Kathleen Thompson Norris

I really enjoyed this well-written vintage gothic mystery. Kathleen Norris was a very prolific writer, authoring 93 novels and many other pieces of work. The quality shows---I'll be hunting down more from her asap!

Set in the days when California was all cowboys and ranches and quiet orchards, this is one of those "houseful of people waiting for someone to die" sort of stories---but no sleaze, no contrived impossibilities---just normal classic behaviors one would expect in this sort of a story. It's one of the perfect gothics, in my opinion, and the big secret was a total shocker. Yep, rarely do I get very far into a book without having the whole thing figured out. This one got me---well written for sure!

Yay Kathleen Norris. We miss your kind.… (meer)

A nice read. A young widow with two daughters comes to live in a California town where she had spent some time as a child. Rumored to be incredibly wealthy, she becomes the focus of her neighbors who are constantly trying to outdo each other. Their materialism gets a lot of attention, but many of them benefit from her different way of doing things. She dresses simply, isn't interested in refurnishing her old-fashioned house, and is actually interested in what her children are learning and doing. Also, her next-door neighbor is an attractive man with a young son. He used to have great ambitions and a career before him but now he is blighted. She goes into business with him so that he can buy the local newspaper. Basically just by being cheerful, helpful and sensible, Mrs. Burgoyne wins the affection of most everyone around her. I did have trouble keeping track of the neighbor ladies, though.… (meer)

This is a book my dad collected along with some other older books. Need to read.

FROM GOODREADS: The story of Mary Campbell Sylvester "Cam", a lonely married California socialite who falls in love with the handsome writer John Kilgarif. Cam leaves her beloved children and life to be with the man she loves,but will his love demand to much of her. Strangely gripping romance novel that paints a skillfull portrait of emotional neediness and includes an interesting gothic element of psycological suspense. However, the author does not carry through and complete the picture.She ties up the ends too neatly ,so as to conform to the formula of the genre.… (meer)

I thought this might be some kind of Piper book, i.e. with Pipers of some sorts. But it appears to be more along the line of a moral relating to "he who pays the piper...." Even so, I liked the book quite a lot. When I tried describing the book to my spouse, she thought it sounded rather creepy.

So, we have Harriet Field living in the household of Richard Carter, a rich business man who has an estate, he has named Crownlands, overlooking the Hudson river. Harriet wears several hats in the household, she's the nanny for Carter's teenage daughter, Nina, private secretary for Carter's spouse, Isabelle, and, since Isabelle is more focused on personal pleasure than anything else, de facto housekeeper at Crownlands. That is to say, she, more than Isabelle, deals with the daily concerns of getting the servants organized to keep the house running smoothly.

Well, problems arise. Richard Carter's spouse, Isabella, runs off to Europe with a handsome, if not stable, young man. That results in Harriet's becoming even more important in the running of the household.

Another complication arises. A roué from Harriet's past, one Royal Blondin shows up and begins bestowing his attentions on Harriet's charge, Nina. Harriet would like to speak out against him, but doing so would also expose her to some scandal, and would likely compromise her comfortable situation. She and Royal strike a sort of truce, each promising not to bring up the past. But, how to save Nina from the heartbreak almost sure to follow if she gives into Blondin's attentions?

Well, I could go on, but that wouldn't be a good idea. Suffice to say, it was a rather fun book. I may well hunt us some more of Kathleen Norris works for future reading. Note, that Kathleen Thompson Norris was a novelist in the first half of the 20th century, and is not to be confused with the contemporary poet, Kathleen Norris.

… (meer)