Rating: 
Summary: Remarkable
Review: Professor Karen Halloway has been given the rare oppurtunity to own an obscure literary work of signifcant value to the literary community. With the help of a few of her closest collegues she struggles to discover all she can before her compitition does. Two fellow literature experts, are equally convinced of the work's value and attempt desperate measures to gain access to the manuscript. This novel is full of twists and turns that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat. Subtle romance is also a big plus. I couldn't wait to discover what the ending held in store.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable
Review: Professor Karen Halloway has been given the rare oppurtunity to own an obscure literary work of signifcant value to the literary community. With the help of a few of her closest collegues she struggles to discover all she can before her compitition does. Two fellow literature experts, are equally convinced of the work's value and attempt desperate measures to gain access to the manuscript. This novel is full of twists and turns that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat. Subtle romance is also a big plus. I couldn't wait to discover what the ending held in store.
Rating: 
Summary: Great suspense but cheesy ending.
Review: This book is a true page turner! Barbara Michaels is an obviously brilliant woman. She has her PhD in Egyptology yet the woman knows everything about everything! Gothic novels, history of any kind, suspense and so much more! The story was just fascinating, yet once you reach the end, there are silly reasons for the supernatural! I would reccomend it to any history/suspense buff
Rating:
Summary: A real page turner!
Review: This is the book that got me hooked on Barbara Michaels' work! If I had to use one word to describe this book, it would be "Spellbinding." After reading this book, Barbara Michaels will become your favorite author!
Rating: 
Summary: Overall, a good read; ending lacked substance...too hurried.
Review: Usually, I love Ms. Michael's books and, in this story, I appreciate the gothic atmosphere combined with believable characters; however, the entire storyline is damaged by the hurried ending. Did Ms. Michaels have trouble meeting her deadline?
Rating:
Summary: Very clever, cosy, and great fun
Review: What a delight! This is a Gothic romance on at least three levels. It's like being invited to an intimate tea party with Ms Mertz (Ms Michaels' real name) together with a select group of literary types who love Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters and enjoy Ms Michaels' work, at which tea party she shares her trade secrets, explains her love for the genre and plays a clever parlour game with her guests.At the most basic level, in the book the heroine is an English literature academic who discovers an unpublished manuscript of a Gothic romance written round about the beginning of the 18th century. Chunks of painfully but authentically purple prose are conjured up by Ms Michaels for our delectation, in the approved Gothic romance style, complete with a decrepit ancestral mansion, heroine in psychological distress and physical danger, a Deadly Family Secret, and two male protagonists either of whom could be the hero or the villain. More than a story, there is a real mystery as to who the writer is and how her novel related to real events. Meanwhile, the heroine, while demonstrating the art of researching a gothic novel and expounding on the genre (e.g. as representing women's oppression and powerlessness in a male dominated world), is herself trapped in one. She is in physical danger, she has just escaped a suffocating marriage and is still ensure of precisely how she wishes to operate in a male dominated world, and she has to work out which of two men is the hero and which is the villain. There's even a Family Secret lurking. This is the level which usually constitutes a Barbara M, and this is handled with above average dexterity - snappy scenes, real characters and good pace. Cleverly, the characters are put through a classic Gothic plot even as they analyse Gothic and other plots; and Ms Michaels milks this shamelessly and delightfully. For instance: "Whatever his motives, he was trying hard, and humility wasn't easy for a man of his arrogance. Or was pride a more accurate word? Karen smothered a smile. Bill's pride and her prejudice against him - another classic plot!" The reader can't help but smile. Finally, this book is a game with the reader, in which Ms Michaels cames clean with her agenda and issues a challenge. I quote: "She had almost finished two-thirds of it now, and her familiarity with the conventions of the Gothic novel had inspired several hunches - educated guesses rather - as to how the book would end. In one sense she hoped she was right, for that would prove how clever she was; in another sense she hoped [the author] would prove cleverer than she, scorning the old Gothic traditions in favour of a more original solution." She has brilliantly articulated the reader's dilemma of wanting to best the author, and yet hoping the author is cleverer. A protagonist says : "[The author] has set up the plot, and unless she cheats by introducing a new character or a vital clue at the last minute, an intelligent reader ought to be able to predict what will happen." Too true. Ms Michaels' plot resolutions usually seem obvious on hindsight, but they are seldom obvious when you are in the middle of them. For the record, I lost this game. I guessed the wrong hero because I was prejudiced by one man's resemblance to a prominent hero of Elizabeth Peters' (another Ms Mertz pseudonym) and assumed she would not go against her own grain. I should know better than to underestimate Ms Mertz and think that she would be bound by her own conventions. Congratulations, Ms Mertz, and thanks for the fun, and the peep into your world.
Rating:
Summary: Very clever, cosy, and great fun
Review: What a delight! This is a Gothic romance on at least three levels. It's like being invited to an intimate tea party with Ms Mertz (Ms Michaels' real name) together with a select group of literary types who love Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters and enjoy Ms Michaels' work, at which tea party she shares her trade secrets, explains her love for the genre and plays a clever parlour game with her guests. At the most basic level, in the book the heroine is an English literature academic who discovers an unpublished manuscript of a Gothic romance written round about the beginning of the 18th century. Chunks of painfully but authentically purple prose are conjured up by Ms Michaels for our delectation, in the approved Gothic romance style, complete with a decrepit ancestral mansion, heroine in psychological distress and physical danger, a Deadly Family Secret, and two male protagonists either of whom could be the hero or the villain. More than a story, there is a real mystery as to who the writer is and how her novel related to real events. Meanwhile, the heroine, while demonstrating the art of researching a gothic novel and expounding on the genre (e.g. as representing women's oppression and powerlessness in a male dominated world), is herself trapped in one. She is in physical danger, she has just escaped a suffocating marriage and is still ensure of precisely how she wishes to operate in a male dominated world, and she has to work out which of two men is the hero and which is the villain. There's even a Family Secret lurking. This is the level which usually constitutes a Barbara M, and this is handled with above average dexterity - snappy scenes, real characters and good pace. Cleverly, the characters are put through a classic Gothic plot even as they analyse Gothic and other plots; and Ms Michaels milks this shamelessly and delightfully. For instance: "Whatever his motives, he was trying hard, and humility wasn't easy for a man of his arrogance. Or was pride a more accurate word? Karen smothered a smile. Bill's pride and her prejudice against him - another classic plot!" The reader can't help but smile. Finally, this book is a game with the reader, in which Ms Michaels cames clean with her agenda and issues a challenge. I quote: "She had almost finished two-thirds of it now, and her familiarity with the conventions of the Gothic novel had inspired several hunches - educated guesses rather - as to how the book would end. In one sense she hoped she was right, for that would prove how clever she was; in another sense she hoped [the author] would prove cleverer than she, scorning the old Gothic traditions in favour of a more original solution." She has brilliantly articulated the reader's dilemma of wanting to best the author, and yet hoping the author is cleverer. A protagonist says : "[The author] has set up the plot, and unless she cheats by introducing a new character or a vital clue at the last minute, an intelligent reader ought to be able to predict what will happen." Too true. Ms Michaels' plot resolutions usually seem obvious on hindsight, but they are seldom obvious when you are in the middle of them. For the record, I lost this game. I guessed the wrong hero because I was prejudiced by one man's resemblance to a prominent hero of Elizabeth Peters' (another Ms Mertz pseudonym) and assumed she would not go against her own grain. I should know better than to underestimate Ms Mertz and think that she would be bound by her own conventions. Congratulations, Ms Mertz, and thanks for the fun, and the peep into your world.
Rating:
Summary: Barbara Michaels surpasses herself, as usual!
Review: When academic Karen Holloway discovers an old, forgotten manuscript by an 18th century female poet she herself made famous, she plunges head first into a tangle of mysteries and gothic, sinister adventures. She takes with her a gaggle of wonderful and incredibly likable friends and foes whose interaction is priceless (character development is one of Michaels' chief talents, I think!). It's a seriously thrilling and chilling ride, with a mini-education on the gothic genre thrown in for extra pleasure. Definitely my favorite Barbara Michaels so far!
Rating: 
Summary: a mixed bag
Review: While interesting enough to keep me reading, overall the book wasn't what I might have expected. Loaned to me, I had not read any of her previous work. The characters were too artificial, until I decided that perhaps the whole thing was a parody of the gothic novels it revolved around. But in the end, I decided it was just poorly written - especially with major questions unanswered such as the noise in the clearing, and its function as the major deus ex machina of the book
Rating:
Summary: a mixed bag
Review: While interesting enough to keep me reading, overall the book wasn't what I might have expected. Loaned to me, I had not read any of her previous work. The characters were too artificial, until I decided that perhaps the whole thing was a parody of the gothic novels it revolved around. But in the end, I decided it was just poorly written - especially with major questions unanswered such as the noise in the clearing, and its function as the major deus ex machina of the book
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