The curse of Penryth Hall

Title:

Author:

Summary:

After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She's always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she'd never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall. A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby's once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It's an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth's bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse. It also brings Ruan Kivell, the person whose books brought her to Cornwall, the one the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn't believe in curses-or Pellars-but this is Cornwall and to these villagers the curse is anything but lore, and they believe it will soon claim its next victim: Tamsyn. To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night. -- Provided by publisher.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

326 pages ; 25 cm.

Genre:

Detective and mystery fiction.

Subject Term:

Bookstores -- Fiction.

Women booksellers -- Fiction.

Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction.

Blessing and cursing -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Cornwall (England : County) -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Minotaur Books,

Publication Date:

2023

ISBN:

9781250886019

Publication Information:

New York : Minotaur Books, 2023.

Call Number:

ARMSTRONG

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003683920	New Adult Fiction	ARMSTRONG Jess	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"A delightful debut." - People

An atmospheric gothic mystery that beautifully brings the ancient Cornish countryside to life, Armstrong introduces heroine Ruby Vaughn in her Minotaur Books & Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut, The Curse of Penryth Hall.

After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She's always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she'd never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall.

A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby's once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It's an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth's bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse. It also brings Ruan Kivell, the person whose books brought her to Cornwall, the one the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn't believe in curses--or Pellars--but this is Cornwall and to these villagers the curse is anything but lore, and they believe it will soon claim its next victim: Tamsyn.

To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night.

Author Notes

JESS ARMSTRONG's debut novel, The Curse of Penryth Hall, won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition. She has a masters degree in American History but prefers writing about imaginary people to the real thing. Jess lives in New Orleans with her historian husband, two sons, yellow cat, speckled dog, and the world's most pampered school-fair goldfish. And when she's not working on her next project, she's probably thinking about cheese, baking, tweeting or some combination of the above.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Armstrong's engrossing debut begins in Devon, England, shortly after WWI, as American expat and bookseller Ruby Vaughn is sent by her employer to deliver a trunkful of rare volumes to a folk healer in a small Cornish village. While there, Ruby visits her estranged friend and former lover Tamsyn Chenowith, who left Ruby to marry Edward, the wealthy lord of Penryth Hall. Trapped in an unhappy marriage with Edward, Tamsyn wants to reconnect with Ruby, but their reunion takes a dark turn when Edward is found murdered in Penryth's orchard, his face gruesomely disfigured. Locals are sure Edward's death is the work of a mysterious curse that has plagued Penryth Hall for years, and Tamsyn fears she'll be the next victim. Ruby teams up with Ruan Kivell, the town "pellar," or witch, whose books she was supposed to deliver, to solve the mystery before anyone else dies; in the process, she sheds her skepticism of all things supernatural. Ruby is a wonderful concoction, world-weary and reckless, and Armstrong outfits her with a moody, gripping mystery that keeps the pages turning. If, in the end, she leaves one too many plot threads dangling, it's a small quibble. Fans of Gothic-flavored suspense will devour this. (Dec.)

Library Journal Review

DEBUT Winner of the Mystery Writers of America First Novel Crime Award, Armstrong's entrancing historical debut delivers an elegantly crafted, supernatural-tinged plot that evokes the best of Barbara Michaels, with nods to Conan Doyle's The Hound of Baskervilles. Superbly rendered characters include a plucky protagonist whom Maisie Dobbs would be proud to claim as a friend and an evocative sense of place reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier at her best. Ostensibly in Cornwall to deliver some antiquarian books, Ruby Vaughn has a real motive, to check in on her old friend Tamsyn. But Tamsyn, now the wife of Sir Edward Chenowyth and mistress of Penryth Hall, is no longer the vibrant girl Ruby knew during the Great War. Tempted to chalk up the changes in Tamsyn to Edward (who is a bully if not worse), Ruby thinks it's a blessing in disguise when Edward is found dead. But then everyone in the village claims that his death is the result of the Penryth Curse, and Tamsyn insists that she and her young son will be the next targets. VERDICT Readers who like their historical mysteries embellished with plenty of gothic ambience and enhanced with an abundance of dry wit will adore this splendid debut.--John Charles