A Lady’s Guide to Monsters and Moonlight: A Gothic Regency Romance with Equal Measures of Fantasy and Humor
In the quiet Yorkshire village of Harwick, the mysterious death of a teenage girl on her way home from a party follows the equally unlikely deaths of the tailor and an itinerant soldier. Only Catherine Chase, self-taught from her Uncle Gerald’s medical library, questions the official ‘natural’ causes of their deaths.
She sets out to investigate, persuading her cousin, Freddie, to assist. He is her best friend and the man everyone in the village believes she will marry, much to the friends’ chagrin. When the handsome Mr James Hale from Edinburgh takes a room at the Black Swan, he becomes Catherine’s main suspect after she spots him lurking in the woods in the dead of night, a hunting knife drawn against a strange, mesmeric woman.
Then the Black Swan’s innkeeper dies, and Catherine’s suspicions deepen. A local cook fears the presence of the baobhan sith, malign Gaelic faeries, and Catherine must balance her scepticism with some strange encounters of her own.
As sinister events plague the village, she is convinced that the appearances of the nocturnal mystery woman are connected to James Hale; but his behaviour masks a tragic secret which ultimately bonds his own quest with Catherine’s. Her passionate rejection of James’ qualities, contrasted with his reticent attraction to her, is reminiscent of the push-pull romantic tension in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
The relationship between Catherine and Freddie is witty and fun. The monster threat level remains low until the climactic battle, which is convincingly done. This is not Austen-immersive, the modern vocabulary and anachronisms are too distracting for that, including behaviours no self-respecting Regency gentlewoman would countenance; but the story will appeal to those who enjoy the Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet romantic journey, and to readers who prefer their Gothic cosy.
