The Midnight House

Covers showing spooky Gothic mansions often suck me in, as do accompanying blurbs that include words like, “disappear”, “secret”, “mystery”, etc. I should know better, as I'm often disappointed with the content. This novel is no exception. Trying to summarise the convoluted plot isn’t easy.
 
2019. Journalist Ellie Fitzgerald returns home to County Kerry from Dublin under a cloud. In a box of old books, she finds a baffling letter written in 1940 by someone called Charlotte and begins an investigation into its origins. This involves the Rathmore family who live in an old mansion called Blackwater Hall. In the process, Ellie connects with numerous individuals who all know something, including Tabby, a 100 year old popular member of the community and former maid at Blackwater Hall, and Dr Milo Rathmore, the dishy heir to the estate and the family title.
 
1940. Nancy Rathmore is the wife of Teddy, a son of Baron Rathmore, and is good friends with his sister, Charlotte, who is being forced against her will into a marriage with a Lord Headley/Hanley/Healey, or similar. Presiding over the family is Niamh, the cliched nasty American mother-in-law. Charlotte is presumed drowned in a local lough – either the victim of foul play, or suicide.
 
1958. Hattie, Nancy’s 11 year old daughter, makes friends with the mysterious gardener at the Hall, Tabby's brother, the war-damaged Tomas, and this association creates problems that will end with disaster.
 
Ellie’s discoveries lead to the suspicion that Charlotte didn’t drown, and the book follows her trail to find out the truth. I had guessed rightly the outcome, which was fairly obvious early on but needed a lot of overwritten exposition to finally reach the conclusion.

Observations:

• The title “The Midnight House” is odd, as Charlotte referred to Blackwater Hall as the “Ink House”, and there is also another “rambling house” involved.
• Ellie’s personal life and career were an uninspiring mess and of little relevance to the core mystery.
• The mixups over the surname of Charlotte’s intended aristocratic husband Lord H. are just bizarre. Initially, I thought this was an important clue, or a deliberate red herring, but in the end had no bearing whatsoever on the story.
• There is a detailed family tree in the front of the book that shows many individuals who are never mentioned. Why bother?
• Hair combs feature both in the past and in the present. If there is some meaningful symbolism in this, I totally missed it.
• There are more than enough miscarriages to make you depressed, even if countered with interminable references to caffeine, cups of coffee, and the occasional Yorkshire tea to pick you up.

 
This is apparently a debut novel and is basically a good yarn that deserved better editing and structure. I'm willing to give the author another go in the future.

2.5 stars.


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