Customer Reviews

Sing Witch, Sing Death

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4 star:		(2)
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In 1816 Lord St. Just is returning to his boyhood home, Tremaire. He is accompanied by his wife, a wealthy heiress from the West Indies and her companion, an impoverished gentlewoman, Pamela Hervey, who has been hired to teach Lady St Just how to get along in society.

Hetty, Lady St. Just is a bad traveler and the trip had been punctuated by her hysterics, as she resisted being removed from the anticipated pleasures of London. Dainty and delicate, she was the spoiled daughter of a wealthy planter, married to St. Just for his title and background. This had not been a happy marriage of convenience though, and when his father and two older brothers died in a sailing accident he had inherited the title and returned to claim the estate.

Pamela Hervey is Lady St. Just's opposite. She has a generous, passionate nature and a clear sense of wrong and right.

Waiting at Tremaire is St. Just's cousin and heir, George, an impecunious London dandy; Sarah, more than a servent but devoted to St. Just; and a coven or two of witches, who are looked to by the country people to aid in a good harvest and safety for their men at sea.

The party from London arrives at a time when there is a power struggle going on in the local coven. There are mysterious accidents, evil potents and strange rituals.

Those who like a good gothic novel should really latch on to this one. It also should not disappoint Regency fans. And those who simply enjoy Roberta Gellis' books are in for a real treat.

..and not your usual Gellis cover either - for once I wasn't embarrassed to be reading it :D

The story is set in 1816 as Earl St. Just, lord of Tremaine returns to his family manor in Cornwall, with his pampered wife Hetty and her hired companion Lady Pamela in tow. The St. Just marriage, an arranged affair, is an unhappy one and St. Just finds himself falling in love with the dark and beautiful lady Pamela as they become wrapped up in unraveling the secrets of the local witch covens -- are these women truly harmless, or is there a more sinister plot involved?

All in all an entertaining albeit very short read - I honestly would have liked to see the whole thing fleshed out more than what I got in 200 pages. Lots of things that go bump in the night, wicked storms along the Cornwall coast stirred up by the witch's coven along with a few red herrings misleading the reader to who the real baddies are makes up for a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon -- although I would have loved to have seen what Du Maurier could have done with this one. 3.5/5 stars rounded up to four.