The Black Opal

The first 20 per cent or so of this novel enthralled me. I rate it as the best opening pages that I’ve read by this author writing as Victoria Holt (at the time of writing, I’ve read all but two Holt novels).

One of this author’s greatest strengths – as Plaidy and Carr, too – is creating believable child characters, especially girls. She does a great job with little Carmel, who’s very endearing from the moment you meet her. You’d have to be very hard-hearted to not sympathise with a four-year-old orphan being brought up with people who don’t really want her.

We get some lovely scenes, such as when an older boy character – Lucien – helps Carmel search for her lost pendant, and when Carmel meets some gypsies in the show more wood.

Settings at a big house with woodland nearby is usually a winner with me, providing you throw in a good cast of characters and a lively plot, which we do have in this early part.

Alas! Change is inevitable, and the setting switches to Australia. With the exception of Plaidy’s “Beyond the Blue Mountains”, every other book I’ve read by this author – under all her pseudonyms – goes downhill when the heroine sails to Australia. It often feels like I’m reading travel writing, not a novel. I’ve lost count of how many times the heroine of one of Holt/Plaidy/Carr’s novels is startled by a kookaburra.

Carmel, of course, grows up, so some of those endearing qualities from the earlier parts of the story are lost; however, she remains a very likeable character.

As you’d expect with a Holt novel, there’s a mysterious murder to solve. As usual, it’s not hard to work out who did it. To give credit to Ms Holt, though, it took me two guesses to pick the murderer. Once I’d discounted my first choice at about three-quarters of the way through, it then became obvious who did the deed.

It’s also obvious which admirer Carmel will chose for a husband, but I think it's the right choice.

Typically with this author, we get too much *telling* as opposed to *showing*, which makes for passive prose, but overall I rate this as one of Victoria Holt’s better books. In fact, I think it’s my second favourite, after “The Judas Kiss”. show less

I enjoy romantic suspense and mysteries, and having been assured that Victoria Holt is considered the queen of classic romantic suspense, I picked this book up at my local library. The beginning was promising, with a foundling gypsy child found under a bush, given the name Carmel March, and allowed to live as a sort of poor relation in the house of a wealthy doctor. But very quickly as Carmel grew up, the plot disintegrated into utter boredom. I started to wonder if the person who labeled this suspense usually read weather reports. The book takes Carmel many places and into many dramas, where she discovers that her father was posing as her uncle the whole time, hiding his poorly thought out affair with a gypsy actress, the wealthy show more doctor's wife dies mysteriously, and her husband is accused, Carmel makes friends with a lifeless girl named Gertie and her brothers, she has several almost identical marriage proposals, and at last decides to marry a man who was briefly married to a woman he slept with once,who had a baby by another lover- Carmel's standards seem increasingly low- and at the end has gallons of money- and bought presumably with the money- happiness. Boring and sleepy from beginning to end. The so-called mystery I was sure of from the first chapters. Two star. show less

Carmel is found under the Azalea bush, "the one that gave Tom Yardley all that trouble one year." She is taken in by the people at Commonwood House and is generally made to feel unwelcome. It is hinted that she might belong to the gypsies. She is championed by Uncle Toby as well as the two youngsters from The Grange, Lucian and Camilla. When the lady of the house dies, she goes off to Australia with Uncle Toby and only upon her return as an 18-year-old lady, does she find she's been whisked away from a murder scene.
From the description on the back cover, (which mentions the murder, so that's not a spoiler, per se) I expected more of this book to revolve around the murder mystery, but fully two thirds of the book had gone by before show more Carmel even learns there was a murder. Much more of the story involves Carmel's childhood at Commonwood and her experiences in Australia, both of which, fortunately, were interesting to read about. Once Carmel grows up and returns to England, though, I found things got a bit silly. I find it hard to believe that an illegitimate young lady, who is possibly part gypsy, and definitely has a scandalous connection to a murder receives no less than THREE marriage proposals, all from respectable gentlemen, one of whom is a peer of the realm. Particularly in the time period in which the story is set. She's so wishy-washy about them, too, definitely leading two of these men on while using their connections to solve the murder. I'm not even sure she chose the right one in the end. I guess my verdict is that I loved two thirds of this book and the last third was merely okay. I also found it quite easy to guess who the culprit was in the unfortunate death. A very ho-hum and anti-climactic ending. Sigh. show less

I really enjoyed this book. Its one of my favorites by Holt. It moved at a good pace, kept my attention. The story was well written. There wasnt alot of fluff or cut off endings. It was just written really well. She could have even added more to the story if she wanted to but it turned out nice how it was. I would recommend if you are looking for an easy read to fill the evening.

I read this book during the summer when I was 12, and I remember getting a sunburn because I couldn't put the book down to move into the house. Always the sign of a good read!

a quick, easy mystery. I figured out the murder and I hate it when I can figure out the murders.

A young girl is left at an old house, and she discovers the origin of her existence along with solving the family mystery of a murderous death.