So this is one of the few second wave gothic romance pulps I've really enjoyed. For one, how does Wentworth serve such damn good tea so fast? I'm dying to know what the heck is going on in Craghold and there so much more to cover. If Michael Avallone (Edwina Noone) reads this - pretty please release the Craghold sequels to amazon kindle as well. If you find one, please review it because I'm looking to read a whole lot more of these!įirstly, this is available free on Amazon kindle unlimited - YAY! Unfortunately, none of the sequels are available.yet. Otherwise, any old 'woman running from houses' title might be better than you think. If you can find a copy of The Craghold Legacy, I highly recommend it. Either there's a lot of people holding on to books nearly 60 years old, or soon enough they'll be gone forever. The full Craghold series seems nearly impossible to find online, or at least not for cheap. Given the resurgence of horror novels from the '80s, I hope these earlier creepers find a way back into the hearts of breathless readers. I've read 500 page books without a third of this much excitement, and with weaker characters. When the frights rise to a climax, we're given sufficient time to relish the drawn-out moments of peak terror.

Internal thoughts are frequent, unabridged, and desired.

Time is allotted to graciously describe hotel decor, or the immaculate beauty of every character. Even more miraculous, it doesn't feel rushed. Truly it is awe-inspiring how much adventure is packed into a slim 150 pages. Oh yeah! There's a bit where the smoldering man sings 'Take me out to the hex caves' to the tune of 'take me out to the ball game.' Does it get any better than that? As for Craghold, however, I'm hooked! It has every gothic thing imaginable, sometimes all on one page - haunted hotel, supernatural moon glow, ghosts, sexy occultists, wealthy heirs, devil worshippers, spooky room service, and a hotel manager who's also a scholar on werewolves and vampires. Like any fad genre, I'm sure many books fitting this mold are terrible. Rumor has it, publishers demanded the eerie structures be painted thick and tall to imply phallic imagery. Otherwise known as 'women running from houses' books because every cover, regardless of author or publisher, featured an upscale woman fleeing a spooky building. The Craghold series is my first venture into the gothic romance novels of the 1960's and '70s.

The Craghold Crypt by Edwina Noone