The Carson Inheritance

by Dorothy Daniels

"My poor beloved Daughter:
I fear for you in that house where once you knew only love. Take care. You are in Mortal danger."

Genres: Gothic

160 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

According to a mini-biography, accompanied by a photograph, on the rear cover of one of her many gothic novels, Dorothy Daniels was born in Connecticut but by the time she was a full-time writer, in the middle 1960's, was living in California. She was initially an English teacher at a state college but later wrote articles that appeared in national magazines, which led to her career as a writer of mostly gothic paperbacks. Lancer books, which published more than twenty of her novels, proclaimed her "America's Most Popular Gothic Novelist" while Pocket Books claimed her gothic novels had sold over eleven million copies by the middle 1970's. Her approximately 146 novels were published by a dozen paperback publishers, some had as many as four printings while others were printed only once. Lancer and Warner Books together published more than sixty of her novels. The vast majority of her novels were written in the first person and this was a trademark of sorts with Dorothy Daniels, as she rarely strayed from this pattern. Several of her novels take place in the Old South. Her novels were also considerably more involving plot-wise and contained more character development than other gothic novels. She published her last gothic novel, "House of Silence", in late 1980. Afterward she wrote a handfull of historical romances and her last published novel appears to be "Crisis at Valcour" in 1985.
The aforementioned photograph on the rear cover of her 1965 book "Cliffside Castle" contradicts some claims that Dorothy Daniels was male, and at least one internet website's author insists that Dorothy Daniels was actually a man named Paul Hugo Little who lived in Chicago and wrote over 700 books under at least a dozen pseudonyms. We may never know for certain who Dorothy Daniels was. Several of her gothic paperbacks, credited to Dorothy Daniels or Suzanne Somers, were copyrighted by Norman Daniels. She published one novel, "House of False Faces", under the pseudonym Helen Gray Weston, but this book was later reissued as "Dorothy Daniels writing as Helen Gray Weston". She wrote three nurse romance books in addition to her many gothic novels.

Also wrote under the names:
Angela Gray
Cynthia Kavanaugh
Helaine Ross
Suzanne Somers
Geraldine Thayer
Helen Gray Weston

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Nattie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this book 3 stars because it's good. I didn't read it word from word though I kind of wish I had. I let the small print draw me out of the story. I hate small print but so many vintage books have it.

The first five or so chapters did get a little beat-around-the-bushy, which made me start putting the book down.

Ada is about to inherit a large sum of money and property, but she thinks that her life is in danger because she's about to turn 21, and both her brothers died just days before their 21st birthdays, her mother recently died under seemingly suspicious conditions.

Ada thinks that her step family was behind the deaths due to letters her mother sent her stating that her second husband and his kids were evil, but the mother never let on to anyone else that her marriage was unhappy, so of course everyone thinks Ada is crazy.

Ada ranted and ranted about how horrible the step family was and how she could prove it with the letters, but it took her a while to show her two aunts the letters, and another decade to show the letters to others.

I would recommend the book, the lead-up to the conclusion was excellent.