For anyone who has read other Victoria Holt novels, this might seem repetitive. I am not going to pretend that her books aren't generally all the same plot for the most part, or that this particular book doesn't follow that beaten path almost scene by scene, but I will say that this is probably my favorite of all the ones I have read. The characters are compelling, the mystery is captivating, the decoy villain is almost believable (I read this book as a child, maybe 15 years ago or so, and I still almost fell for it when reading just now). The main character seems to me to possibly be autistic, especially in her deep desire to info dump all the time about her special interest, and how hard she has to hold herself back and remind herself that, as her father used to tell her, "those who share your interest, will already know this, and those who do not, will find it dreadfully boring." I find the romance subplot believable for once, especially with the way in which he listens to her infodumps and eagerly asks questions.

The only negative thing I can say about this book, is that it is repetitive of the author's usual plot points, and anyone who has read more than one Victoria Holt novel will likely be able to predict a lot of things - but then again, anyone who reads more than two Victoria Holt novels is probably expecting this and will still read them, so perhaps it is not actually a negative.

I loved the book as a child, and to my surprise it still holds up today.