I loved this book. I've always been a fan of gothic mysteries, particularly those with supernatural aspects. This book is set soon after the first World War.

Ruby Vaughn is an unusual heroine, who has not led a sheltered life. She had volunteered during the war, and has as much spiritual and emotional damage as the men who fought with guns and bayonets. She is not a virginal heroine; she has had lovers, both male and female. The war taught her that life was too short for waiting. She runs the bookstore owned by her 80-something year old employer and roommate.

Her best friend and lover had married a few years earlier, which had devastated Ruby. Tamsyn had written to Ruby a few months earlier, asking her to come see her. Ruby did not reply, but now her employer and roommate was asking her to take a box of books to the very town where Tamsyn lived with her husband and son at Penryth Hall.

The books were to be delivered to a man who was called the Pellar, part mystic and part physician to the people of the village. She agrees to stay at Penryth Hall overnight, and something unforeseen happens: Tamryn's unpleasant husband is found dead, and it is not a natural death. This nixes Ruby's plan to leave the next day - the authorities have requested all in the household to stay until they can be interviewed.

The Pellar to me was the most interesting character in the book, and I am very curious to read the next books in this series. I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher St. Martin's books/Minotaur via NetGalley, and voluntarily read and reviewed it.

Disgraced American heiress Ruby Vaughn lives in Devon, and works for an antiquarian bookseller, Mr. Owen. He's charming, and likes the youthful energy she brings to his business and his home (she lives in his large house, which doubles as his library/warehouse. Ruby also drinks to excess each night, in an effort to forget her bad dreams and grief.

Mr. Owen sends her back to the town where a former friend lives to make a large delivery of books to Ruan Kivell, a Pellar (healer+witch) that he knows. Ruby arrives, delivers the books, and despiteher misgivings, calls on an old friend, Tamsyn, whom Ruby had been ignoring for the last couple of years after Tamsyn married.

Ruby is reacquainted with Tamsyn's nasty husband, and the next morning awakens to news that Sir Edward is dead. Ruan, in his role as Pellar, is called in, along with the police. Ruby discovers that there is a curse known to follow Sir Edward's family, and the locals need the Pellar to inform them if the death was the result of this. Ruby scoffs, but this is serious to the locals, and Ruan takes his supernatural and healing abilities seriously.

Very quickly, Ruby decides that if people are going to rely on the supernatural, then she will investigate for hard evidence, so that the police don't look at Tamsyn as the prime suspect in her husband's murder.

Ruby is soon questioning townspeople, which turns violent for Ruby, as, being a stranger, it's easy to direct their anger and fear at her. Undeterred, and developing an odd and unsettling ability when in proximity to Ruan, Ruby presses on, uncovering old secrets and abuses, and eventually, the identity of the killer.


Ruby is generous to a fault, grieving, and unwilling to confront her feelings about her family, and why she is so angry that Tamsyn would choose to marry even though Ruby thoughtthey would spend the rest of their lives together. It's obvious to the reader what's going on, but Ruby prefers drowning herself in alcohol to acknowledging her feelings.

I liked how the author kept us intrigued by the connection between Ruan and Ruby. It's never explained, and even Ruan is unwilling to try to define it. This supernatural aspect of the story is subtle and minor enough that nothing is automatically solved by its existence, which I appreciated.

I liked the overall feel of the novel, from its overt, gothic setting, Ruby's messy and unrequited feelings, family curses, and the area's history of witchcraft. It makes for an enjoyable read with a likeable protagonist. And the way the author left a few things open at the end makes me wonder if we might see Ruby again, on another adventure. I'd read it.

Thank you to Netgalley and to St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Love a good Gothic. This harkens back to the favorites of Mary Stewart and Barbara Michaels. Very much enjoyed.

A Gothic mystery set in the 20s, The Curse of Penryth Hall is an atmospheric story set in the Cornish countryside. When Ruby visits her friend Tamsyn at her secluded estate, Tamsyn's husband is found dead and the town believes it is a family curse that killed him. Ruby and the town Pellar, Ruan, form a good partnership as they work together to figure out what really happened. The story has several twists and I did not see the ending coming. There is a lot about Ruby and her past that we still do not know. The author may have held back some of the information about her intentionally, but I was left wanting to know more about Ruby.

Thank you Minotaur and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

I was sold on the gothic nature of this book and wasn't disappointed in that manner. It was a quick moving narrative that kept my interest. I wasn't sold on all the characters - some were a bit on the unbelievable side, but on a minor scale - like dialogue quirks or motivations, and in other small ways. That said, I was glad I had the opportunity to read it and would read more from this author.

A little slow in places and a little hard to follow, hopefully final edits will provide plot point clarity and syntax; it got a little clunky.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Really loved this book, and I am hoping this becomes a series. I would gladly delve back into this world. It isn't often that I find such an atmospheric book that I can truly escape into and feel as if I was there.
I loved Ruby so much, she is very willful and it is wonderful to see bi representation. Mr. Owen seems to be a bit of a trickster, and I love that she has found family even if it came about from really awful circumstances.
I cannot help but swoon over Ruan. I would love to know more about him, but maybe part of the charm is the mystery.
I am happy to report that I didn't have it all figured out before the unveiling of the mystery. It was a bit complicated, but it all made sense in the end and I was pretty surprised by the outcome.

I started Jess Armstrong's The Curse of Penryth Hall with a bit of trepidation. "Uh oh," I thought, "this is looking perilously close to Mexican Gothic, but in England." As in Moreno-Garcia's novel, an heiress goes to a secluded estate to see a friend who married an old-money a-hole and wrote a cryptic letter about making a mistake. Fortunately, Armstrong takes this gothic opening and makes it her own. Ruby Vaughn, the novel's protagonist, is very similar to Moreno-Garcia's Noemi - wealthy, stubborn, confrontational - but when the stories diverge, so do they.

Very shortly after arriving at Penryth Hall, Ruby notices something is wrong with her friend Tamsyn. Before she can really ask what's going on, Tamsyn's husband is found dead. The town and the Pellar, the handsome and enigmatic Ruan, worry the curse is back. As more and more mysterious and deadly events occur, Ruby works with Ruan to keep the town safe.

The novel is fun and fast-paced (if my 1-day read time is anything to judge by) toying with gothic conventions. The Curse of Penryth Hall is set int he 1920s, so Armstrong has also positioned herself to work inside that Golden Age of Detective Fiction in sequels that I feel confident must be coming.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

Ruby Vaughn is a heroine to root for, and I enjoyed the way she got herself into one predicament after another. The story is rich with gothic atmosphere, and the mystery surrounding her friend Tamsyn is compelling.

I enjoyed Ruby very much as the main character, she was smart, capable, and flawed. loved the relationship between Ruby and Mr. Owen most of all and enjoyed the way Ruby interacted with most of the other minor characters. The story moved along well but at times I felt like there was something obvious happening in front of my face that I couldn't quite figure out. It was an intriguing story and at times I felt we had a twist to only twist again to then take another twist and I couldn't quite remember where we had started or where we had ended up.

The Curse of Penryth Hall is the perfect blend of historical fiction and folklore. Lush descriptions of the Cornish countryside bring images of King Arthur, Pride and Prejudice, and Outlander - I was instantly transported. I lived for the banter between Ruby and Ruan. Their unwitting partnership was by far my favorite part.

I used to play those Nancy Drew computer games as child/teenager by Her Interactive (let’s be honest…I still play them) and the atmosphere and story reminded me so much of Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor. I loved seeing the parallels between two plots. This story had the perfect gothic atmosphere and the twists and turns kept me furiously turning the pages. The ending was so unexpected and so perfect. While the story wraps up, the ending leaves room for a sequel. I really hope we get more Ruby and Ruan!

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and St. Martin’s Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC!!

This book was so enjoyable, I read it one sitting!!

Thanks to NetGalley for complimentary ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I started this book and quickly found myself confused. The man in character alluded to past scandals but didn’t elaborate. She talked about having a past, internet friendship with Tamsyn but didn’t elaborate. She mentioned a connection to the area around Penryth Hall but didn’t elaborate. She has strong feeling about Tamsyn’s husband but - your guessed it - she didn’t elaborate.

I found the missing exposition so aggravating that I set the book aside. Perhaps I’ll try again another time.

A brilliant historical whodunnit!
Ruby is a free spirited heiress who lives on gin and good times. An evening spent with an old friend in a small Cornish village takes a horrific turn when the friends husband is found murdered. Ruby becomes detective to prove he was killed by a human and not by the family curse. Alongside the Pellar, Ruby finds herself fighting for her own survival and digging deep into her past and psyche to find the answers.
I would love to be like Ruby, stubborn and independent, funny and a good friend. There are twists galore and you never know who is going to turn up hurt or worse. The way it ended, suggests another book in the series. Looking forward to reading that one.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, Jess Armstrong and Netgalley for granting me an advance copy of this book in return for my honest opinions.

Loved the historical setty for this mystery novel. Very unique, but perfect. I also like the bookstore setting. Ruby was such a great character.

Overall, the book was good, the characters, plot and setting were good! In my opinion the book was very well written.

I enjoy the story and would buy a copy for myself and a friend. That is what it is about!

Highly recommend.

Definitely an intriguing read! It took me a while to get into this one, but once I was a few chapters in, I couldn’t put it down. The mix of logical and magical was unique and made for a fun storyline. I enjoyed Ruby as a character- she reminded me of an alcohol loving Nancy Drew in the best way!
I will recommend this to friends for sure!

I enjoyed The Curse of Penryth Hall, set in post WWI in a mall Welsh Village. The gloomy manor home, the storms rumbling through, the suspicious villagers, and above all the Welsh legends and curses possibly coming to life all join together for an atmospheric mystery. Ruby’s story unfolds in bits of conversations and her memories, an heiress who pretends to be tough, but is nursing a broken heart. She tries to convince herself that the legends are just that, but there is a bit of doubt when she and the local witch get closer. She’s promised her old friend and lover to protect her son from what, or whoever has already committed at least one murder so she’s drawn into helping to solve it, putting herself at danger.
Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur for an eARC, I’m hoping this is just the first story of many about Ruby, Ruan, Mr. Owens and Mrs. Penrose, what will happen next on their trip to Scotland?

The Curse of Penryth Hall was entertaining. A book delivery turns into a nightmare with intriguing twists and turns. Just when you think you the plot is clear the reader has to reset and take time to rethink. The concept of a “pellar” is intriguing and thought provoking sending me off to discover a whole new world. I can’t imagine that this is 5e end of the relationship between our two main characters. I want more!

Penryth Hall is an unsettling place, ancient and long rumored to be cursed. A place that Ruby Vaughn should know well enough to avoid. A place that she should avoid even when her elderly employer turned housemate sends her on a delivery to a village deep in the Cornish countryside, deep in the shadow of Penryth Hall. But, despite herself, Ruby cannot forget her affection for Tamsyn, her once love and formerly closest friend. Cannot bring herself to leave after being invited to visit, despite the history and the pain and a truly, horribly awkward dinner with Tamsyn’s husband, Edward Chenowyth. Late in the night Ruby is wakened from a dark and bloody dream by the bells of Penryth Hall ringing for the first time in thirty years. The curse has returned. Edward is dead, slaughtered in the orchard. If the villagers are right the next target will be Tamsyn, the curse will take her as it did Edward, and that is something Ruby cannot allow. Not even if it means working with the mysterious man the villagers call a Pellar and trusting that he might have the power to truly break this curse.

I find my opinions on Jess Armstrong's The Curse of Penryth Hall a bit all over the place. The writing is solid, but often feels oddly loose. Like the connective tissue has gone a bit slack. The mystery moves at a good clip, but also seems a bit directionless, as though the reader is meant to be following Ruby rather than trying to put clues together themself.

A big chunk of this comes with Ruby's interactions with Tamsyn, her friend and former lover, the woman who both abandoned her and called her back to Penryth Hall. There are all these moments of Ruby thinking to herself that she hardly recognizes the woman Tamsyn has become. Scenes where I could all but feel the Dutch angle as the tension built high and heavy, but not on a terribly solid base. Armstrong clearly wanted to have this tension between Ruby and Tamsyn, these two people who still love each other but who could not make it work, who perhaps never really knew each other. The tension lacks legs though. Ruby getting panicked because of ill-defined reasons feels as flat as Tamsyn invoking their shared past and how Ruby never understood her.

Likewise, there were a number of other plot points that just felt dropped. The mysterious woman seeking out Ruan Kivell, the town Pellar, he who has the people's trust. A bit with Ruby wondering out into a specific moor. The particularly dangerous book that was part of the delivery that brought Ruby to Lothel Green in the first place. They all feel like they were supposed to have more purpose in the story, but instead it feels like they were edited out. Maybe they will show up again in a future Ruby Vaughn story. The big reveal at the end also feels like it falls here, I can look back and kind of see it but it relies on a gothic horror trope that just does not work for me.

And this all feels like quite a shame because I rather enjoyed the characters, Ruby especially. There is something rather interesting about her blend of desperate disbelief in the supernatural and her rather more natural feeling embrace of science. She feels like she is afraid of what it means if she lets herself believe in the abnormal, in the implications of what it means if the baronet's death really is a curse rather than a nice reasonable murder. The push and pull of her feelings towards other characters is nice too. That whole trusting Ruan while also refusing to believe any of the Pellar stuff beyond that people believe in and listen to him. Her love and hurt and worry for Tamsyn. It is a lovely mash of contradictions. Ruby is clever and willing to trust and work with people to get the job done. She has this tragic backstory with social indisgressions and loss and work as a frontline ambulance driver during the war. It all leaves me wishing she had been given a bit more room to put things together earlier on.

I find myself really wishing I had enjoyed The Curse of Penryth Hall more. It was the sort of book that I mostly enjoyed in the course of reading it but then, between the last few chapters and thinking about it after finishing it, I found myself settling into a sort of funk of frustration with the whole thing. Armstrong is a solid enough writer, and I will likely read her again in the future. But The Curse of Penryth Hall gets a two out of five from me, lots of potential and some really interesting moments but overall, there were just too many points that just did not quite work out.

If you like ghosts, curses and Pellars. Then The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong is the book for you. Set in the the time of Sirs, heirs blood and curses this book held many different feelings for me.
Ruby Vaughan was sent away to live away from her family because of her wild ways. Lets say Ruby would be a suitable wife with the way she is behaving. Off to find her way to Mr. Owens a lovely old man with books upon books of many different subjects. One day he had asked Ruby to deliver some books to a friend of his, a so called healer. The problem was this task would bring her to the Cornish countryside which does not hold great fondness for Ruby. While she is doing this errand for Mr. Owens Ruby thinks of her friend Tamsyn who is married to Sir Edward Chenowyth and who resided in Penryth Hall a place that holds not great memories for Ruby.

Once Ruby delivers these books to Ruan Kivell she decides to visit her friend to possibly sort out what caused the rift in their friendship. This little visit turns into a time of uncertainty for Ruby and brings her into the fold of the Penryth Hall Curse and who this Ruan Kivell really is. Ruby doesn't really believe in curses but she does see the change in her old friend and the bloodshed and hurt that follows Ruby while she is in Cornwall.

What and who are behind the murder of Sir Edward Chenowyth, the attacks of villagers within Cornwall. What does Ruby and Mr. Kivell have to do with it all. What journey will they go on to find out if there really is a killer or is the curse true? Everyone in town thinks the curse is for real because many of Sir Edwards family have met the same death as he did. So what of his wife and their son fate? Will Ruby and Mr. Kivell survive trying to find out the truth.

I do love a good mystery. My problem with this story was that I myself got confused with the characters. There were times when to much was happening and I was confused and had to refer back in the story. I did find the characters very interesting. The friendship between Ruby and Tamsyn even though they had the rift between I liked that Ruby wanted to find out what really happened to Tamsyn after she married Sir Edward. Plus I really liked the character of Ruan Kivell. He was mysterious and i wanted to know more about him.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and Ms. Armstrong for a very interesting story. I would recommend this to anyone who loves the tales of ghosts, curses and murder.