Durrell Towers

by Clarissa Ross, Lou Marchetti (Illustrator)

A gothic suspense novel by Clarissa Ross in the tradition of Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart. Cover art by Lou Marchetti.

Genres: Gothic

157 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1965

About the author

William Edward Daniel Ross, W. E. Daniel "Dan" Ross (born 1912) is a bestselling Canadian novelist from Saint John, New Brunswick who wrote over 300 books in a variety of genres and under a variety of mostly female pseudonyms such as Laura Frances Brooks, Lydia Colby, Rose Dana, Jan Daniels, Ross Olin, Diane Randall, Clarissa Ross, Leslie Ames, Ruth Dorset, Ann Gilmer, Jane Rossiter, Dan Ross, Dana Ross, Marilyn Ross, Dan Roberts, and W.E.D. Ross. As Marilyn Ross he wrote popular Gothic fiction including a series of novels about the vampire Barnabas Collins based on the American TV series Dark Shadows (1966-71).

Reviews

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

W.E.D. Ross's first book under the byline "Clarissa Ross" signals the kind of plot he would later mine exhaustively: a murder mystery overlaid with Gothic trappings: here, a rambling house somewhere in Maine, with a tepid love story thrown in: here, a nurse torn between the doctor she's been casually dating and the son of her private patient, who's courted her in a whirlwind romance before mysteriously vanishing. Ross throws in other Gothic elements: a mysterious veiled spectre; several potentially fatal accidents; hidden passages; and a lot of stormy weather. This early work is free from his later bad habits of summarizing previous scenes through dialogue, although already in this novel, sentence fragments that end in exclamation marks start appearing, as well as his trademark way of referring to characters with descriptive adjectives--in the case of "Durrell Towers," we are reminded almost every time we see her that Moira Shear is blonde, middle-aged and has protruding eyes, for example. The novel isn't terrible--how can you fault a Gothic that takes time out from the action to have its heroine pinch-hit as a scrub nurse during brain surgery, after all?--but it does end rather abruptly. Fans of Ross's special brand of clunky Gothics will want to find this one to see where it all began.

[Piper Mcgonigle · Rating 2 out of 5]

review to come…
2.8
Quaking over the number of times he wrote “bulging eyes” omg. What in the world is a bulging eye?
I am imagining the eyes of my chihuahua!


-decent mystery honestly!!! I had guessed most of it by the end but it wasn’t super obvious and had me guessing during the story. (I wonder if that is because I’m a modern reader and more willing to give the older woman the benefit of the doubt…)
-gloomy atmosphere was there, although not strong. & it hit on a lot of great classic tropes, but lacked the level of gothic imagery I truly desire
-a big problem was not much depth or personality to characters…elaine was unfortunately a bit dim, too far into the sweet gothic woman … the men were cardboard-cutout-y for my taste, except for old robert, he was a decently fleshed out guy and I got a real sense of who he was, and liked him. the detective also was better, he had some pirout vibes, proving the author can paint a character with few words, but didn’t succeed with any of the other characters…
-a lot of loose ends left at the end!!!!!! i wonder if the author ran out of space due to mass market rules or if it was perhaps an over zealous editor? feels like someone was rushing, which ended up with readers rushed right out of an incomplete story..
-kinda funny, though i am not sure that was intentional lol.

elements present:
romance, pretty young gal, luv triangle, aggressive groundskeeper-hot, missing lover, gothic mansion, decaying haunted house, ominous family legends, mysterious past, haunting, gaslighting, mad women ghosts, family mystery, old family wealth, secret passages, man led astray, elderly servants, ominous housekeeper(man this time), disguises, bad/jealous older woman (mother in law), secret relationship/family ties, doubting policeman, invalid (wheelchair), inheritance plot, fainting

bulging eyes?(—also in chateau…)

new: the nursing stuff, bill a more modern take : less masculine/“protective”/brooding/rude/aggressive, more trusting/openminded/respectful