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Sinister Weddings: Bride by Candlelight, Cat's Prey, and Bridge of Fear
A special three-in-one edition by Dorothy Eden—featuring Bride by Candlelight, Cat’s Prey, and Bridge of Fear—in which a bride-to-be, a wedding guest, and a recently married woman come face to face with evil as they innocently prepare to celebrate love
Think well before you marry Paul Blaine.
In Bride by Candlelight, this anonymous note is the prelude to a series of disturbing events plaguing Julia Paget. At an isolated New Zealand sheep-farming estate, she discovers that her war-scarred husband-to-be isn’t the man she fell in love with three years earlier.
In Cat’s Prey, Antonia Webb journeys to a remote seaside resort in New Zealand to claim an inheritance and attend her cousin’s wedding. And even the handsome solicitor who warns her away may not be able to protect Antonia from the evil closing around her.
Is Abby Fearon paranoid—or is someone trying to kill her? In Bridge of Fear, this is the question she must answer. Abby arrives in the Australian outback from her native England to find that something has changed in her new husband . . . something that frightens her almost as much as the strange, wild land she now calls home.
Think well before you marry Paul Blaine.
In Bride by Candlelight, this anonymous note is the prelude to a series of disturbing events plaguing Julia Paget. At an isolated New Zealand sheep-farming estate, she discovers that her war-scarred husband-to-be isn’t the man she fell in love with three years earlier.
In Cat’s Prey, Antonia Webb journeys to a remote seaside resort in New Zealand to claim an inheritance and attend her cousin’s wedding. And even the handsome solicitor who warns her away may not be able to protect Antonia from the evil closing around her.
Is Abby Fearon paranoid—or is someone trying to kill her? In Bridge of Fear, this is the question she must answer. Abby arrives in the Australian outback from her native England to find that something has changed in her new husband . . . something that frightens her almost as much as the strange, wild land she now calls home.
595 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
33 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Eden
93 books165 followersAka Mary Paradise.
Dorothy Eden was born in 1912 in New Zealand and died in 1982. She moved to England in 1954 after taking a trip around the world and falling in love with the country. She was best known for her many mystery and romance books as well as short stories that were published in periodicals. As a novelist, Dorothy Eden was renowned for her ability to create fear and suspense. This earned her many devoted readers throughout her lifetime.
Dorothy Eden was born in 1912 in New Zealand and died in 1982. She moved to England in 1954 after taking a trip around the world and falling in love with the country. She was best known for her many mystery and romance books as well as short stories that were published in periodicals. As a novelist, Dorothy Eden was renowned for her ability to create fear and suspense. This earned her many devoted readers throughout her lifetime.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 2, 2013
Retro Romance Review: Sinister Weddings by Dorothy Eden
It’s summer, and weddings abound. Actually, I’m old enough that most of the weddings I’m invited to are second weddings. Nothing spells “doomed” like the spectre of previous failures lurking behind the altar. Bwa ha ha.
“‘I should imagine it will be a pretty little hell.’”
-Bridge of Fear
I’m kidding. Sort of. But me, I’ve got a keeper. I’ve been married for eight years this week. Before that we dated for six years, lived together for two of those. So we know each other pretty well. Yet still he sometimes surprises me at Christmas with how spectacularly little he knows me. (Probably for the best. If he only knew what’s on that Kobo he gave me for my birthday last year...)
But imagine barely knowing the man you’re marrying, and moving to the other end of the planet to do so? Leaving everything you know behind to move to a strange land and live with a strange man? That too spells “doomed” to me. But to master of romantic suspense Dorothy Eden, it spelled inspiration. Sinister Weddings is a collection of three mystery novellas she wrote between 1952 and 1961 on the subject of weddings.
The first is Bride by Candlelight, a brilliant little gothic gem. Julia moves to New Zealand after a letter from Paul proposing marriage. Paul is the grandson of Julia’s beloved uncle’s lost love, and she met him briefly during the war. She fell for his sparkly moustache and his shy charm. Then she fell again for his talent with a pen, and at her uncle’s urging moved from the sunny south of France to the snow-capped peaks of the middle-of-nowhere New Zealand, designer wardrobe in tow.
Things are a bit off from the beginning. Paul’s face is a little different than she remembers, but that’s thanks to the war. And he’s quite a bit bolder than she remembers, but she chalks that up to the war too. Oh, and she’s getting mysterious notes telling her he’s not who he seems. That’s a bit weird.
The setting — a dilapidated manor house in a remote sheep station — and the cast of characters — the bizarre family and staff, the leery but logical Julia — are so well drawn that the fog of suspicion clouds the sunnier scenes and friendlier characters. Julia’s determined to make the best of her situation and rekindle her love for Paul, but she keeps getting tripped up by bizarre occurrences and unsettling remarks. Although part of the truth is easy to guess from the beginning, much is not, and the story keeps you on your toes. I really enjoyed this one.
Much like Julia, Abby has moved a long way to marry Luke, who she met and fell in love with when he was travelling in England. (Those damn Aussie backpackers have been at it for a while, apparently.) In Bridge of Fear, she too wonders what happened to the man she fell in love with. He’s strangely entangled with the family whose house looks down on theirs. In fact, everyone seems to be looking at her, including the swagman whose boat is moored on the river below their house.
Luke brushes off her suspicions of being watched and the strange trail she’s begun to follow in search of a story to revive her journalism career. He’s so distant, and she’s so lonely and bored, she thinks that maybe she’s losing the thread. “Suddenly Abby had a moment of panic, seeing her life stretching out aimlessly ahead. Luke, preoccupied with his work in the daytime, his thoughts in the evenings, Luke beside her asleep until dawn. And what else but these aimless hours ahead?”
In an unexpected twist, however, after a particularly wonderfully creepy scene that was almost cinematic, the story becomes more like a Tommy-and-Tuppence Agatha Christie. Which is kind of a relief after all the doom and gloom, although it doesn’t make as intriguing an ending as the alternative.
Antonia has also travelled to New Zealand from England for a wedding, but in Cat’s Prey it’s not hers. Her cousin Simon, the other beneficiary of her wandering aunt’s will, moved there to be with Aunt Laura in her final days, and now he’s marrying her nurse Iris. He’s invited Antonia to stay in the hotel he and his fiancée are renovating so that she can attend the wedding and settle up her portion of the estate. As in Bride by Candlelight, strange things begin to plague Antonia as soon as she lands in Auckland, and they get even stranger when she moves into Hilltop with Iris. Luckily her aunt’s lawyer, Dougal, is just down the hill, and his inimitable snoop of a mother keeps a close eye on her neighbours.
Antonia is frank and bold, so she’s constantly challenging her hosts to explain the crying she hears at night and the lights she observes in the closed wing of the house. Everyone is hiding things from her and she’s determined to get to the bottom of it. The ending of this one wrapped up a little too hastily, I thought, but I enjoyed it all the same. I especially loved Antonia’s character. She spoke her mind, rarely with any pretences, and it was a wonderful change from the nervous heroine who holds her cards close to her chest. Dougal accuses her of flirting when she’s merely being honest. “‘Coy! Me! Don’t you say that. I’ve never been coy in my life.’” So true, and so refreshing.
Full review here: http://wp.me/p2MJls-cF
It’s summer, and weddings abound. Actually, I’m old enough that most of the weddings I’m invited to are second weddings. Nothing spells “doomed” like the spectre of previous failures lurking behind the altar. Bwa ha ha.
“‘I should imagine it will be a pretty little hell.’”
-Bridge of Fear
I’m kidding. Sort of. But me, I’ve got a keeper. I’ve been married for eight years this week. Before that we dated for six years, lived together for two of those. So we know each other pretty well. Yet still he sometimes surprises me at Christmas with how spectacularly little he knows me. (Probably for the best. If he only knew what’s on that Kobo he gave me for my birthday last year...)
But imagine barely knowing the man you’re marrying, and moving to the other end of the planet to do so? Leaving everything you know behind to move to a strange land and live with a strange man? That too spells “doomed” to me. But to master of romantic suspense Dorothy Eden, it spelled inspiration. Sinister Weddings is a collection of three mystery novellas she wrote between 1952 and 1961 on the subject of weddings.
The first is Bride by Candlelight, a brilliant little gothic gem. Julia moves to New Zealand after a letter from Paul proposing marriage. Paul is the grandson of Julia’s beloved uncle’s lost love, and she met him briefly during the war. She fell for his sparkly moustache and his shy charm. Then she fell again for his talent with a pen, and at her uncle’s urging moved from the sunny south of France to the snow-capped peaks of the middle-of-nowhere New Zealand, designer wardrobe in tow.
Things are a bit off from the beginning. Paul’s face is a little different than she remembers, but that’s thanks to the war. And he’s quite a bit bolder than she remembers, but she chalks that up to the war too. Oh, and she’s getting mysterious notes telling her he’s not who he seems. That’s a bit weird.
The setting — a dilapidated manor house in a remote sheep station — and the cast of characters — the bizarre family and staff, the leery but logical Julia — are so well drawn that the fog of suspicion clouds the sunnier scenes and friendlier characters. Julia’s determined to make the best of her situation and rekindle her love for Paul, but she keeps getting tripped up by bizarre occurrences and unsettling remarks. Although part of the truth is easy to guess from the beginning, much is not, and the story keeps you on your toes. I really enjoyed this one.
Much like Julia, Abby has moved a long way to marry Luke, who she met and fell in love with when he was travelling in England. (Those damn Aussie backpackers have been at it for a while, apparently.) In Bridge of Fear, she too wonders what happened to the man she fell in love with. He’s strangely entangled with the family whose house looks down on theirs. In fact, everyone seems to be looking at her, including the swagman whose boat is moored on the river below their house.
Luke brushes off her suspicions of being watched and the strange trail she’s begun to follow in search of a story to revive her journalism career. He’s so distant, and she’s so lonely and bored, she thinks that maybe she’s losing the thread. “Suddenly Abby had a moment of panic, seeing her life stretching out aimlessly ahead. Luke, preoccupied with his work in the daytime, his thoughts in the evenings, Luke beside her asleep until dawn. And what else but these aimless hours ahead?”
In an unexpected twist, however, after a particularly wonderfully creepy scene that was almost cinematic, the story becomes more like a Tommy-and-Tuppence Agatha Christie. Which is kind of a relief after all the doom and gloom, although it doesn’t make as intriguing an ending as the alternative.
Antonia has also travelled to New Zealand from England for a wedding, but in Cat’s Prey it’s not hers. Her cousin Simon, the other beneficiary of her wandering aunt’s will, moved there to be with Aunt Laura in her final days, and now he’s marrying her nurse Iris. He’s invited Antonia to stay in the hotel he and his fiancée are renovating so that she can attend the wedding and settle up her portion of the estate. As in Bride by Candlelight, strange things begin to plague Antonia as soon as she lands in Auckland, and they get even stranger when she moves into Hilltop with Iris. Luckily her aunt’s lawyer, Dougal, is just down the hill, and his inimitable snoop of a mother keeps a close eye on her neighbours.
Antonia is frank and bold, so she’s constantly challenging her hosts to explain the crying she hears at night and the lights she observes in the closed wing of the house. Everyone is hiding things from her and she’s determined to get to the bottom of it. The ending of this one wrapped up a little too hastily, I thought, but I enjoyed it all the same. I especially loved Antonia’s character. She spoke her mind, rarely with any pretences, and it was a wonderful change from the nervous heroine who holds her cards close to her chest. Dougal accuses her of flirting when she’s merely being honest. “‘Coy! Me! Don’t you say that. I’ve never been coy in my life.’” So true, and so refreshing.
Full review here: http://wp.me/p2MJls-cF
December 30, 2013
My first Edens - not massively memorable, but I liked the NZ/Australia settings and the atmospheric feel.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews