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The Pavilion at Monkshood
What was the secret of The Pavilion at Monkshood?
Why did brooding, handsome Luke Herriot keep the door locked?
Where did the mysterious lights come from that shone through its cracks at night?
Lovely young Jessica Lothian suspected that Luke, whom she loved, was secretly meeting her strange and beautiful cousin Claudine in the pavilion, that Luke was part of the ghastly past that still clung to Monkshood, that someone - or something - lived behind the closed door, watched over by the grinning, silent statue of Pan...
Monkshood was doomed, and Jessica with it - unless she could open the evil door and free those unquiet ghosts who would never rest until a murderer was brought to justice - a murderer who might be Luke!
Why did brooding, handsome Luke Herriot keep the door locked?
Where did the mysterious lights come from that shone through its cracks at night?
Lovely young Jessica Lothian suspected that Luke, whom she loved, was secretly meeting her strange and beautiful cousin Claudine in the pavilion, that Luke was part of the ghastly past that still clung to Monkshood, that someone - or something - lived behind the closed door, watched over by the grinning, silent statue of Pan...
Monkshood was doomed, and Jessica with it - unless she could open the evil door and free those unquiet ghosts who would never rest until a murderer was brought to justice - a murderer who might be Luke!
- GenresGothic
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
About the author
Anne Maybury
56 books21 followersEdith Arundel Buxton
aka Edith Arundel, Anne Maybury & Katherine Troy.
Her maiden surname was Arundel. Her ancestors were said to have come to England with the Norman Conquest and she was proud of the heritage which did seem to imbue her with a perceptive appreciation of history. The love of poetry which remained with her always was inherited from her father, a distinguished poet of his time. Her mother was a musician who died at an early age.
She was a writer of romantic suspense whose novels earned her world-wide acclaim and an enormous following. She was particularly popular in the United States. Her finest gift was for lyrical prose and she used her delight in colour and drama to such effect that the reader was immediately plunged into the story and held enthralled.
Her early novels were written also under the pennames of Edith Arundel and Katherine Troy, but it is as Anne Maybury that she will be remembered. She was a true professional who did not believe in wasting time. A promised deadline was adhered to and all social engagements regretfully cancelled. She developed early in life the profound interest in human behaviour and intrigue which was to prove a valuable asset to her writing. Also in good measure she retained the attribute so necessary to an author, a lively curiosity. She travelled widely and brought a sense of adventure into her books derived often from personal experiences of a bizarre kind. She seemed to attract excitement and used to say that she had met more than one murderer during her travels around the world. As a writer she was stylish, and this quality extended to her personality, which was full of vivid charm, lightened by a sparkling sense of fun.
Generous with her time to aspiring writers, she also loved literary chat with her peers. She was interested in new writing as well as the classics and read widely, keeping up with developments. She was a vice-president of both the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. Almost until his death she regularly attended meetings and gave time and care to helping the members and the causes in which they believe. She was a remarkable writer and a good friend and companion.
aka Edith Arundel, Anne Maybury & Katherine Troy.
Her maiden surname was Arundel. Her ancestors were said to have come to England with the Norman Conquest and she was proud of the heritage which did seem to imbue her with a perceptive appreciation of history. The love of poetry which remained with her always was inherited from her father, a distinguished poet of his time. Her mother was a musician who died at an early age.
She was a writer of romantic suspense whose novels earned her world-wide acclaim and an enormous following. She was particularly popular in the United States. Her finest gift was for lyrical prose and she used her delight in colour and drama to such effect that the reader was immediately plunged into the story and held enthralled.
Her early novels were written also under the pennames of Edith Arundel and Katherine Troy, but it is as Anne Maybury that she will be remembered. She was a true professional who did not believe in wasting time. A promised deadline was adhered to and all social engagements regretfully cancelled. She developed early in life the profound interest in human behaviour and intrigue which was to prove a valuable asset to her writing. Also in good measure she retained the attribute so necessary to an author, a lively curiosity. She travelled widely and brought a sense of adventure into her books derived often from personal experiences of a bizarre kind. She seemed to attract excitement and used to say that she had met more than one murderer during her travels around the world. As a writer she was stylish, and this quality extended to her personality, which was full of vivid charm, lightened by a sparkling sense of fun.
Generous with her time to aspiring writers, she also loved literary chat with her peers. She was interested in new writing as well as the classics and read widely, keeping up with developments. She was a vice-president of both the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. Almost until his death she regularly attended meetings and gave time and care to helping the members and the causes in which they believe. She was a remarkable writer and a good friend and companion.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 17, 2022
"The Pavilion at Monkshood" is a detour for Anne Maybury from the contemporary romantic suspense novels with which she is closely associated. This novel is firmly in the Gothic mode, set on the edges of the moors in the late nineteenth century. All the trappings are there: a penniless young heroine who meets her long-lost family; various suitors—one of them, of course, very unavailable; followed by skulduggery and murder. It's all very familiar, but done with Anne Maybury's deft hand at characterization and atmosphere. The arranged marriage subplot is not particularly clear, and the mystery is guessable almost from the first few pages, but the journey to get there is fun .
May 13, 2026
**SPOILERS**
Honestly, the book is basically a Jane Eyre pastiche. You get the impoverished cousin sent to serve in a decaying upper‑class household (Monkshood), the brooding Rochester knockoff (Luke), the “madwoman”split into two separate characters (one a vindictive estranged wife, the other an unhinged ex‑lover who ends up in a sanatorium) and the tiny, delicate heroine whose unwavering faith in a brooding, violent man magically exonerates him from all wrongdoing in the final chapter (Jessica, the POV character). It’s the full “I can fix him” gothic fantasy, the same one that’s plagued the genre for over a century: the perfect young woman, the dangerous man who just needs the perfect woman, and every other woman flattened into a stereotype. If she isn’t Jessica, she’s either insane, vindictive, or a grateful servant doting on her betters. Meanwhile the men, no matter how violent, cold, or openly threatening, are framed as noble souls: kind-hearted sons, loyal friends, dutiful and caring fathers. It’s genuinely nauseating.
To her credit, Maybury’s prose is strong, clean, atmospheric, and confidently paced. She knows how to build suspense and how to make a setting feel lived‑in. But none of that can compensate for the gross, sexist underpinnings of the book, or the fact that the villain is telegraphed literally from the first page. There’s never a moment of doubt, never any deeper complexity. The women who have wronged Luke are simply deranged and malicious, and so Jessica is vindicated in her unwavering, virginal love for him because in the end… he’s not a bad guy! He was just loved by terrible women! Now a good woman loves him, so he will be a good man. Baby morality for babies.
Honestly, the book is basically a Jane Eyre pastiche. You get the impoverished cousin sent to serve in a decaying upper‑class household (Monkshood), the brooding Rochester knockoff (Luke), the “madwoman”split into two separate characters (one a vindictive estranged wife, the other an unhinged ex‑lover who ends up in a sanatorium) and the tiny, delicate heroine whose unwavering faith in a brooding, violent man magically exonerates him from all wrongdoing in the final chapter (Jessica, the POV character). It’s the full “I can fix him” gothic fantasy, the same one that’s plagued the genre for over a century: the perfect young woman, the dangerous man who just needs the perfect woman, and every other woman flattened into a stereotype. If she isn’t Jessica, she’s either insane, vindictive, or a grateful servant doting on her betters. Meanwhile the men, no matter how violent, cold, or openly threatening, are framed as noble souls: kind-hearted sons, loyal friends, dutiful and caring fathers. It’s genuinely nauseating.
To her credit, Maybury’s prose is strong, clean, atmospheric, and confidently paced. She knows how to build suspense and how to make a setting feel lived‑in. But none of that can compensate for the gross, sexist underpinnings of the book, or the fact that the villain is telegraphed literally from the first page. There’s never a moment of doubt, never any deeper complexity. The women who have wronged Luke are simply deranged and malicious, and so Jessica is vindicated in her unwavering, virginal love for him because in the end… he’s not a bad guy! He was just loved by terrible women! Now a good woman loves him, so he will be a good man. Baby morality for babies.
June 5, 2015
Old memories. Great book!
February 23, 2018
Not my favorite Maybury.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews