Carol Goodman has long been one of the masters of gothic fiction and came out of the gates at the beginning of her career with two of the finest novels I have ever read in that genre: THE LAKE OF DEAD LANGUAGES and THE SEDUCTION OF WATER. They were so infused with mystery, ancient lore and suspense that it called to mind Donna Tartt’s THE SECRET HISTORY.

Decades later, Goodman is still at the top of her game, which is well evident in her latest release, RETURN TO WYLDCLIFFE HEIGHTS. Set in the area where she currently lives, New York’s haunted and beautiful Hudson Valley, this story has all the elements that made her earlier works sing so strongly.

At its heart, the book is about reopening the past and looking at it with a new light and a heavy dose of truth as much as it is about remembering the lost girls it depicts throughout. Goodman has stated that she always immerses herself in the voice of her narrator. As such, the narrator here is a young publicist working at a small publisher in NYC that has seen better days. Her name is Agnes Corey, and her employer for the past three months, Gatehouse Books, is in financial straits. She has just been informed that she will be paid for the week but will be let go as part of necessary budget cuts.

"RETURN TO WYLDCLIFFE HEIGHTS is an absolute pleasure to read and delivers on all expectations. Carol Goodman also throws in more than a couple of mega twists I did not see coming that sends the narrative into uncharted territory."

For her most recent assignment, Agnes had to pore through the reader mail for author Veronica St. Clair, whose 1993 bestseller The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights had been a huge hit for the publishing house. She must take out the negative communication or any demand for St. Clair to write a sequel. Regrettably, St. Clair lost her sight at her manor in Wyldcliffe Heights and never wrote another word. Many called her book autobiographical with more than a little resemblance to classic feminine fiction like Jane Eyre. Since Agnes is on her way out, she figures it can do no harm to stick in her own note with the recent packet of mail where she requests that St. Clair consider a follow-up to her all-time favorite novel.

When her publisher, Kurtis Chadwick, learns what Agnes did, he hears from St. Clair. Agnes fears that she may have destroyed her chances of getting a positive job recommendation and is surprised when Kurtis tells her that she is to stay on with Gatehouse for special projects. First, she must relocate to Wyldcliffe Heights and work with St. Clair as her amanuensis, manually taking down what she dictates by way of a sequel. Kurtis hopes this could be the book that saves Gatehouse.

Agnes signs an NDA that includes specifics about how confidential this work must be and heads up to the Hudson Valley. She arrives at the huge estate, which is quite intimidating and bears the appearance of a classic haunted property. She is greeted by Laeticia, an extremely creepy maid and head of the household. Agnes took time to read up on this site and learned that it was the actual location of the fire that injured St. Clair, as well as the infamous murder/hanging involving the woman known as Red Bess, who residents claim still haunts the estate.

Agnes meets with St. Clair, who is everything she expected, and they work out time for their first dictation session. The only other residents on the estate are Laeticia and a young man, Peter Syms, a descendant of generations of Syms who have taken care of the property. Agnes must take dictation by hand and then transcribe via an old typewriter. Gatehouse sneaks her a laptop and iPhone, where she is instructed to capture and download each day’s work and send it on so they can begin preparing the copy-editing phase for this hugely anticipated novel.

St. Clair decides to tell the story as a prequel, where readers will learn what led up to the gothic adventures of Violet; Dr. Edgar, her father and manager of the estate; Red Bess; and other friends and colleagues. Dr. Edgar ran the estate like a women’s psychiatric home and was rumored to have conducted some odd tests involving everything from hypnosis to past life regression. As the story is dictated, Agnes attempts to figure out if St. Clair is actually Violet. If that’s the case, then this is not a work of fiction at all, which means the murders and fire were actual crimes that need to be solved.

RETURN TO WYLDCLIFFE HEIGHTS is an absolute pleasure to read and delivers on all expectations. Carol Goodman also throws in more than a couple of mega twists I did not see coming that sends the narrative into uncharted territory. For fans of the author or newcomers who enjoy gothic mysteries, this is not to be missed.