Claudette Nicole is a pseudonym for Jon Messman who wrote the Trailsman. He also wrote some Nick Carters and some Men’s Adventure. So how does this manly man writer do at penning Gothic mysteries?
Eileen Donegan is on her way to Ireland. Though originally born there she lived most of her life in New York City. Her eccentric Aunt has sent her an urgent telegraph, asking her to come to Drumroe. Her life in NYC sucks at the moment and she loves her one and only family member, so she hops on a plane immediately.
Upon arriving she rents a small car and heads out in the dreary rain to her aunts’ estate. Wonderful descriptions of the folksy countryside. Suddenly a tree falls into the middle of the road and to avoid it she drives her car into a small river. She feels like this was no accident.
Oh wait! I almost forgot, she’s somewhat psychic. Nothing too crazy she just gets “bad feelings” about things and then she’s proven right later on. It plays a minor part but is worth mentioning.
She shows up to the estate. A sassy butler type grounds keeper guy is there. He’s never heard of her, and her aunt isn’t there. Eileen is like, tough cookies, I’m coming in, someone tried to kill me, and I’ve been swimming in the river.
Next day she gets up to investigate the crash and find out where her aunt has gone off to…and hire someone to get her rental car out of the river. Back at the river she meets a handsome rugged historian guy. He knows her aunt and is like, eh, she probably took off for the weekend, she does that sometimes. Eileen is like, I don’t know man, she urgently invited me here. Something seems fishy.
Then she meets handsome solicitor (lawyer) guy. He tells her, don’t worry, your aunt probably just took off, she does that. Also, he tells her that her aunt left her the Drumroe estate in the will, but she’d be better off not taking it. More fishness.
Locals act weird. She stumbles upon a cult ceremony in the graveyard. People try to kill her. She dates both shady guys. Little bit of pointless backstory about her divorce. Etc.
The mystery aspect was great and was at the forefront of the story. The setting was folky gothic goodness. Lush greens. Mist. Rain. Trees. Graveyards. Small town Ireland with off-putting locals. Some Irish history involving the uprising for seperation. It seems to tie-in with the odd things happening. It was lite in the romance department, which I appreciated. I mean, a genre of fiction marketed towards women, written by a Men’s Adventure author read by a guy who mostly reads horror and crime novels, take this for what’s it’s worth but I really liked it!
Fawcett Gold Medal 1971
Review by: Nick Anderson
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