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Moura #4
Return to Moura
When Anne Wicklow discovers the story of the Devil-Vicar, a man who was killed in a fire twenty years ago, she finds herself falling in love with his ghost who is now murdering the villagers who were responsible for the fire.
376 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1966
2 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Virginia Coffman
104 books41 followersVirginia Edith Coffman aka Jeanne Duval, Diana Saunders, Victor Cross, Ann Stanfield, Virginia C. Du Vaul, Kay Cameron.
A native of San Francisco, Coffman contributed movie reviews to the Oakland Tribune from 1933-40. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1938 and was a movie and television script writer for Columbia, RKO, and other Hollywood studios in her early writing career (1944-56). She had her first success with writing novels in 1959, when Crown Publishing decided to take a chance on Moura, and the novel was showcased by Library Journal. By the 1980s, Coffman was recognized as "the author largely responsible for setting off the Gothics craze of the 1960s, "earning her the reputation of "Queen of the Gothics."1
She quit her day job in Reno and became a full-time writer in 1965. While historical romance novels seldom find their way into the literary canon, Coffman, who was both prolific and dedicated, took her writing seriously. Her research for historical fiction was meticulous. She also drew upon personal experience as a world traveler when setting some of her novels in Hawaii, Paris, and other romantic locales. Several of her historical romances and gothic mystery novels were translated into other languages, and many have been published in large print and audio editions.
She was recognized by Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who in the West. She was a member of the Authors League of America and the Mystery Writers Guild of America. The Reno Gazette-Journal featured Virginia Coffman and her sister in a biographical story on April 4, 2002. In 2003, she donated a collection of her gothic mystery and historical romance novels to the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries.
A native of San Francisco, Coffman contributed movie reviews to the Oakland Tribune from 1933-40. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1938 and was a movie and television script writer for Columbia, RKO, and other Hollywood studios in her early writing career (1944-56). She had her first success with writing novels in 1959, when Crown Publishing decided to take a chance on Moura, and the novel was showcased by Library Journal. By the 1980s, Coffman was recognized as "the author largely responsible for setting off the Gothics craze of the 1960s, "earning her the reputation of "Queen of the Gothics."1
She quit her day job in Reno and became a full-time writer in 1965. While historical romance novels seldom find their way into the literary canon, Coffman, who was both prolific and dedicated, took her writing seriously. Her research for historical fiction was meticulous. She also drew upon personal experience as a world traveler when setting some of her novels in Hawaii, Paris, and other romantic locales. Several of her historical romances and gothic mystery novels were translated into other languages, and many have been published in large print and audio editions.
She was recognized by Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who in the West. She was a member of the Authors League of America and the Mystery Writers Guild of America. The Reno Gazette-Journal featured Virginia Coffman and her sister in a biographical story on April 4, 2002. In 2003, she donated a collection of her gothic mystery and historical romance novels to the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 15, 2016
I read this in my teens. I was very excited to find the book again. And I enjoyed it again. It has all the typical gothic mystery on the moors characters: a handsome mystery man, the feisty penniless young woman and the ridiculous old widow woman (who thinks all the men are in love with her). It was great fun.
August 1, 2013
I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this novel.I hesitantly give this 3 stars. 2.5 is more accurate. Coffman delivers another Moura novel full of creepy atmosphere and situations. Her characters are vivid and her settings crisp with detail. its full of "sound and fury". The problem? It plods along and rarely delivers the expected goods. It's entirely believable Coffman worked in screenplays. Her Moura novels are very cinematic. This is no exception. But Coffman sometimes gets lost in her own imaginings at the cost of reader's attention and patience.
February 5, 2017
60's Vampire novel by Coffman, she wrote a whole series that Amazon now has in Kindle. You should really read at least this one. Her novels scared me to death. Of course, I was a teenager and this was the height of the 60's & 70's vampire craze but this lady was ahead of her time. Seriously thought her characters were terrifying.
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August 19, 2015In sifting through old diaries I discover I read this one in 1966. Only comment was "finished Devil Vicar. It had me going for a while there - tense!".
January 21, 2023
What a dirty trick. Ugh! Return to Moura is actually just a reprint of Coffman’s novel The Devil Vicar, with names changed. Total bait-and-switch. The publisher just changed the heroine’s name to Anne Wicklow and called it Moura #4! As you might predict, the switch makes zero sense and none of the details, such as the heroine’s family history, line up with what we know about Anne Wicklow. She has a completely different career and past. Pretty insulting to Coffman’s fans.
To add to the confusion, some editions of Devil Vicar use the original protagonist, Estella Varney, and some later ones use Anne Wicklow. I intend to read the original Devil Vicar novel on its own (to reiterate, it’s a standalone story, not a Moura novel) and pretend this version, Return to Moura, never happened.
To add to the confusion, some editions of Devil Vicar use the original protagonist, Estella Varney, and some later ones use Anne Wicklow. I intend to read the original Devil Vicar novel on its own (to reiterate, it’s a standalone story, not a Moura novel) and pretend this version, Return to Moura, never happened.
June 7, 2016
Was a favorite in my "hi school reading group"
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews