House of Many Shadows and My Sister's First Book Review

House of Many Shadows

by Barbara Michaels

published by Fawcett Crest

Copyright 1974

She was trying to solve
a murder that was two
hundred and fifty years old...

When Meg's wealthy cousin Sylvia lent her the old house in Pennsylvania, Meg did not dream she would be drawn into a strange girl's distant past and into the brutal murder of three innocent people.

Meg saw them clearly. The old man, the servant, and the girl. She knew what horror lay in wait for them. But could she reach them across the years? Was it even safe for her to try?

Shuddery entertainment... The thrills keep coming..." - Publishers Weekly.

I haven't read the book but I like Meg already. Firstly, she is one of the few WRFH women who are actually appropriately dressed for fleeing. She looks warm, damn warm. And not in any anyway panicked despite the fact that there appear to be three shadowy men in pursuit. But, again, that could be due to the sensible boots and the confidence that can be instilled by a sweet pair of shoes.

Secondly, to my eye, Meg looks quite a bit like a young Linda Blair. 

I was also excited to see on the inside page of the book a review from my own hometown paper.

"Few writers can compare to Barbara Michaels when she conjures the inexplicable ... Fascinating too all who enjoy the eerie." - Columbus Dispatch

No legible signature but a very familiar style.

Well, on to other things.



My sister has never been much of a reader. In fact, she claimed to have not actually read a book since elementary school when she read Gertrude Chandler Warner's The Boxcar Children. This seems impossible but she swears it is the truth and no doubt that says something terrible about the state of our public school system.. 

Well a few weeks back she stopped by my office singing the praises of E. L. James' Fifty Shades of Gray. I personally have not read this book but am all for any book that inspires someone read, assuming said inspirational literature doesn't preach hate.

A BDSM-lite book seems quite the leap from a story of orphaned children living in a rusted out boxcar in the woods but sometimes you just have to jump in with both feet. She claims that if she had known there were books like that she would have started reading a long time ago. She had begged me to read it. And I have considered it if only so that we would have something terribly inappropriate to talk about in front of my dad, though the book sounds rather tame compared to a lot of things I have already read.

Well driven by the whirlwind of lust Fifty Shades appears to inspire, my sister has now moved on to the classic Anne Rice (as A. N. Roquelaure) Beauty series, which have been even more entertaining to talk about if only because I have read that, though years and years ago. And even my husband is familiar with the  infamous hot guy impaled on a stone phallus scene thanks to living in a college dormitory where it was apparently  passed around like a joint.

So, my sister's first book review ...

"Best book since The Boxcar Children." - HSM

Beautiful! Thank you H, can't wait to hear your next official review!