ARC Review: The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong

The Curse of Penryth Hall
Author: Jess Armstrong
Publication: Minotaur Books (December 5, 2023)

Description: An atmospheric gothic mystery that beautifully brings the ancient Cornish countryside to life, Armstrong introduces heroine Ruby Vaughn in her Minotaur Books & Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut, The Curse of Penryth Hall.

After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She’s always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall.

A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby’s once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It’s an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse. It also brings Ruan Kivell, the person whose books brought her to Cornwall, the one the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn’t believe in curses―or Pellars―but this is Cornwall and to these villagers the curse is anything but lore, and they believe it will soon claim its next victim: Tamsyn.

To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night.

My Thoughts: It's 1922 and book seller Ruby Vaughn has been sent by her octogenarian employer and housemate to Cornwall to deliver a box of books to Ruan Kivell. She's reluctant because she hasn't been to that village since her former best friend Tamsyn married the local baronet Sir Edward Chenowyth. Ruby was in love with Tamsyn and feels betrayed that she threw her over for Sir Edward.

After meeting Ruan and dropping off the books, she proceeds to Penryth Hall where she encounters a decidedly gothic atmosphere. Tamsyn has changed a lot becoming much more withdrawn and is clearly unhappy. Ruby takes a strong dislike to Sir Edward who proves to be a philandering bully. But she wasn't expecting anyone to murder him the night she arrives. Nor was she expecting his death to be attributed to a curse that had previously taken his uncle and his uncle's wife.

Ruby had weird dreams of the death the night of Sir Edward's death and she was attacked in her bedroom. She even believes for a while that she might have been the one to kill Sir Edward. Ruan is called in to investigate since he is the Pellar - a witch who is believed to be able to break curses. 

Ruby and Ruan develop an interesting relationship. He can read her thoughts which is something that Ruby is forced to believe despite her disbelief in anything supernatural. The two work together to try to determine who murdered Sir Edward since neither believe that it was a curse.

Ruby was a fascinating character. She is an heiress who was sent away from her home in New York when she was a teenager because of a scandal. She lost both her parents and sister when the Lusitania sank. She worked as an ambulance driver during World War I. She is determined to live in the present since the past held so much trauma for her. Tamsyn sees her as brave and daring, but Ruby feels that she has nothing left to lose. She tries to survive by drinking too much and doing dangerous things. 

I enjoyed the gothic atmosphere of this story with its curses and superstitions. I liked that Ruby who might have some supernatural powers of her own in the form of prophetic dreams is determined to find a rational explanation for all the various events. 

Fans of the gothic will enjoy this story filled with intriguing characters. 

Favorite Quote:

"You can't possibly believe in this nonsense. It's the twentieth century, Mr. Kivell. We have science. Logic. Mathematics! There's no room in the modern world for magic or curses." Even as I said the words, I saw how pathetic my reasoning was. The simple fact was I refused to believe. Couldn't even conceive of it. Because if such a thing were real, it opened up a box of questions about my own past that I wasn't ready to answer.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.