Customer Reviews

Cruel Sister: A Haunted Ballad

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First Sentence: Under a choking black fog, in which the air itself seemed composed of ash from the winter coal fires, a battered ten-year-old Austin Tilley lorry rumbled and bounced along Westferry Road on the south-eastern edge of London's Isle of Dogs.

Folklorist, singer and restoration consultant Ringan Laine has been hired by his partner Penny's brother and sister-in-law. They are building a large Elizabethan-style home on the Isle of Dogs next to the Thames. Ringan's first visit to the site makes him uncomfortable and second visit progresses to voices and visions. From there, things become rapidly worse as Penny fears she may lose Ringan forever to the past.

Having enjoyed the previous three books in this series, I selected this as my Halloween read for this year and am so glad I did. Grabien seamlessly blends the real and the paranormal; what is with what might be, and it works. This isn't icky, creepy stuff, but scary in the anticipation of what might happen. It is also not formulaic. I so appreciate that each book in the series handles the paranormal aspect in a different manner. That, alone, adds to the suspense.

One need not worry about starting this series at the beginning. Grabien establishes the background and history of previous paranormal experiences easily within the plot without slowing down the story. The dialogue is a little stiff at times, but the stories really are plot driven.

And a good plot it is. It's not silly, fluffy or over the top. It starts out innocently enough and then builds. It is also the perfect balance of music, history, mystery and the paranormal; each of which I love and sent me to the internet after finishing the book. It delights me to learn new things and when I can't easily tell what is factual and what is fictional because the story is so well done, it all seems true.

I found "Cruel Sister" completely engrossing; as in I read it straight through in 4 hours because I couldn't bear to put it down. There is one more book in the "Haunted Ballad" series, which I shall definitely read. Hopefully one day, there will be more.

CRUEL SISTER (Para/Mys-Penny and Ringan-England-Cont) - VG
Grabien, Deborah - 4th in series
Thomas Dunn Books, ©2006, US Hardcover - ISBN: 0312357575

I don't have to-read piles of books. I have to-read bookcases. Two of them, both overfilled. Embarrassing but true. When I retire with no money in my bank account, I'll be eating paperbacks, not cat food. So when I tell you that Deborah Grabien's new book never even made it onto the to-read pile, that's saying something. It's a predictable pattern: a new Grabien book arrives, I stay up into the wee hours of the morning reading it, then it makes its way to my "finished" bookcases. Unlike some of my other favorite authors, Grabien's books do not get put on the Amazon Marketplace sales list when I'm finished with them. They're mine, mine, mine!

Pardon me. Got a little carried away there. Anyway, you can get the plot summary of this book from other places on this Web page. What I want to tell you about "Cruel Sister" is that you don't need to believe in ghosts to read it; Grabien works them so matter-of-factly into the plot that you find yourself swept along into the narrative. You don't need to be able to carry a tune to enjoy the latest adventures of folksinger Ringan Laine; the writing hums along beautifully. And while it's always nice to read a series in order, Grabien does a good job of quickly summing up Ringan and Penny's previous ghostly encounters without slowing the current story down, so if you want to jump into the series with this book, you can do so quite easily.

Fans of Grabien's Haunted Ballads know that while musician Ringan Laine is familiar with historical buildings and how to restore and sometimes repurpose them, it's Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes, Ringan's long-time lover and herself owner of the Bellefield Theater and manager of the Tamburlaine Players acting troupe, who's always been sensitive to ghosts. But something seems awry in this new offering; this time it's Ringan who's caught up in a tangle of ghostly mystery on the Isle of Dogs. And it's up to Penny, along with some secondary characters in welcome repeat appearances, to sort the clues given in the traditional ballad from which the book takes its name.

Unused to being caught in cross-time webs of intrigue, romance, politics and danger, Ringan is pushed to the brink of endurance while Penny learns all she can about the historical facts behind the traditional lyrics.

As masterful a storyteller as ever, Grabien gives "Penny and Ringan" fans another delightful read.

This is the 4th book in the Haunted Ballad series. This one focuses more on Ringan, than Penny. Penny's brother and his new wife, a Tudor expert, are building a new home on a piece of land in London on the Isle of Dogs. They have asked Ringan to act as a consultant. Ringan has an unpleasant experience at the site- the ground feels marshy to him and he hears several different voices from different eras. He later dreams of a sister begging for mercy from her sister before she is drowned. When related to his bandmates, the dream reminds them of the song Cruel Sister that they are about to record, where one sister kills the other over the love of a knight and a musician makes an insturment of her bones which tell her story. In researching the site, they find the appearance of a ghost girl that led to the death of a bomb squad officer and also a possible connection to Ringan's family history. This book is different in approach to the prior books, but I found the background history around the time of Henry VIII's marriage to Anne of Cleeves to be intriguing. I look forward to the 5th and final book in the series.

I've loved this ballad for a long time, and I like the twist on it taken in this novel. I can't really say much more, without giving spoilers and you definitely don't want that - the twists and surprises keep the pages flipping.

The latest in Deborah Grabien's "Haunted Ballads" series lives up to its predecessors, combining history, music and the supernatural into a spooky yet enjoyable mix. This book takes place mostly in London, where Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes' older brother and his new wife have plans to build a Tudor-style home on the Isle of Dogs. They hire Penny's longtime love, Ringan, a traditional musician with a sideline in historic restoration, to oversee the project. This time, it's Ringan who finds himself drawn into a past tragedy that is only dimly remembered in the words of a traditional folk ballad, and Penny and their friends must uncover the real history behind the terrifying images that threaten to trap and destroy Ringan. Grabien's likable protagonists, thorough research, and swift pacing make for an fascinating read.

The only problem with this series is that the first book (The Weaver and the Factory Maid) seems to be out of print. Hello, St. Martin's Press? How about a reprint--or better yet, a paperback run of the whole series?

In Somerset, period piece architectural expert Ringan Laine discusses with his girlfriend Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes, the wedding they just attended when her cell phone rings. It is her brother Stephen, who vanished two decades ago in Asia but now lives in London married to someone named Tamsin; he cuts off his stunned sibling demanding to speak with Ringan. Stephen asks Ringan to evaluate their plans to restore a Tudor home just across the Thames from one of the historical palaces of Henry VIII.

Always excited to work on a restoration project and besides this is his squeeze's long lost brother, he agrees. However, on site, Ringan begins seeing unexplained happenings especially near the crater where a WWII bomb exploded killing a soldier. He observes a girl in a sixteenth century garb begging he assumes him for a haven from those with hounds chasing her while Penny is performing in Italy. If he fails to put the ghost that has assaulted his senses to rest in eternal peace, Ringan will be possessed.

This supernatural mystery switches the possible possession from Penny to Ringan as a five hundred year old ghost demands he obtain satisfaction for her or she will haunt him forever. Ringan has no earthly idea how to proceed which adds to the fun as he fumbles before seeking help at Oxford and from Penny. Though the fascinating historical references and Oxford ground the tale in the mortal realm, the ghost steals the show in Deborah Grabien's fine fourth "Haunted Ballad" paranormal whodunit (see THE FAMOUS FLOWER OF SERVING MEN and MATTY GROVES).

Harriet Klausner

As usual for the books in this series, I read it quickly. It absorbed my attention completely while my nose was buried in it. The characters have individual, distinct and sympathetic voices, making them people the reader feels at home with. This book fits the established pattern in the series: Penny and Ringan find themselves a ghost (or two), clues to whose unrestful repose lie in one of the traditional folk songs that Ringan sings. Lest the readers, and one assumes the writer as well, get bored with a formula, Deborah Grabien has found a way to put a twist to this one.

There was a time when I would have put Grabien in the same league as Elizabeth Peters, but I am finding that this comparison is less apt than it used to be: There is no hint of madcap in the Haunted Balads - wit and humor, yes, these are the functions of intelligent, fully formed characters, but there is no hint of over-the-top silliness as of the later Amelia Peabody mysteries.