyllis Whitney or Vicky Holt or Evelyn Grey or Florence Stevenson, all of whom write these types of books, yet rarely do they fail to entertain yours truly. *shrug* Eh. It happens. Some authors are hit-or-miss. But hopefully I like VC's short gothics better than her long fiction.
March 1, 2024
unfortunately not one of her best.
February 3, 2024
I won't give anything away, except to say that this book combines history and romance, as well as mystery and intrigue, and it does it very well! I usually don't care for books written in the first person, but there are a few exceptions, and this was one of them! There are enough characters in the story to keep you entertained, and enough chemistry between the H and h so that you really want them to overcome all the obstacles and have their HEA.
BTW: I guessed whodunit, then I wasn't sure, but I turned out to be right!
BTW: I guessed whodunit, then I wasn't sure, but I turned out to be right!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews