#Dark Observations by Catherine Cavendish

It's my turn on the BlogTour Dark Observations by Catherine Cavendish.

About the Author

Hello, my name's Catherine Cavendish and I write horror fiction - frequently with ghostly, supernatural, Gothic and haunted house themes.

My latest novel - In Darkness, Shadows Breathe - is published by Flame Tree Press. Carol and Nessa are strangers with one thing in common, they are in the hands of an entity that knows no boundaries and crosses dimensions - bending and twisting time itself - where danger waits in every shadow

My latest novella - The Malan Witch - is now out from Silver Shamrock Publishing. An idyllic cottage on the Atlantic coast hides dark and deadly secrets. Once, two evil witches lived there. Now one has returned...

Also, from Flame Tree Press - The Garden of Bewitchment. Historical haunted Gothic horror set in the wilds of the Yorkshire moors - pure Bronte country - with a Bronte theme. And - The Haunting of Henderson Close. Ghostly horror set in Edinburgh's Old Town.

Available now from Kensington-Lyrical - the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy: Wrath of The Ancients, Waking the Ancients and Damned bu the Ancients - set in Egypt and Vienna and featuring the sinister Dr. Emeryk Quintillus whose obsession has stayed with him long past the grave.

My novellas The Darkest Veil, Cold Revenge, Miss Abigail's Room, The Demons of Cambian Street, Dark Avenging Angel, Linden Manor, The Devil Inside Her and The Second Wife are published by Crossroad Press.

My novels The Devil's Serenade and Saving Grace Devine have also been released in new editions by Crossroad Press, as has my novel of the Lancashire Witches - The Pendle Curse.

I live with a long-suffering husband and a delightful black cat who has never forgotten that her species used to be worshipped in ancient Egypt. She sees no reason why that practice should not continue. Who am I to argue?

When not slaving over a hot computer, I enjoy wandering around Neolithic stone circles and visiting old, haunted houses. Visit catherinecavendish.com

About the book

Eligos is waiting…fulfil your destiny - 1941. In the dark days of war-torn London, Violet works in Churchill's subterranean top secret Cabinet War Rooms, where key decisions that will dictate Britain’s conduct of the war are made. Above, the people of London go about their daily business as best they can, unaware of the life that teems beneath their feet.

Night after night the bombs rain down, yet Violet has far more to fear than air raids. A mysterious man, a room only she can see, memories she can no longer trust, and a best friend who denies their shared past... Something or someone - is targeting her.

Review

This is the perfect example of when you forget what genre you're reading and suddenly the flame tree aspect comes creeping in, ergo the obscure and horror element. The moments of evil you can sense lurking behind the doors, curtains and sometimes they just stand there bold as brass.

When Violet returns to London with her daughter and granddaughter she flits from being overcome with emotion, as she remembers long since forgotten moments of her past, to being frozen with fear and horror. Sometimes doors to the past should be left closed for a reason.

As a young woman Violet is plucked from a typist pool and becomes part of a small group who get to work with some of the most powerful men in the country. Perhaps that makes her a target for a group of individuals that are more than they appear, and the fact she is considered vulnerable and easy to manipulate. Spies are everywhere and they are willing to do anything to change to course of the war - if they are your bog-standard spies that is.

The author combines the emotional nostalgia of family relationships, the trauma and simultaneous joy of the return to the past, and of course the inexplicable. Drawing on magical realism and giving it a more nefarious angle, and then taking it one step further into another genre altogether.

Buy Dark Observations at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press pub date 13 Sept. 2022. Buy at Amazon com. Buy via Flame Tree Press.