The Gripping Beast [Hardcover]

Margot Wadley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

The Gripping Beast introduces readers to a land full of ancient history and modern day intrigue. The Orkney Islands was first inhabited by the Picts and then the Vikings and the current residents now believe that witches live among them. Margot Wadley uses the dramatic background to debut her heroine, Isabel Garth, a young American woman who has come to the island to illustrate her deceased father's note-books. As soon as Isabel steps off the ferry she is accosted by a beautiful young woman who warns her to leave. Andrew, a young boy she met on the ferry, proudly announces that the woman, Thora, is a witch. Isabel doesn't know what to think and as she continues her holiday she starts to feel that maybe Thora was right - maybe she is in danger. She is puzzled by the behaviour of two men who seem to be following her and by the rash of accidents that are plaguing her. Then, while out sketching one day, Isabel finds Thora's body - apparently murdered. In a dramatic climax, a life is lost, a life is saved, and the treasure at the root of all the violence disappears forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As the winner of the 2000 St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery contest, Wadley's work shows promise, but a reliance on contrivance and clich‚ suggests she's still learning the literary ropes. This debut novel's strengths include the unusual Orkney island setting and a sensitive heroine, Isabel Garth, a young American teacher who comes to Stromness to pay tribute to the memory of her late father, a native of the island, and find out what she can of his past. Straight off the ferry Isabel encounters the local "witch," Thora, who tells her: "There is danger for you here. I can feel it. Go home." After someone ransacks her hotel room, steals her drawings and tampers with her car brakes, Isabel has to wonder if she should heed Thora's warning. A buried Viking treasure (a gripping beast is a Viking art motif), a pregnancy Isabel may or may not terminate and, ultimately, Thora's murder all add to the brew of simmering menace (lines from Macbeth head each chapter). Unfortunately, while Wadley keeps the reader well attuned to her protagonist's feelings, her plotting doesn't rise much above the gothic romance level. When at the climax Isabel confronts Thora's killer, a natural disaster all too conveniently intervenes. The lack of topical references may convey a certain timelessness, but their absence also results in a story perhaps more old-fashioned than traditional. Still, there's no reason to think that Wadley can't do better next time.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

American Isabel Garth journeys to the Orkney Islands after her father's death so that she can illustrate the journals he left about growing up there. Her jaunt begins ominously when a local "witch" scares her, a local remodeler warns her away from her father's childhood home, and she suffers a series of untoward mishaps.The plot escalates with Isabel's discovery that her father's recently deceased childhood friend found a Viking treasure, then hid it from greedy relatives. Not unexpectedly, the continuing search for the treasure results in murder. Evocative settings and an effective plot recommends this for most collections. [Wadley's debut was winner of the 2000 SMP/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Contest.DEd.]
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312272545
• ISBN-13: 978-0312272548
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,232,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Old Fashioned Mystery, April 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gripping Beast (Hardcover)

What a fun read! Wadley takes us on a trip to faraway Orkney for a tradtional mystery. I really enjoy a cozy little mystery with a British flavor and this is one. She describes a place completely foreign to me without beating me over the head with flowery prose - yet well enough that I can see it and feel it in my mind's eye. Wadley also sprinkles the dialogue with localisms to keep us in the mood but not to the point it is tough to read. There's a bit of old fashioned gothic romance and a real Golden Age of mystery feeling. I liked the heroine and hope that the author writes about her again.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pleasing mystery, February 18, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gripping Beast (Hardcover)

Isabel Garth grew up hearing her father's tales about his home on the Scottish Orkney Isles. When he died, Isabel decided to honor her beloved sire by traveling to his home to sketch drawings of the sites he described in his notebooks.

Isabel takes the ferry to reach her father's birthplace. Her first debarking step onto the land leads her to the witch Thora, who tells her to turn around because the isle is dangerous for her. Refusing to believe in witchcraft, Isabel insists on completing her odyssey, an homage to her father. Isabel merrily traces and sketches her father's home and listens to stories about legendary treasures. However, accidents begin to happen too frequently to Isabel and worse yet she finds Thora dead, an apparent homicide victim, leaving Isabel wondering if she is the next target.

Readers will quickly understand why THE GRIPPING BEAST is an award-winning novel. The story line is exciting, as Isabel inadvertently becomes an amateur sleuth. Still, what makes the plot so good is the secondary cast including the Orkney Isles that bring to life a place where the modern world and the Ancient legends comfortably exist together. Fans will want to accompany Isabel on this tour and any future excursion written by Margot Wadley.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfortunately too similar to another, better novel, March 22, 2008

By 

Creatrix in Canada "creatrix1" (B.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gripping Beast (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I wanted to enjoy this book, I really did. Unfortunately, I have been a fan and collector of the late novelist Elisabeth Ogilvie for many decades. This book bears a very strong resemblance Ogilvie's "The Silent Ones" which took place on the Isle of Skye. It was published in 1980, 21 years before The Gripping Beast. The main premise, many of the events, and even some of the character names are identical or very similar to The Silent Ones. In Ogilvie's book, heroine Alison Barbour hopes to trace her red-haired great-grandmother on this remote Scottish island, but she is drawn into an even greater mystery, a murder. In The Gripping Beast, heroine Isabel Garth hopes to discover more about her late father's heritage on this remote Scottish island but is drawn into solving a murder.

The dead person in Ogilvie's novel was found among standing stones, and had unseeing, open eyes that reflected the sky. In The Gripping Beast, we're told that the dead woman was found in a ruin near standing stones, and, "Her open eyes stared at nothing [...] their faded color seeming no more than a clouded reflection of the blue of the sky."

Many other scenes, from the heroine's arrival on the island, to social events there, are pretty faithful reproductions. This angers me. Just because The Silent Ones is out of print and over 20 years old, doesn't mean a new writer can plunder it for plot and details. It appears that Wadley has not written any more mysteries, even though the cover on my copy says, "Introducing Isabel Garth". Maybe this is why.