Whistle for the Crows

Whistle for the Crows by Dorothy Eden
published by Ace Books
Copyright 1962

The job had seemed a godsend to Cath-
leen Lamb, alone, friendless, and in need of
a home. It has been fascinating at first,
tracing the O'Riordan family tree. But the
past, she soon discovered, was intricately
and diabolically woven into the present, and
its strong, slender threads were even now
involving her with

• The tyrannical spinster who controlled lives and purse-strings
• The younger heir who might - but did he? - kill to get what he wanted
• The girl who married the wrong man
• The baby who was born to the wrong woman
• The brother who weren't bothers
• The two drownings - and the accidents that weren't accidents

In the gloomy castle on the edge of a moor,
a spirited girl pokes among the moldering
bones of a family skeleton and stirs up the
dust of malice and murder.

You know that is exactly the kind of Craigslist job ad that inevitably turns out to be too good to be true. It will assuredly end with something like "Please send topless photo and measurements to help selection process." Damn! Burned again.

Okay, so this is driving me crazy. We have a signature but I just can't make it out. I would also swear on the Necronomicon that I have another book with a cover illustrated by this same artist but I can not locate it. I have scanned the books I have already posted and I even sorted through the books waiting in the wings but no luck. If you know who it is, put me out of my misery, please let me know.

The Tuscany Madonna

The Tuscany Madonna by Miriam Canfield
published by Magnum Books
Copyright 1965

a strange proposal

Strangely impelled by her
father, lovely, spirited
Denise de Bonneville accepts
the wealthy stranger
Brian Cowle's unorthodox
proposal of a 'Marriage
Blanc' - a union in name
only - to save the family's
ancestral chateau Les
Cedres, which houses the
priceless painting of
the Madonna by Raphael.
By authority of the family
will, the rare painting
can not be removed from
the estate.

Reluctantly, Denise returns
to the sullen and isolated
chateau which she feared
in her childhood. Now as
a bride - surrounded by
strangers and without the
protection of her beloved
parents - Denise senses
that Les Cedres is more
ominous and filled with
unexplicable (this is not my typo) danger.

When her withdrawn
husband locks himself
and the painting in his
private chambers, Denise
knows she must fight the
enigmatic forces which
engulf her ... She knows
she must unbolt to door
to survive.

Okay, this one just sounds good. It maybe because it has a little bit of "Night of Dark Shadows" going on with it.

The cover art has an odd finish to is but I like it. It also looks to be signed "Avalon".

Castle Cloud

Castle Cloud ( originally titled The Laird and The Lady) by Joan Grant

published by Ace Books
Copyright 1949

"A sleek, well-groomed novel, moving fast
all the time ... well written and enter-
taining."

CASTLE CLOUD-
Mysterious, Shadowy, and Evil...

Traveling alone to France from her native
America, Marylda meets and falls in love with
Rowan Cairdrie, handsome young laird of an-
cient Castle Cloud. After their whirlwind court-
ship and marriage, Rowan takes his bride to his
ancestral home on the lonely Scottish highlands.

Isolated in the ghost-ridden castle with her
husband's enigmatic grandmother, MaryIda,
driven by forces she cannot explain, (my bet is boredom) finds herself
prying into an ancient family mystery shrouded
in a suffocating atmosphere of evil.

Suddenly aware of how little she really knows
about her husband, MaryIda discovers that she
holds the key to a Pandora's box brimming over
with hate, greed, and murder - as the ghosts of a
violent past clutch at her with icy fingers.

CASTLE CLOUD - a distinguished novel of
Gothic Romance and Suspense, now published
by ACE BOOKS for the first time in America.

The art for this cover is signed by Allan Kass. There is a fabulous group on Facebook dedicated to his work where you can view a vast number of his cover illustration. Click here to see their gallery of nearly 600 Kass covers.

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.