The Curse of Penryth Hall

It's 1922 and book seller Ruby Vaughn has been sent by her octogenarian employer and housemate to Cornwall to deliver a box of books to Ruan Kivell. She's reluctant because she hasn't been to that village since her former best friend Tamsyn married the local baronet Sir Edward Chenowyth. Ruby was in love with Tamsyn and feels betrayed that she threw her over for Sir Edward.

After meeting Ruan and dropping off the books, she proceeds to Penryth Hall where she encounters a decidedly gothic atmosphere. Tamsyn has changed a lot becoming much more withdrawn and is clearly unhappy. Ruby takes a strong dislike to Sir Edward who proves to be a philandering bully. But she wasn't expecting anyone to murder him the night she arrives. Nor was she show more expecting his death to be attributed to a curse that had previously taken his uncle and his uncle's wife.

Ruby had weird dreams of the death the night of Sir Edward's death and she was attacked in her bedroom. She even believes for a while that she might have been the one to kill Sir Edward. Ruan is called in to investigate since he is the Pellar - a witch who is believed to be able to break curses.

Ruby and Ruan develop an interesting relationship. He can read her thoughts which is something that Ruby is forced to believe despite her disbelief in anything supernatural. The two work together to try to determine who murdered Sir Edward since neither believe that it was a curse.

Ruby was a fascinating character. She is an heiress who was sent away from her home in New York when she was a teenager because of a scandal. She lost both her parents and sister when the Lusitania sank. She worked as an ambulance driver during World War I. She is determined to live in the present since the past held so much trauma for her. Tamsyn sees her as brave and daring, but Ruby feels that she has nothing left to lose. She tries to survive by drinking too much and doing dangerous things.

I enjoyed the gothic atmosphere of this story with its curses and superstitions. I liked that Ruby who might have some supernatural powers of her own in the form of prophetic dreams is determined to find a rational explanation for all the various events.

Fans of the gothic will enjoy this story filled with intriguing characters. show less

No wonder this won a debut crime and mystery writing award!

It’s 1922. Ruby Vaughn is an American employed by an Octogenarian eccentric Exeter bookseller, Mr. Owen. She does odd tasks for him like delivering tomes to various customers.
She’s haring off to Lothlel Green near Tintagel, Cornwall (need I say more!) to deliver a trunk of books to Ruan Kivell, the Pellar (whatever that is!) Somehow the cat Mr, Owen’s cat Fiachna has managed her way into Ruby’s Crow Elkhart roadster.
Ruby is also calling in on her best friend and once lover, Lady Tamsyn Chenowyth at Penryth Hall, whom she’d fought with on the day Tamsyn had married Sir Edward Chenowyth. Tamsyn had sent a letter asking for Ruby’s help. Now, a year and a half since show more receiving the letter, and against her better judgement, Ruby decides to call in. After all she is passing by.
Ruby’s shocked by Tamsyn’s appearance, and the fading bruise on her cheekbone. She’s stunned when later, Tamsyn charges her to look after her son should anything happen to her.
What Ruby finds in Cornwall is death and dire circumstances, curses and superstitions, a healer cum witch who can read some of her thoughts, and ill feeling from the villagers.
We uncover much about Ruby as the story unfolds. She’s a reluctant heiress (her parents died when the boat they were on was sunk), she’s uncaring about her own mortality, she’s brave and adventurous, (an ambulance driver during WW1 on the front at Amiens), and she feels alone, except for the wise and welcoming Mr. Owen.
I relished Ruby, an unusual heroine who’s seen more than most.
I’m agog about what she will do next! I’m sure Ruan will be there somehow.

A St. Martin’s Press ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher. show less

The Curse of Penryth Hall is, if I may use the term, a cheery bit of Gothic. Well, maybe not exactly cheery, but with the exception of the last twenty pages or so, I knew things were going to work out fine. The central character, a bisexual, orphaned, disgraced, former WWI ambulance driver, heiress from the US, now living in Essex with an octogenarian best friend who runs a rare books business, is a story in herself.

She's sent to deliver a trunk full of potentially demonic books to a mystical healer living in a town straight out of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. The scene of the action is Cornwall, a Cornwall that believes in curses and that is suffering the losses of the War to End All Wars. Seriously, the assortment of plot elements show more could fill a BINGO card.

That doesn't mean I didn't like The Curse of Penryth Hall, I enjoyed it the way one enjoys strawberry shortcake. It didn't improve me as a human being, but it did taste yummy going down. If you enjoy quirky Gothics that tickle as much as they terrify, you're in for a treat.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own. show less

This was a most enjoyable historical gothic mystery with a slight paranormal twist. It is set in the early 1920s of Exeter and Cornwall, England. Ruby Vaughn, our plucky and free-spirited protagonist, is an American heiress who fears nothing. After a valorous stint as an Army nurse in WWI, she charges in where others fear to tread. She works for an aging English antiquarian who has sent her off to the hinterlands of Cornwall to deliver a hoard of books to one of his friends, who just happens to be a small village's folk healer or "pellar". Ruby's dearest friend lives at Penryth Hall - quite close to her destination. So, she stops by to say hello and gets wrangled into an extended stay with the friend. One thing leads to another and a show more body is found on the grounds of Penryth which is attributed to a long-standing curse. Ruby gets dragged in further and further. If she's ever to leave this small village of small-minded folks, she'll have to solve the murder. But can she survive the ordeal?

This was a highly atmospheric, somewhat dark mystery. The writing is rich and the characters colorful. The scene setting is cinematic in scope and the tension is steady throughout. I was amazed to discover that this was Ms. Armstrong's first published book. I can only believe that it is the first of many to come.

I am grateful to Minotaur Books for having provided a complimentary uncorrected digital galley of this book through NetGalley. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: December 5, 2023
No. of Pages: 336
ISBN No.: 978-1250886019 show less

What a glorious adventure with an incredibly relatable heroine. One of sadly few times that I've found a main character who feels real in her faults and her triumphs, struggling with emotions of her past and present. Side characters who truly contributed to the narrative and kept me smiling, giggling or holding the book tight during the most suspenseful sections. Enough history and folklore to keep me engaged and a hint of a future romance subplot with the mysterious yet compelling village Pellar. Impressive prose with the perfect balance of narration, description, and conversation. I can't wait to read book two! Armstrong is definitely going on my favorite authors list.

Wow, is there a lot going on in this book -- mysterious deaths, old flames, magical connections, a curse, the Cornish countryside, old books, cow ailments, a sassy cat -- the list goes on. I enjoyed it a lot! Ruby is a very engaging character, with a strong sense of who she wants to be, a fearless attitude, and the self-confidence to endure some self-reflection. I love her relationship with Mr. Owen. I love the many unexplained things that happen and the very well done world building. This is a story that happens in a specific sort of place, but also in a very specific time, where everyone has their scars from the trauma of the Great War. It feels like it might become a series, and I am down for more of Ruby's adventures.

Advanced show more Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss. show less

Jess Armstrong’s delicious debut novel is equal parts romance — or not — and paranormal mystery — or maybe not that, either. Armstrong keeps you guessing with plenty of twists in this page-turner set in Cornwall in the 1920s, when centuries of superstition lived cheek by jowl with the advances of the bright, new 20th century of science and progress.

Disgraced American heiress Ruby Vaughn has made a new life in Exeter, England, as a bookseller. A delivery of sorcery books to the village of Lothlel Green in Cornwall causes Ruby to cross paths with a beloved friend from the past, someone from whom she parted badly. The very next day, the friend’s husband is murdered by disembowelment. Yikes! The villagers in Lothlel Green are show more convinced it’s the long-ago curse placed on the lord of Penryth Hall. But Ruby’s got her doubts. She’s also got her doubts about her friend Lady Tamsyn Chenowyth and a mysterious local Pellar (read: witch). Readers will love journeying with iconoclastic Ruby as she unravels what happened. And I hope, I hope, I hope I’m right, and this is the start of a series!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review. show less