Haunt Me Still

The first play I remember seeing was Waiting for Godot, but the next was Midsummer Night's Dream. The Godot was utterly simple (as it should be) - just some guys in a blackbox theatre with some stools. I remember clearly how funny it was. The Shakespeare was performed as part of a college festival and we followed the scenes about the campus as they were performed in various locations suitable to the play. I fell in love with it and it remains one of my favorites.

I spent a goodly portion of my twenties and thirties as a theater artist - first as an actor and then as a director (an activity which appeals both to my love of words and my innate bossiness). I had the privilege of acting in some Shakespeare and have read all of the plays, show more several of them multiple times. There is something so wonderful about Shakespeare. Wonderful stories told in beautiful language with an incredible flexibility. As an actor you need only trust in the language and the rest will take care of itself. It is a great tragedy that to so many the work is dead - presented as dead, no longer played with - dead words on a dead page. It's so much more. So much fun. So much play.

And then there is the Scottish play and all the amazing and fascinating and Gothic history that surrounds it and its own intrinsic macabre weirdness. It's one of my favorites so I was pleased to pick up this book that sets itself around and about it and even more pleased to find how much fun the book was. An excellent and above all else fun book filled with occult happenings and mystery and danger and just a bit of romance. I loved it (and don't much care whether people want to agree with or disagree with the author's Shakespearean scholarship - it's a Gothic thriller, people, get over it). show less

As much as I recall enjoying the author's first book about Kate Stanley and a mystery surrounding one of Shakespeare's works, this one left me disappointed. The theory behind the plot was interesting, at least, but the present-day portions of the story, particularly near the end of the book, began to involve descriptions of witchcraft (whether deemed "white" or "dark" magic) and rituals that did not add anything to the story. Parts of it also just seemed too far-fetched. The on-again-off-again romance of the main character was mostly off in this story, though poorly done in my opinion, and thanks to the removal of an obstacle (the emotional aftermath of which I did not think was written believably) and the reappearance of the love show more interest in the final scene, it looks like the door has been left open for another installment. I'm just not sure how eagerly I would seek it out. As much as I enjoyed the first book, this one largely left me dissatisfied and at times, completely put off.

I passed along the first book (The Shakespeare Secret, aka Interred With Their Bones) after reading it, but I think I will just take this one back to the used bookstore and hope I use the credit on a more satisfying read the next time. show less

Haunt Me Still, the second Kate Stanley novel from Jennifer Lee Carrell, finds the Shakespearean stage director entwined in dark mystery surrounding the Scottish Play. Summoned to Dunsinnan by former Shakespearean actress Janet Douglas, Kate is asked to help unravel the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of the Lord of the Manor, who was tracking down a reportedly fabulous addition to his Macbeth collection, a legendary “first draft” of the play containing a detailed description of a forbidden ritual. All manner of dark arts are unleashed throughout the story, leading up to a hair rasing climax in a remote Scottish castle.

There are plenty of witches here, both old and new, as well as a hefty dose of theatre history…all show more wound together in a tight and riveting plot. Carrell again tells two stories in time shift mode — Kate’s story in the 21st century, and Elizabeth Stewart, Lady Arran’s story in the 17th century. Both stories meld into one another throughout, and this time, the dual stories work a little better, primarily because there are fewer characters in here than in Interred With Their Bones.

Carrell has continued to flesh out the character of Kate Stanley and I am anxious to see where she goes next. The plot here is unusual, well-researched and exciting, although there are a couple of predictable and pat scenes. Finding the lost manuscript in a convent-turned-university in New York State is stretching it a little, as is the gory sacrifice scene in the British Museum.

Even so, this is a solid read and a successful addition to what I hope will become a well-established character series. Also, there is a killer book trailer on Amazon — check it out. Makes me hope this becomes a film. show less

Haunt Me Still is a sequel to Interred with Their Bones in which Kate Stanley was on the hunt for a missing Shakespeare play. In this book, she is hired to stage a new production of Macbeth. Macbeth is a play so famously cursed that actors even refuse to name the play or quote from the play aloud. And it won’t take long before it seems like the play really is cursed…

Interred with Their Bones was such a good book that I for a long time have wanted to read Haunt Me Still, unfortunately, this book wasn’t nearly enough good. It’s was entertaining, it was interesting; I love the idea of a lost Macbeth that is said to contain ritual of real witchcraft. But it wasn’t a page-turner for me, I read part of it now and then and I enjoyed show more it but it never became a book that I couldn’t put down. It was just…a good for the moment book, but not an OMG book. I liked the first book much more, it was more intense, more action and more adventures. Will I read the third book if it comes out? Yes, I would, I just hope that the mystery will be more interesting than this book. show less

Not the sort of book I would usually read but I was intrigued by the title being a fan of the bard.
I think there was the sly hint in the novel that the author like myself believed that Shakespeare was not the true author of the works attributed to him. In my opinion I believe it was Francis Bacon but I digress.
The plot was excellent I enjoyed the way she wove historical facts into the novel and being a wordsmith I came across a couple of words unfamiliar to me which I put into my dictionary.
I could guess at the end that the killer was known to Kate and close to her and I thought it was going to turn out to be Lady Nairn.
I give this one 4 stars and will look out for her other novels I feel hooked.

Well, it certainly does read well, but the quick succession of actions is unnerving. There is a highly wiccan storyline on the forefront, while Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' provides the clues to unravel the mystery. I wouldn't say it compares to the first novel ('The Shakespeare Secret') because it is much less academical and much more esoterical. I had enjoyed the first novel, but this one, I am afraid, just won't do. While the first was merely based on highly known academical feuds in Shakespeariana, this one feels like some Dan Brown pick-n-mix, where everything is thrown into the conspiracy cauldron: John Dee, Shakespeare, black magic and wiccan rituals... Don't get me wrong, this is a good summer read, but nothing more!

Jennifer Lee Carrell is the best author out there, hands down. While this books isn't as exciting as the first (Interred with Their Bones), it is still spellbinding (pun intended). She brings to life the magic of Scotland and the curse of the play MacBeth, while taking you on a wild adventure and twisting your heart in knots at the same time. And finally, someone who is respectful of and has done her research into the wiccan religion. Amazing book, can't wait for the next (final) one to be written! I'm pulling for Ben and Kate!