The story is Set in 1922 in the Cornish countryside. Ruby Vaughn, our heroine, wonders if a curse is actually to blame for a real-life murder. Ruby is working for an old and rare book shop in Exeter, when she walks into a scandal. This happens when she goes to the village of Lothlel Green to deliver a box of books to Ruan Kivell, who's known to the locals as "the Pellar". Ruby decides that that means he's maybe some type of Cornish exorcist....a cross between a physician, a witch, and a priest, but that’s not to say she isn't intrigued. Ruan is a mystery within a mystery. The second time Ruby meets him, she thinks: “This wasn’t the charming man I’d seen only yesterday...No. He had thunder on his face, and there was something different about him. Something untamed, uncivilized, and entirely terrifying.” While in Lothlel Green, Ruby reunites with her old love, Tynsm. He's been living there in a place known to the locals call Penryth Hall. When he dies mysteriously and Ruby herself is nearly killed, she learns about the "Curse" that was put on Penryth Hall", where the Chenowyth family lives. The story goes that years ago, a jilted woman asked a local witch for help to win back the heart of her lover, a Chenowyth ancestor who'd married a barmaid, and “the witch" put a curse on the entire Chenowyth line as revenge. The curse killed the faithless heir and his bride. The witch removed his unfaithful heart and delivered it to his betrothed in a silver box. Ruby is not sure she believes the story or that she believes in curses, but she knows that Edward was not a faithful husband and likely has a lot of enemies. Tamsyn isn’t too broken up about Edward’s death, but she’ll do anything to protect her son from becoming the next victim of the curse, and to do that she needs Ruby’s help. Romance and danger are abundant in every corner of this dark, and spooky estate. The folklore in the story is firmly set in the minds of the locals as truth, and they treat it with absolute reverence while searching for a killer that they know is human...or at least they think it is. This was an intriguing and enchanting mystery...almost like a dark fairytale. Just enjoy it for what it is and don't even try to pronounce some of the names. ( )

Couldn't really get into it--like many historical novels the characters come across as 20/21st cent. people in costume.

Ah, this story had so much potential but convoluted character development and sloppy plotting drag it down to two stars. I never much cared about Ruby or her friend Tamsyn and some of the plot points were never fully explored or explained. The audiobook narration was good for every character with an accent but melodramatic for Ruby, the only American, though the fault may be the writing. The author leaves the door open for a future Ruby adventure but never fully closes the door on this one. ( )

The Curse of Penryth Hall is an interesting murder mystery / gothic story set in the 1920s. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the book as well as the time period as I am always interested in post-WWI historical fiction writing as I don't think there is enough of it.

I really liked the Ruby, the main character, as it would be very difficult to be an independent woman during this time period, but circumstances have led her to be leery of relationships and distrustful. Considering what happened to her and how families 'dealt' with problems during this time period, she came out rather lucky, so I totally understand where she is coming from and why she would not want to give up her independence. I liked how the author made her life difficult because some of the things she did would have shocked people during this time period and she would have suffered consequences, even dangerous ones. However, I don't feel the author managed to do the same with the other characters, except the cat? Ruan actually drove me nuts as he seemed like two different people half of the time, his character development almost non-existent because the author couldn't seem to make up her mind as to how she wanted him to appear. For example, he would be nice and friendly to Ruby one minutes, then the next time they would meet, he would be cruel and dismissive, almost as if he was putting on a show for those around him. Not a genuine person at all. And the other characters were written this way as well.

The writing itself was well done, and I enjoyed the atmospheric setting of the mansion and the lands. There were quite a few twists and turns I wasn't expecting which made the story intriguing as I wasn't sure if I was reading a simply mystery or a gothic suspense. While some of the plot points were a bit silly, and Ruan sometimes ruined a scene for me, I thoroughly enjoyed Ruby's investigations because she often used logic and sense when seeking information. It was also a bit of a slow burn, sometimes too much of one.

Verdict
The Curse of Penryth Hall seems to have more elements of a gothic mystery in it, but I would have to say also some elements of magical realism. I thought Ruby's character development was interesting and I enjoyed learning more about her, but I thought the others could have been better and would have added more to the story. The overall plot was interesting, but did have a tendency to meander causing it to slow down and focus on things that I don't think were necessary to the story. There was a lot of potential in this book and the writing was solid, so I will definitely read more from this author in the future. ( )

One of the interesting things about this book was the slightly dark sexual undercurrent that ran through the story- it was also one of the annoying things. Put it out there once and let the reader run with it. Aside from that, this was a very well drawn gothic style mystery with interesting characters and just the right amount of twists and turns. The dynamic between Ruby and Ruan, the two main characters, and his ability to read some of her inner thoughts added just the right touch of humor when things seemed to be taking a left turn.

Recently I have read several writers who focus on Cornwall for not only this type of story but for police procedural murder mysteries. They have all been well written and provided me with hours of entertaining reading. Congratulations to Jess Armstrong on a very solid debut novel. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books and NetGalleyfor a copy. ( )