The Master of Blue Mire and The Yellow Gold of Tiryns

The Master of Blue Mire

by Virginia Coffman

published by Dell Books

Copyright 1971

When lovely young Livia Roy was sent by Captain Nicholas Brandon to the isolated manor of Blue Mire, she was warned that the two Brandon children might seem strange, their minds still affected by the mysterious violent death of their beautiful mother.

But nothing could have prepared Livia for the hate in her youthful charges' eyes - or the growing signs they were in league with the evil that seemed to haunt this accursed mansion where so many already had died. Could these angelic-looking children be spawns of Satan? And if they were, what kind of man then was their father, handsome and dashing Nicholas Brandon, who Livia so helplessly loved and desperately feared? ...

I am sure you will agree that this book description has all sorts of awesome going on with it. We have our heroine who is not only lovely, but young. - Who would have thought! - We also have her new employer and lord of the manor Captain Brandon - We will just drop the Nicholas so we can pretend a loose association with Jane Austen to hopefully help the WRFH genre gain a little residual respect. - and we have evil young children. 

I for one have a handful of evil children at home and personally I go out of my way to avoid mentioning that they might seem strange or their questionable evil Satan pedigree when looking for a sitter but baby-sitting gigs were probably harder to snag back in the day.

One last thought. Am I the only one who has the fact that Livia helplessly loves and desperately fears Captain Brandon setting off all kinds of warning bells?

I have also received this awesome cover from John in California. This cover for The Yellow Gold of Tiryns besides being very cool has the distinction of being one of the rare Strange Dude On the Cover covers that I have so few of. It also appears from my research, and PLEASE let me know if I this is incorrect, that the cover for this edition was actually illustrated by the book's author Helena Osborne.

In the process of trying to locate the illustration information, I have also stumbled across this alternate cover for a later edition.

My thanks go out to John for sharing!

Isle of the Unded

Isle of the Undead by Virginia Coffman
published by Signet Books
Copyright 1978

In the Land of Voodoo ...

St. Cloud, the tropical island where dashing Sir Anthony Fisher
and his beautiful (if a little cross-eyed), wealthy wife, Leslie, made
their home while Tony worked
on his latest novel ... St. Cloud, where native
drums beat out a nightly rhythm calling the islanders
forth for a dance of death ...

And what started for Leslie Fisher as a last attempt to save
her marriage soon became a nightmare of terror as
she helplessly watched Tony fall under a deadly voodoo spell.
Fearing for Tony's life and her own, Leslie turned
desperately to handsome Governor Edmund Durrell for help.
Edmund, devoted to Leslie, swore he would protect her.
Yet the enemy they faced drew on a force much older and more
powerful than any civil authority - a force that once
roused would never let its victims escape ...!

It is hard to believe that there could possibly be any one or thing more powerful then a local government official, but there you have it.

And really, why does one of her eyes appear to be lazy? Unless her lazy eye plays some sort of role in our story I'd think the artist would have changes that. But I haven't actually read the book so who am I to judge. Her eye could play a very important rule for all I know BUT since our back cover synopsis seems to all but tell you the thrilling conclusion of the tale, you'd think they would have mentioned it.

The House on the Moat

The House on the Moat by Virginia Coffman

published by Lancer Books
Copyright 1972

COULD THE MOAT HOUSE
BE HAUNTED?

The year is 1810. And the fiery young
Irish orphan, Kathleen Killain,
arrives at the 14th Century castle, the
Moat House. Deep in the forbidding
countryside of Kent, surrounded by
murky river, this old mansion is to be
the home of Sir Peregrine and his
strangely timid wife, Nerissa. And this
is the house that Kathleen is to run.

She is joined by Polly Dean, the
white-haired, eccentric old cook who
walks about at night, and is strangely
intuitive about the lurking spirits.
And by the three chambermaids, who
enter their new position with
enthusiasm and innocence-too much
innocence. Another arrival is
Sir Peregrine's uncle, Lord Talford,
an earl who is high above Kathleen's
station-and yet one who must
become her friend, as he offers her
sanity-and perhaps even hove-in what
is to become a situation of sheer doom.

For as Kathleen slowly begins her
duties and learns of the violent, secret
history of the Moat House, she
suddenly wonders what kind of
household she has come into...full
of strange cries and a deep, hidden
terror that prophesies danger.
And maybe even death.

Okay, after reading the lengthy back cover description, I'm not sure a person even needs to read this book. Very 1950's Hollywood movie trailer.

Chalet Diabolique

Chalet Diabolique by Virginia Coffman

published by Lancer Books
Copyright 1971

A Devilish Attraction...

Twice before, Kay Aronson had been drawn irresist-
ibly to men who had wronged her, men who led
her into calamitous marriages...and disaster.
With Leo it had been different. But now Leo
was dead, killed in a mysterious plane crash
near the little-known California spa called
Lucifer Cover. Or had he been murdered?
Out of her devotion, Kay was deter-
mined to find out...

Only at Lucifer Cover itself would Kay
learn the deeper, terrible mystery
behind Leo's strange death. For there
she was to meet wicked Nadine
Janos, fiery Caro Teague,
the possessive Christie Deeth-
women different from her yet so
like her-women drawn heart
and soul to the Cove's fascinating,
youthful owner Marc Meridon.

And then Kay knew she had to
battle a third fatal yearning
-one that threatened not
only her earthly happiness
but her eternal soul!

It's nice to know that Kay gets over her husband's death so quickly. I mean, so many women, while searching for the truth behind their spouse's death, might actually mourn them for a few weeks. What a waste. Good for you Kay!

Masque of Satan

Masque of Satan by Virginia Coffman

published by Lancer Books
Copyright 1971

Mission to Fear ...

It was Jean Benedict's missionary
zeal that had brought her to the Cove
- that, and a message from a friend
who had cried out to her in torment.

But what was Lucky Schallert's
plight? Here, at the coastal resort, a
cure was offered for lost romances and
early sorrows, a renewed chance to live
as freely, as vibrantly, as one wished -
a chance, even, to call on occult powers
which offered excitement and balm for
the soul ... but at a terrible price.

Jean Benedict wanted only to help
her friend. But when she met the mys-
terious and fascinating Marc Meridon,
she knew her fight was not for her
friend's soul - but for her own ....

MASQUE OF SATAN

The Classy ads above were bound into this book between pages 120 and 121. Could anything be greater. All true literary types smoke fancy cigarettes and serve their equally literary type friends from the finest of serving ware.

We can only assume the copy of this book I was lucky enough to find was the "Book Club" edition.

the Beckoning

the Beckoning by Virginia Coffman

published by ACE Books
Copyright 1965

Hatred and Peril
were her nearest neighbors,
beckoning with false
smiles from the turbulent sea on
one side and the treacherous
bogs on the other...

Beautiful, widowed Anne Wicklow though she was fortunate to find employment in the ancient, isolated castle high on an Irish cliff.

Once inside the gloomy castle, Anne discovered that evil walks beside her in the drafty halls-for someone in that strange household was determined to destroy her charge lovely young Maurie, who stood between a murderer and a fortune.

By protecting the girl, Anne put herself in mortal danger. To save her own life she had to uncover a ghastly secret-even if it meant betraying the man she loved.

Assignment: Okay, there is no need to live in such a bad neighborhood. Please go out and do real estate research. School systems aren't the only thing to worry about.