The Mistress of Trevelyan
Set in late 19th-century San Francisco, this conventional but well-crafted gothic romance from first-time author St. Giles is full of spooky suspense. Lowly laundry worker Ann Lovell, the book's narrator, will do almost anything to snag the position of governess at Trevelyan Manor, even face off with forbidding Benedict Trevelyan, who's rumored to have killed his wife. Ann succeeds in persuading Benedict to hire her, despite her lack of formal teaching experience, but as she settles into her new position, she can't shake the sensation that someone is watching her. That feeling only intensifies as her relationship with Benedict escalates from a chaste but sensual encounter to a full-blown affair. Convinced that Benedict didn't murder his wife, Ann realizes the culprit must be one of the manor's residents, who are all members of Benedict's family. St. Giles has a tendency to overwrite ("I was a mere grain of sand upon the shore of an ocean of pleasure, and Benedict was the tide of that new world"), but her story ripples with tension. This tension and the author's skill at creating the book's brooding atmosphere make this an engrossing read.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.