Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright (AustenProse PR Book Tour)

 

Do you believe in ghosts?  I just went on a haunted trolly tour of Door County with one of my book clubs and it was a lot of fun.  I always enjoy a good ghost story.

Marian Anderson has lost her parents and her home in Milwaukee in 1921 after prohibition has caused the shut down of her family brewery.  She retains her family’s country estate, Mullerian, in rural Wisconsin near Milwaukee.  As she settles in, death seems to surround the estate and Marian has limited time to discover who the killer is before her own time is up.  In present day, Remy has moved to Mullerian Manor to help an author write a book about Marian Anderson and the Butterfly Butcher serial killer.  Will Remy be able to solve the mystery of both Marian and her own past?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       The gothic atmosphere of this novel made this a perfect read for October.  I loved the ghosts and haunted house aspects.  I especially love a house with passages that lead to no where and secret entrances and exits.

·       The cover of this novel is beautiful, and I love how it features the glass butterfly house which is an important part of the story in both timelines.

·       As a resident of Wisconsin, I really loved the Wisconsin setting.  I also enjoyed the historical aspect as I always wonder how different breweries made it through prohibition and all the bars.  I know the major breweries started producing soda pop, but not everyone made the switch.

·       There were side characters in each timeline that were interesting.  I particularly enjoyed Marian’s childhood friend Felix, a WWI veteran who has returned with demons of his own.

·       I thought it was very interesting that the book looked into mental health in a sensitive and thoughtful way.

·       The storyline was intriguing, and it kept me engaged throughout.  Especially towards the end I could not put this book down.  I did not guess the ending to the mysteries.

·       Both storylines were equally engaging.  Sometimes I like on storyline in a dual storyline book more than the other.  It was not the case in this novel!

·       There are great discussion questions for a book club at the end and a sneak peek into Jaime Jo Wright’s next book which is set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I can’t wait to read it when it comes out next spring.

Favorite Quotes:

“Death had always been fashionable.  Women celebrated it by donning black silks and feathers and shawls and lace.  Men acknowledged it with a band on their hat or a mourning ring on their finger.  Of course, that was more to announce their eligibility than anything else.  For what man could continue to flourish in life without a wife to manage his household and rear his children?”  Great 1^st paragraph of the novel!

“There were no bodies.  Nothing but broken wings and the memory of someone who smiled when death came to call.”

“People have this measuring stick they use and hold one another up to.  If you’re running a tad short, then something’s wrong with you.”

Overall, Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright was an engaging Gothic historical mystery romance set in Wisconsin that was perfect for the spooky season.

Book Source:  Review copy from Bethany House as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

An ominous butterfly house. A sinister legacy. An untraceable killer.

In 1921, Marian Arnold, the heiress to a brewing baron's empire, seeks solace in the glass butterfly house on her family's Wisconsin estate as Prohibition and the deaths of her parents cast a long shadow over her shrinking world. When Marian's sanctuary is invaded by nightmarish visions, she grapples with the line between hallucinations of things to come and malevolent forces at play in the present. With dead butterflies as the killer's ominous signature, murders unfold at a steady pace. Marian, fearful she might be next, enlists the help of her childhood friend Felix, a war veteran with his own haunted past.

In the present day, researcher Remy Shaw becomes entangled in an elderly biographer's quest to uncover the truth behind Marian Arnold's mysterious life and the unsolved murders linked to an infamous serial killer. Joined by Marian's great-great-grandson, can Remy expose the evil that lurks beneath broken wings? Or will the dark legacy surrounding the manor and its glass house destroy yet another generation?

ADVANCE PRAISE

"Readers will be eager to take this twisty, suspense-filled ride."— Publishers Weekly

AUTHOR BIO

Jaime Jo Wright is the author of twelve novels, including Christy Award and Daphne du Maurier Award winner The House on Foster Hill and Carol Award winner The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond. She's also a four-time Christy Award finalist, as well as the ECPA bestselling author of The Vanishing at Castle Moreau, The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater, and two Publishers Weekly bestselling novellas. Jaime lives in Wisconsin with her family and fabulous felines. Learn more at JaimeWrightBooks.com.