Dark Obsession
Allison Chase
Signet, May 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451223876
In 1830 London, a nervous but ecstatic Nora Thorngoode looks forward to the showing of her Portrait of a Southward Madam at the Marshall Street Art Gallery. However, she and her outraged parents see a scandalous painting instead. Nora 's mentor artist Signore Alessio di Paolo tells her this is proof of his love for her and informs her parents they must marry. He father says she will be a wife and widow in seconds.
Grayson Lowell needs money for his dilapidated estate on Blackheath Grange. Though he loathes wedding the Paramour Painting model, he accepts her father 's terms. Nora has no say in the matter while wondering if her fianc killed his brother as rumored. They wed in a marriage of convenience, but Nora is attracted to her kindhearted spouse. That is until he takes her to his foreboding home on the Moors. There he becomes distant making her wonder if he did murder his sibling. However, she hears the whispers and sees the ghosts that only tickled his senses. She believes her beloved Gray is innocent and that the ghosts are begging her to prove he is and to uncover the real culprit.
This engaging late Regency gothic paranormal romance with a touch of amateur sleuth suspense will hook sub-genre fans once the newlyweds leave London; as Gray becomes a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Nora is fabulous as the innocent heroine who comes to live in the foreboding home with her dark beloved. DARK OBSESSION is an enjoyable historical.
Harriet Klausner.