The Tale of Halcyon Crane

Read 5/29/10 - 5/31/10
4 Stars - Strongly recommended
Pgs:326

Wendy Webb had contacted me through Goodreads.com in an effort to promote her novel "The Tale of Halcyon Crane". I thought the book looked really interesting and managed to snag a copy to review.

And I am really glad I did. This is one of those novels that I may never have stumbled across on my own, had the author not brought it to my attention.

The gothic tale of a woman whose life was turned upside down when a strange envelope arrives in the mail announcing the death of a mother she thought had perished in a house fire 30 years before.

Wendy Webb does a great job of setting the stage for this spooky tale of a woman uncovering old family legends; complete with haunted house, creepy encounters with otherworldly beings, and an unsolved island murder dating back 30 years.

Though I found parts of the book to be predictable, and a bit typical of a gothic ghost story, I still found myself thoroughly enjoying it, and anxiously turning the pages. The book reads surprisingly quickly, in part due to Webb's pacing, and because I just simply had to know whether I'd guessed things correctly.

Not necessarily a story that scares you so much as creeps you out and lingers in the back of your brain...

A book that begs to be read with the lights on.