In her first novel for adults, the clever and eerie A Dreadful Splendor, B.R. Myers (Rogue Princess) sends readers to a seaside estate haunted by the past--and possibly by ghosts. Genevieve (Jenny) is a spiritualist in Victorian London. She's caught stealing from her clients on the cusp of her 19th birthday and is put in jail. Suspected of both numerous petty thefts and of murdering her mother, Jenny has no alternative but to go with the mysterious solicitor who arranges her release in exchange for one last séance.
It is clear upon arrival at Somerset Park that she hasn't been told the whole story--or even an accurate one. The solicitor, Mr. Lockhart, supposedly hired Jenny to free his employer from grief, but Mr. Pemberton knows Jenny for the con artist she is and asks her instead to help him identify his late fiancée's murderer. Forced to pretend compliance with both plans or be sent back to jail, Jenny finds herself caught up in several plots involving infidelity, inheritance and the estate's history of abusive lords and their myriad crimes.
A Dreadful Splendor has a strong gothic atmosphere and even the subtle romance is, at times, tinged with doubt, but the author focuses on the mystery and a cast of finely crafted characters instead of gore. Myers balances supernatural and interpersonal elements in this fast-paced, intricately plotted mystery that will have readers eager to find out not only if Jenny will get her happy ending, but if anyone else deserves one. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer