Boy, when Barbara Michaels got it right, she was one of the best. I wouldn't go so far as to call Be Buried in the Rain one of her best, but it's definitely in the higher end of the scale.

Julie Newcomb is the family's sacrificial lamb, bribed to spend her summer vacation helping to nurse her dying grandmother, an evil witch of a woman, in the crumbling but historical old family manse in Virginia, place nature is slowly and inexorably reclaiming, and positively dripping with atmosphere. Julie's been busy in med school, unaware of the two skeletons found on the family's property, left posed in the middle of the road, so doesn't find out about the drama and mystery swirling around until she arrives. Efforts by her family to mitigate the scandal and gossip involve bringing in an archeologist who just happens to be Julie's ex; a relationship that imploded 5 years previously, thanks to the evil machinations of her grandmother.

The one thing that Michaels never seemed to get right, in my opinion, was romance; her characters almost always fell into the insta-love category. Whether this is a reflection of the writing style in her time or not, I can't say, but it remains true with this book. Yes, the relationship was one that had prior history, and no, they didn't just pick up where they left off in the first few chapters; Michael does at least get the bit right. But once they do get back together (this is not a spoiler; they always get back together in her books), their future together is taken as a fait accompli - instant happily ever after.

What Michaels does get right though, is the slyly evil grandmother. Her pure, almost supernatural ability to fight back through two strokes; her ability in spite of her obvious physical impairment, to continue to manipulate and control the people around her, and her diabolical ability to psychologically break her own grand children.

Her other talent is atmosphere; Maidenwood is positively Southern Gothic. Her archeological background serves the story well too without sugar-coating the monotony of the profession at all. Most of the book is nothing but frustrated attempts at finding the history buried beneath the soil.

Julie, today, dances the line of being TSTL. Her ability to blithely ignore common sense is sometimes breathtaking, but this is a story from another age when this sort of heroic damsel was the last word in romantic suspense, so enjoying the story requires suspending disbelief a little further than usual in terms of what it means to be a strong, heroic female lead.

The mystery involved was more complex than it looked at the start, and I was left unsurprised by one of the culprits, but more than a tiny bit horrified by the skeletons' stories. I might have to go back and re-read the very end, because I'm not sure that the full story behind who put the skeletons in the road was really explained, but I might have just failed to retain that part as the jet lag set in and my will to live drained out (I finished reading this on the plane home).

This definitely qualifies for Halloween Bingo, but I'm not sure yet what square I'm using it for. I'm in catch-up mode at the moment, but will update this post when I get everything sorted out. ( )

3.5 stars

“The sun that warmed our stooping backs and withered the weed uprooted— We shall not feel it again. We shall die in darkness, and be buried in the rain.”

I read this for the TBRChallenge and Halloween Bingo, usually for TBRC, I talk about everything in the story but HB I try not to spoil too much in case a fellow player hasn't read it yet. I guess I'm saying, prepare for some small spoilers and some evading.

Deadman’s Hollow, the kids called it. Said it was haunted.

I didn't read the synopsis on the back of this, I saw it on the HB list of Southern Gothic recommends and trust my fellow HB players enough to just pick it up, so I went in with some wrong preconceptions. For some reason, Gothic automatically makes me think set in historical times, this takes place in the late '80s or early '90s (I'm 38, if you're Gen Z and thinking “That is historical!”, bah to you). The mausoleum on the cover also made me think Louisiana but the setting is the Tidewater area of Virginia. I was also ready for the story to have more of a focus on the ghostly or Gothic-y vibe, this was more centered on the characters. Sure, the beginning brings that creepy vibe with a man driving down a dark road at night and almost crashes as he swerves to avoid what later is found to be skeleton remains of an adult holding a baby. However, that moves to the side and we get more of a 'normal' vibe, with a granddaughter coming back to help take care of her granddmother who is laid up because of a stroke. It's a story that uses the characters to drive the story, instead of the story driving the characters.

He didn’t lust after my maidenhood; he lusted after Maidenwood. (It shows you how young I was, that I could get a grim relish out of that poor pun.) I never really understood why he was convinced that the discovery that would make his career lay hidden under the tangled brush and weedy clay of my family’s land. Like all old houses, Maidenwood had its share of legends; the buried pirate treasure was only one of them.

The story is told from Julie's point-of-view and she's a med student who gets called back to her ancestral home to help take care of her grandmother. When she was a pre-teen, she lived for four years with her grandmother and cousin Matt, who is now a Senator. Julie doesn't have a lot of memories from that time but it wasn't enjoyable for her. We get a good look at what kind of grandmother Martha was/is through Julie recalling when she brought home her boyfriend Alan, an archaeologist, and Martha prayed on Julie's insecurities (and Alan's, we later learn) of being ugly and not good enough. Alan's pushing desire to excavate Julie's land, it's been settled since pre-colonial and has rumors of a Blackbeard treasure on it, only adds to what Martha says about their relationship and Julie ends up breaking up with him. This shows the kind of power and sway Martha has over Julie and there was a great quote used in the story about how if you give someone a child before they are seven, they are theirs for life. Oof, what a quote to use and it honestly felt like the story was built around this idea.

With pitiless accuracy she described my failings, physical and emotional. How could I possibly imagine that a man like Alan—handsome, sophisticated, worldly—could be interested in a callow, homely girl like me? Flat-chested, with lusterless stick-straight brown hair, and the Carr features—“so unfortunate on a woman”—and, of course, no charm whatsoever.

So, Julie's back at Maidenwood and helping out the nurse Shirley there, there is also the Danners, the wife cooks and cleans and the husband is the handyman and also the one who found the bones. Julie has faint memories of them when she was there but Mr. Danner has found Jesus and is taciturn now, to say the least, and Mrs. Danner spends a lot of the time staring into space. There's also Julie's cousin Matt who flits in and out, he's trying to get power of attorney to run the estate, a Judge who is friends with Martha and visits occasionally, and then Alan. Yep, Julie's ex-boyfriend has been given permission to excavate some of the land, not by the house because Martha can't find out as she's violently opposed to the idea, and some of Alan's helpers on the dig. I was impressed with how just about all of the characters got their own, at least, little backgrounds. It at times gave a fuller view but at others was a bit too dissecting to the story. I did come mainly for some ghostly Gothic, so this disappointed at being distracted away could be a me thing.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not noble—you must have realized that, after reading some of the admissions in these pages.

There were two times of fourth wall breaking, this always kind of throws me and I thought the first time didn't fit but the second one, because it came at the end of the story, fit better. I just realized I'm not talking about the skeleton bones a lot and that is because of the more to the side they are, they are simultaneously the catalyst of the story and the background. The characterizations, how cousin Matt and the Danners are acting, Martha's deviousness, and Julie's traumatic memories coming back to her are the vehicle that carries the found skeleton thread; it leads to the revelations but isn't obvious about it. There's also some second chance romance between Julie and Alan. Alan's feelings follow the not obvious theme and his caring about Julie is read between the lines, which I'm a big fan of because I think it can sometimes hit harder; gruff people and their deep feelings gets me every time.

I enjoyed this story, even though it didn't always give me what I picked it up for but more than made up for it with all the little character additives that created such deep characters. I didn't personally like the witch Martha but her characterization was amazing, the ability to have a character control a room with just an eye, whew. The whole Maydon's Hundred (tied into the history and treasure folklore of Julie's home) was a thread that I felt had too much focus. Some threads felt necessary but at the same time, I wanted them clipped. I don't know, while reading I wanted things to move along more but when I was finished with the whole story, I had a greater appreciation for them all. I also want to make sure I mention the dog, Elvis, loved him, lol. If you're looking for a story to sink into characterization, this would be a great pick-up. The last part broke the fourth wall but I really enjoyed the last lines. ( )

I loved every second of this book until the last two pages, when a supernatural element was suddenly, jarringly I thought, added in. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that it seemed as if it were an afterthought by the author, as the narrator mentioned nothing of the sort when the event was actually taking place. I thought I had found a new writer to read, but was so disgusted by the ending of this book that I doubt I'll try another. ( )

I really enjoyed this story but from reading the cover i didnt think i was going to like it because i thought it was going to have a political flair to it & i hate reading books about politicians (except Charles Finch series which is 5 star) and lawyers & judges...but it wasnt like that at all. Definitely should read if you are a Michaels fan. ( )

When reading "Be Buried in the Rain", you can almost feel the heat of a Virginia summer as you read. The book has a lovely mixture of history, suspense, romance, and a little paranormal thrown in for seasoning ... a decaying family plantation, a toxic, bedridden grandmother, a medical student enlisted against her will for a summer of tending, an old love affair fanned throughout, great secondary characters, including a hound named "Elvis", all beginning with the discovery of the old skeletons of a mother and baby in the first scene.

It has all the best elements of a good ghost story with enough modern skepticism to keep us enthralled. Barbara Michaels is the master of the modern gothic. ( )