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Nightingale at Noon
The ominously desolate Camargue country of southeast France is the setting for this suspenseful story of a nineteen-year-old girl who found herself so caught between the two men she loved that she could help one only by helping to destroy the other.
Melinda Vaughan knew surprisingly little about her own father--considering how close she was to him. But then she never asked many questions about their way of life: why they had made so many moves in the four years since she had been taken from her boarding school in England; why her now-blind father refused all visitors and yet kept in his household one of the roughest and most ominous of men; why Dodie, her father's mistress was so apprehensive of being followed. It was not until she met Charles Lewis McAra, the tall, intense man who attracted her against her will, that she began to wonder. For Charles accused her father of having committed murder--and it was up to Melinda to decide which man to believe.
Melinda Vaughan knew surprisingly little about her own father--considering how close she was to him. But then she never asked many questions about their way of life: why they had made so many moves in the four years since she had been taken from her boarding school in England; why her now-blind father refused all visitors and yet kept in his household one of the roughest and most ominous of men; why Dodie, her father's mistress was so apprehensive of being followed. It was not until she met Charles Lewis McAra, the tall, intense man who attracted her against her will, that she began to wonder. For Charles accused her father of having committed murder--and it was up to Melinda to decide which man to believe.
- GenresGothic
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
25 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Summerton
27Ìýbooks1ÌýfollowerAlso wrote as Jan Roffman
Margaret Summerton has lived in England her life except for a brief period in Paris, working for a publishing company, and in Switzerland, teaching English. She was a news reporter for a London newspaper and at the end of the war left a woman's magazine to devote full time to writing mysteries and romantic suspense novels.
Margaret Summerton has lived in England her life except for a brief period in Paris, working for a publishing company, and in Switzerland, teaching English. She was a news reporter for a London newspaper and at the end of the war left a woman's magazine to devote full time to writing mysteries and romantic suspense novels.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 14, 2024
2.5 stars
This is definitely more of a romantic suspense novel than a gothic one. However, the romance was pretty minimal and not particularly engaging. The beginning was confusing because the heroine refers to everyone by their first name, including her father. It wasn’t clear how the characters were related until about 60 pages in. The prose also felt too stiff and formal for my taste.
That said, the second half of the story became more interesting. An international mystery unfolds involving jewelry thieves, blackmail, murder, and revenge. The identity of the murderer was hilariously bad though. Overall, it wasn’t a terrible read, but it felt more like an espionage novel set in the �60s than a gothic. I’m honestly puzzled as to why this was categorized as gothic in the first place.
This is definitely more of a romantic suspense novel than a gothic one. However, the romance was pretty minimal and not particularly engaging. The beginning was confusing because the heroine refers to everyone by their first name, including her father. It wasn’t clear how the characters were related until about 60 pages in. The prose also felt too stiff and formal for my taste.
That said, the second half of the story became more interesting. An international mystery unfolds involving jewelry thieves, blackmail, murder, and revenge. The identity of the murderer was hilariously bad though. Overall, it wasn’t a terrible read, but it felt more like an espionage novel set in the �60s than a gothic. I’m honestly puzzled as to why this was categorized as gothic in the first place.
February 14, 2011
Found a list of books read in my 1966 diary. Only notation was that this is a romantic suspense (I was very into gothics, Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, et al at this time) and I gave it 3 and a half stars.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
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