Virginia Coffman created a bit of a cottage industry for herself in writing "gothic romance" novels. A former actress, script editor and t.v. screenplay writer, Coffman churned out over 100 novels. This is the first I've ever read. When I saw the term "gothic romance" I admit I lowered my expectations just a bit. The book was not what I would have expected from that label, but it's probably just as well that I lowered that bar. I enjoyed the book, in setting and tone and story it reminded me a bit of the period horror movies from companies like Hammer and AIP that were coming out in the late 60's and early to mid 70's before slashers took over the genre. There is a romantic subplot, but it's barely there at all and doesn't really take a place of prominence until the last few pages.
The story is set in Napoleonic France, and the protagonist is a young lady who is not quite 18 years of age. She has in short time lost her fiance and her father, and has used money inherited from her mother (who passed some time before the events in the story) to purchase the family estate of the man she would have married. But there are (dun dun duuun) complications. It turns out that there's a long lost brother to contend with. There is also a local legend that the family is home to a coven of witches led by a quasi-immortal warlock.
The young lady finds herself in strange country, surrounded by strange people and not knowing whom she can trust. She meets her incredibly shady neighbors, the dependable seeming local constabulary, the enigmatic brother who may or may not actually be the 400 year old leader of the coven, the mysterious maid who quickly asserts herself as the actual head of the household, and more. On top of this there's a missing child who turns up mute, a dead body that seems to be the guardian her father appointed to look over her, and a blatant attempt on her life.
This all sounds pretty exciting, right? Unfortunately the ending is where it goes off the rails a bit. I won't give away the whole twist, but there are about to be some incidental spoilers. You have been warned. There's a whole thing with a portrait that seems to look like the man who identified himself as the fiance's brother. But we find out that the painting is a fake, and made to resemble someone else. But there is no indication who made the picture, how they knew what the subject looked like, how they managed to get it in the house before the young heroine moved in. Then there is the coven. The traditional number of witches in a coven is 13. But there seem to be dozens of them in this coven. In fact, being a small village, I wonder why the citizens are so afraid of the coven since every single last one of them would need to be a member to account for the seeming numbers.
There are many nits to pick in the story and in how it's told. Overall it's a fun little read that you can breeze through rather quickly, though. I am not someone who expects perfection from every piece of art and entertainment I come across. I don't fall into the critic's trap of placing something that's merely good into the terrible column. So I can say that while it has it's issues, it's still worth a read just for giggles. Don't expect anything supernatural, this isn't Stephen King. Don't expect torrid romance either, this isn't...ummm... okay I actually don't know any names of romance authors off the top of my head. It's a dumb little period thriller from the mid 60's that will amuse you and entertain you for a short while as long as you don't think about it too much.
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