Well I never - Gothic thrillers by the author of Little Women! Came across this by chance in a box of second-hand paperbacks outside the Librairie Belphégor in Lausanne, which sells BD (bandes dessinées). The cover shows a painting called Helen, by Poynter, and that's what attracted me to the book.

Four stories written with "blood and thunder". Well, there is some blood, albeit skilfully staunched by a tourniquet, but I'm still waiting for the thunder. I was expecting something a little more horrific.
1) Behind a Mask - or A Woman's Power: Jean Muir, a beautiful 19-year old governess arrives at a stately home and conspires to seduce all the members of the family (shades of Pasolini's Theorem?). Aha, but the reader knows that she is not what she appears to be. Alone in her room, she swigs some potent mixture from a flask, removes her hairpiece and several of her pearly teeth, rubs the pink off her cheeks and is revealed as a haggard old woman of... 30!
2) Pauline's Passion and Punishment was so purple I could not read beyond the first few pages. It is set in Cuba.
3) The Mysterious Key (and What is Opened)is quite an intriguing and fast-moving story revolving around an inheritance.
4) The Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation (A Christmas Story): the miraculous cure of a cripple.

sent today to USA to fulfill a wish

Sorry it took so long for me to journal this.. it got here 2 weeks ago, but I've been sick, and kept away from the computer.. so, just a note to let you know it arrived safely!.. Thanks again!

I'm right there with ya.. not much of in the way of "thrillers".. I remember the stories mentioned in Little Women, and although some of the names were there.. no pirates, or scaundrals.. although, if you want female inpowerment.. this is good. The women are in turns devious and self reliant.. for the time an unusual trait. I fell in love with most of the female characters, but although the men were fairly well built (character wise), I didn't really feel anything for them.. (this is not a lesbian thing, just.. they had few traits to connect to.) I'd have to say out of all the male characters, I liked Paul from The Mysterious Key.. out of the female characters? I think Pauline, even though I didn't like the story as much as the character.

The first story I though was intriguing. Very well written, and even though you know she was doing something.. you WANTED the character to be honest in her disposition.. you hoped that this meant she had changed somehow.. and even though you don't like what she is doing, you sort of pull for her in the end.. (of course you'd never admit it.. )

The second story.. not thrilled with.. for some strange reason it reminded me of the movie original sin.. not quite bad.. just not.. good. It's like a train wreck you keep reading to see what happens.. and the ending is a huge disappointment.. although fitting with the title.

The Third one I loved.. and probably the closest to a "thriller".. Characters are very well built, the setting is perfect, the timing is perfect.. very little is drawn out without purpose.. and the end.. though a bit forced was nice.. (I just don't see someone who was built up as a little bit shelfish, all of a sudden giving in when she has just WON.. at least not giving in completely.. I think she should have at least made them acknowledge her as blood.. She IS related to them.. )

Now the last one... I didn't even finish it.. I wasn't involved enough, and after the fourth attempt where I fell asleep.. I gave in.. I don't think it was BAD.. just slow.. and I wasn't getting the point.

I'm going to check the wishlists and see if anyone wants it.. otherwise I think I'm going to RABCK it.. (I'd put it in my OBCZ.. but this is not an easy book to find.. and my journal rate there not that great yet.. Not to mention the shelf is in a Pub, .. I don't see this getting picked up right away.. I'd rather this one travel a bit with other bookcrossers!)

O wow! Kaija, I had totally forgotten that you'd spotted this on my wishlist and PMed me until this book showed up in my mail box this afternoon! Thanks tons!

Everyone else has already described the stories is a good amount of detail, so I won't restate that which has already been said. I enjoyed all of the stories except for the second one, Pauline's Passion and Punishment. I quite agree with Kaija that the story is a wreck but I couldn't stop reading it either...I had to see how it turned out. And the ending is really not satisfying at all, though quite hinted at in the title of the story. I re-read the last couple pages of that story several times just to see if I had missed anything but nope, that's it.

This is a hard book to find, so I will try to pass it on to someone else who wants it.

Caught at the Meet Up. Thanks, Kat!

Left at the Little Free Library on Santa Margarita Avenue.