The Tale of Halcyon Crane
Author: Wendy Webb

A young woman travels alone to a remote island to uncover a past she never knew was hers in this thrilling modern ghost story — When a mysterious letter lands in Hallie James's mailbox, her life is upended. Hallie was raised by her loving father, having been told her mother died in a fire decades earlier. But it turns out that her mother, Madlyn, was alive until very recently. Why would Hallie's father have taken her away from Madlyn? What really happened to her family thirty years ago?

In search of answers, Hallie travels to the place where her mother lived, a remote island in the middle of the Great Lakes. The stiff islanders fix her first with icy stares and then unabashed amazement as they recognize why she looks so familiar, and Hallie quickly realizes her family's dark secrets are enmeshed in the history of this strange place. But not everyone greets her with such a chilly reception -- a coffee-shop owner and the family's lawyer both warm to Hallie, and the possibility of romance blooms. And then there's the grand Victorian house bequeathed to her -- maybe it's the eerie atmosphere or maybe it's the prim, elderly maid who used to work for her mother, but Hallie just can't shake the feeling that strange things are starting to happen . . .

In The Tale of Halcyon Crane, Wendy Webb has created a haunting story full of delicious thrills, vibrant characters, and family secrets.

I thought this Gothic ghost story was very enjoyable. It was told in a very straight forward manner and didn't have a lot of surprises but it was fun to read nevertheless. The story is about Hallie James who is living outside Seattle...her father in a nursing home with Alzheimer's...and believing that her mother had died in a fire. She then receives a letter that turns her world upside down. She inherits a house on an island in the Great Lakes and it turns out that her mother who recently died had found out that Hallie was alive. Hallie goes to the island and finds out that her real name is Halcyon Crane and that the house she inherits has a bleak history with several untimely deaths and a possibly ghostly haunting. The housekeeper for the estate tells Hallie the family history including encounters with a local medicine woman considered by many to be a witch. She also finds that her father had been accused of an unsolved murder that happened 30 years previously. Overall, a very atmospheric story to read on a stormy night.

Sending to rhythmbiscuit...selected from the Books Read VBB. Enjoy!

Thank you for sharing this book!

This book appears to be traveling, although I didn't make release notes.