On Pens and Needles

Secrets of the Castleton Manor Library #13

by Sandra Orchard

The mansion plays host to a retreat for horror writers and fans. Faith feels a bit uneasy about the event and talk of superstitions and bad omens. The retreat organizer devises a series of stunts and one turns deadly.

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Cozy

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Sandra leaps off the garden trails of her herbal-researcher-turned-amateur-sleuth (Port Aster Secrets) series, to the museum corridors of her plucky FBI art crime agent Serena Jones, in A Fool and His Monet.

When not plotting crimes, Sandra plays make-believe with her grandchildren or hikes with her hubby along the escarpment, near their home in Niagara, Canada.

Her novels have garnered numerous awards, including the National Readers' Choice Award, a Holt Medallion Award of Merit, an RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award, the Daphne DuMaurier Award of Excellence and five national Canadian Awards.

Learn more about Sandra’s books and fun bonus features at www.sandraorchard.com

Reviews

[Loraine Nunley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The horror genre visits the manor in this book. I enjoyed the fact that Wolfe gets a little more involved in the mystery solving this time. Faith and Watson make a great team. I particularly loved the part where Faith survives trouble and Watson is there to comfort her. There were a few suspects and even when the villain was revealed, there was still some unanswered questions until the very end.

[Bells Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Number 13 in the series that for some reason I feel compelled to finish. I’ll slowly get through them - true cozies nothing heavy here just a nice location, dream job and a lovely cat.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book feels out of place in the Castleton Manor series. It begins and ends with the main character behaving very out of character, disparaging a genre and the people who appreciate it when the character is usually an engaged, knowledgeable, and personable librarian. She behaves out of character the entire book. Her usual traits of being perceptive, friendly, and competent are replaced by a dull, dim-witted, irritable, judgemental personality that lacks charisma. Each character we know from previous books appears as a lesser version of their usual selves and the book is unenjoyable as a result.

Based on sentence and plot structure, this book is poorly written. I am surprised it has been published at all because it reads like something that hasn't gone through the polishing process in a creative writing workshop. The plot is sloppy and simply doesn't work if you think about it for a few minutes. It is far below the standards I expect from a professional, published author.

I'm not sure how this sad example of a mystery got published but it doesn't work with the rest of the series at all. The characters are mischaracterized. The story structure deviates from the usual quality of the series. The basic writing on a sentence to sentence level is low quality.

[Jennifer Robb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Castleton Manor is hosting a Horror Retreat. I'm with Faith Newberry on horror not being my favorite genre to read. Unlike some retreats, most of these authors didn't get into role playing etc. though there was decor appropriate to the theme as well as pranks set up by the retreat host--I think I would have grown weary of her pranks though.

Superstitions abound! Some I'd heard before and some I'd not.

I did not suspect the person who ended up being the killer. There are other crimes in the plot also.
Intellectual property theft (plagarizing)--it's a crime that can be difficult to prove since you need proof that the thief had access to your work. Arson and the unintentional killing of someone who'd slept in/on the site of the arson.

[Angel (Bookn.All.Night) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Castleton Manor is hosting a horror retreat with promises of all things spooky and tricks galore to keep you up at night. Faith is less than thrilled as she is not a horror fan and likes things calm and serene.

True to times of late, a murder pops up during the retreat with a threat of more to come. Is this part of the many tricks planned during the event? Or is there something more sinister at play...

Ok this just might be one of my favorites of this series. That's saying a lot too because I've loved so many already 😂😂😂. I just can't recommend this series enough for cozy fans or people wanting to jump into this genre.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is part of a series (Secrets of the Castleton Manor Library). I got this book as part of a Halloween set from Annie's craft store. So I hadn't read any of the other books in the series and was a little confused as to the location setting, as well as characters. Apparently the main character is the librarian for a historical mansion, which just was kind of weird. A regular small town library would have been a more believable location imo. Anyway, this one just didn't deliver in the same way other Annie's craft-themed books have.

[Tambra · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom and i are loving this series. Love that its a murder mystery book with a library setting for some scenes. My mom does not read mystery but she is enjoying these with me. Great fun book, great story.

[Thomas Saylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been enjoying the Secrets of Castleton series. However I thought this author made Faith a little too harsh and rather rude in this book. I hope this was just a bump in the road so to speak, and Faith will return to her normal self in the next book.

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best plots thus far. I enjoyed the horror writers much more than some of the other genre groups previously written about. You think you know who did it and then you change your mind. A great read for a couple of stormy days.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series. Another great mystery involving Horror authors.

[Susan Morin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good cozy mystery - this one revolving around a retreat for horror authors!

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25⭐