Rating: 5/5
An ominous butterfly house. A sinister legacy. An untraceable killer.
In 1921, Marian Arnold, the heiress to a brewing baron's empire, seeks solace in the glass butterfly house on her family's Wisconsin estate as Prohibition and the deaths of her parents cast a long shadow over her shrinking world. When Marian's sanctuary is invaded by nightmarish visions, she grapples with the line between hallucinations of things to come and malevolent forces at play in the present. With dead butterflies as the killer's ominous signature, murders unfold at a steady pace. Marian, fearful she might be next, enlists the help of her childhood friend Felix, a war veteran with his own haunted past.
In the present day, researcher Remy Shaw becomes entangled in an elderly biographer's quest to uncover the truth behind Marian Arnold's mysterious life and the unsolved murders linked to an infamous serial killer. Joined by Marian's great-great-grandson, can Remy expose the evil that lurks beneath broken wings? Or will the dark legacy surrounding the manor and its glass house destroy yet another generation?
I received a free copy of Specters in the Glass House through Austenprose PR for a book tour. Thank you so much for this opportunity!
Just from the first sentence of the premise I couldn’t have been more excited to start this book! Especially after such an eerie read of Wright’s book, Night Falls on Predicament Avenue earlier this year. I found that book to be a beautifully creepy, dark, gothic historical mystery. So if this was anything like that, I knew I would be in for a treat!
And this did not disappoint! Just like Night Falls on Predicament Avenue, I was entranced from the very start. The very first line, “Death has always been fashionable” was just so chilling. I couldn’t help but want more. And the further I read, the more captivated I found myself being. I thoroughly enjoyed the two timelines we see as well, as we bounce between the 1920s and present day.
I especially loved to see the butterfly house. We get to see descriptions around this greenhouse built to home a variety of butterflies, both while it was flourishing with butterflies and in its decayed state from neglect. I loved seeing these details, I could envision this house easily in both states. I’ve always found butterflies beautiful and alluring. Since starting this blog, I’ve also discovered a mysteriousness that they can add to supernatural and mystery premises. And as we got to see more of this setting, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another favorite read, The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison, another ominous read with a butterfly house.
Another aspect I enjoyed was I felt this book had more spectral vibes than Night Falls on Predicament Avenue. I enjoyed this haunted house feeling we get in both our timelines. It sets us up for a truly thrilling gothic read. I simply couldn’t get enough. I needed to know what was gonna happen around this premise of a serial killer in our 1920s timeline.
If you enjoy historical mysteries with haunting vibes, you should definitely consider picking this one up!
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