Mist of Midnight - Sandra Byrd

Mist of Midnight

Sandra Byrd

Howard Books, Mar 10 2015, $14.99

ISBN: 9781476717869

In 1858, Rebecca Ravenshaw grieves the loss of her missionary parents Sir Charles and Constance Ravenshaw killed during a Mutiny.  Accompanied by her newly hired chaperone Mrs. MacAlister, she leaves Bombay to return to her homeland England for the first time in two decades.  A couple of months later in England, Rebecca meets with her father’s solicitor Walter Hightower, but he and others think she is a cruel charlatan as the real Rebecca recently committed suicide at the family estate Headbourne; even her companion doubts who she is.  She also learns that a stranger Captain Luke Whitfield has taken residence at her family estate.

Highmore interrogates her and says the London Missionary Society will send someone in a few months to prove the preposterous imposter’s claim is false.  Whitfield allows Rebecca to stay at Headbourne until he assumes her scam is exposed.  The staff treats her with contempt and incidents targeting Rebecca begin happening.  Falling in love with her host who she fears might have killed the fake and soon her too, the beleaguered Rebecca turns to the Lord and her late mom for comfort and guidance. 

Mist of Midnight is an exhilarating Gothic romantic suspense.  The impact on the three-dimensional heroine by the identity theft is brilliantly executed as Sandra Byrd authors a taut Victorian thriller.

Harriet Klausner