Wade House

by Florence Hurd

A young widow trapped by murder and madness in a ghoulish country house - a ruin haunted by a past romance...and a demon lover

The terms of her inheritance might be...her life

Nancy was bound to WADE HOUSE for at least one year - or until her late husband Jeffrey Wade would have been of age to claim his millions. She was chained to the will and caprice of a family plagued by madness and deusions from an unsavory past.

Bella - the passionate, enigmatic housekeeper with a wildly unexpected stake in the family fortune and a fierce desire to protect it.

Tony - her late husband's brother. Lean, sardonic, troubled. Witness to a murder long overdue.

Ernestine - Mother. Unstable, helpless. Not to be trusted, they thought.

Seward - cousin. Guardian of the secret that shadowed their fate.

They would sooner see Nancy Wade dead than one of them.

Genres: Gothic

144 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Meredith is a hot mess · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25.

The writing style was fantastic, and if the plot had been different this probably would have received four stars. I was drawn into the mystery, and while the mystery itself wasn't huge - there were wonderfully spooky moments throughout the book that gave me a few chills.

I should not have liked this book as much as I did. A full plot synopsis makes this book seem mediocre at best, but the writing style held my attention.

Overall this was a typical pulpy gothic mystery. A woman finds herself thrust into an ominous house with strange family members that have dark secrets. What set this book apart was the writing style. The dialogue was excellent, the pacing just right, and the writing had nice flow. I may come back back and rate this higher after I read more gothic pulp fictions.


The heroine, Nancy, is an awkward wall-flower who falls for the first man who shows her attention, Mr. Jeff Wade. Mr. Jeff Wade is an asshole, and not in the love to hate kind of way. Cheating and ow drama isn't a trigger for me, but it can certainly be frustrating to read about. I almost dnf because the heroine was such a submissive doormat when it came to her husband's infidelity. Fortunately, I read in a description Nancy shoots her husband so I stuck around waiting for that moment and I wasn't disappointed.

Nancy is already pregnant by her husband when she shoots him. To receive his inheritance of five million dollars she must live at Wade House for a year. I thought this was a bit unsavory....a brand new wife claiming an inheritance from a husband she was married to for a short period of time, and a husband who she shot no less...but the author made the heroine pregnant so the heroine could claim she stayed at Wade House "for the child."

I kind of liked Tony, Jeff's brother and he was sort of the love interest. I say 'sort of' because there's little romance in this book. In fact, Tony proposes to Nancy pretty quickly, and it's clear he has less than noble reasons to want to marry Nancy. He was not left an inheritance, and marrying Nancy would give him access to the millions. Nancy knows this and rebuffs him, but then they end up together in the end anyway.

Tony was more likable than the other characters, even though he was troubled, brooding, and distant. While he teased Nancy in harmless ways, He did seem to care for her well being in his own breezy way.

Memorable moments:



The atmosphere of the cove.

Skeleton in the well.

Mercury poisoning.