Jane Aiken Hodge was one of a series of Writers which included Mary Stewart, and Victoria Holt that wrote gothic suspense. I devoured her books like “Maulever Hall” and “Watch the Wall, My Darling.” When I came across a Book of Hodge’s I had not read I was delighted. This is another Suspense that builds gradually and insidiously. We don’t know who or what.. until the end.
Marian is hired to accompany Stella as they travel through the Greek Isles. The Tour throws a group of Strangers together and then accidents begin to happen. Who can Marian trust? She becomes worried for both herself and Stella. To complicate matters Marian has become attracted to a classics Professor. This is a nice little mystery and just the type I am partial to. Read it on a rainy night and let the tension build with each page. Jane Aiken Hodge is good at that.
"Throughout her career, she wrote books set in what she called the borderland–that line between mystery and romance novel. In her last novels, her mysteries became thrillers. This invisible line–this borderland–made her “gothic romantic suspense” voice unique." (Wray, "Kiss And Thrill," Jan.22)
