I support gay rights, but above all, I support gay wrongs. From what I can tell, this is a debut, and it read a little clunky in certain parts - but if the result didn't end up being the perfect gothic dish of fear and apprehension, the dilapidated manor setting and psychosexual tension were exactly the right ingredients.

Marsden is an interesting protagonist, in that he is driven by his love for his boyfriend, who has recently fallen in WWI. While their relationship in and beyond the trenches was clearly abusive and his love interest treated him anything but well, he can't let go of him and sets out to investigate his family seat in Yorkshire. Taking on a new identity and desperately trying to disguise his feelings for lost Simon, he takes on a job as tutor for Simon's anxious teenage sister Alice. But, mysteriously, Alice's twin can never be found in the same room as her... and Marsden wakes to eerie screams echoing through the fire-striken house at night.

So I'm sure you can see where this is going, and it's not hard for anyone even marginally familiar with the gothic to guess, but I don't think everything about the Big Mystery was done badly. In fact, the pacing issues nonwithstanding (following the pattern of: Marsden has a disturbing dialogue with person A, Marsden discovers a new part of the estate, Marsden has a disturbing conversation with person B, Marsden discovers a new part of the estate etc.), I had a good time reading Midnight at Maidenstone Hall. The character work was wonderful, if a little over the top at times, and the protag's trouble with his own (bi)sexuality played into the genre very well.

In my opinion, Clare has what it takes to continue writing uncomfortable mysteries for a cozy autumn weekend, and I hope to see more of her in the future, perhaps with just a tiny bit less following the writing formula.

The setting is richly described, immersing readers in the atmospheric world of Maidenstone Hall. The characters are intriguing and well-crafted, with the protagonist’s journey being particularly engaging. The plot unfolds with a perfect balance of tension and intrigue, making it a delightful read for fans of historical fiction and mystery.

In an interesting twist on the popular Gothic novel trope, Midnight at Maidenstone Hall starts with the arrival ofMarsden Fisher, a veteran of the Great War, at Maidenstone Hall, the Yorkshire residence of the Earl of Scarborough and his family, to tutor Alice, the daughter of the house. What the family doesn’t know is that Fisher is using an assumed name and infiltrating the household to discover what happened to his lover Simon, Alice’s brother, who had gone home on leave and vanished, although the official story is that he was killed in action. In addition to the withdrawn, troubled Alice, who is really too old for a tutor, he finds a deeply unhappy family - a cold father, alcoholic mother, and Alice’s mysterious twin Beatrice, who is as sardonic and flirtatious as Alice is sad and immature. He also hears disturbing stories about Simon, implying that he was not the dashing hero Fisher had fallen in love with, but he still persists in his quest to discover the secrets of Maidenstone Hall and possibly save at least one member of the family as well as exorcising his own ghosts.

While this book was based on an intriguing premise, for me at least it did not succeed in the execution. I kept putting it down and going back to it to the extent that it took me several weeks tor finish, and unfortunately I didn’t feel the kind of emotional connection to the characters that I would like to have had, and there wasn't enough depth to them for my taste. What made Simon the way he was, or is he just supposed to be a "bad seed"? It does seem as if growing up in that family might have had an effect but given that his fate is the central mystery I wish it had been explored more, as well as Fisher's complicated feelings toward all three siblings. It looks like a debut novel, however, and I feel that the author does show promise and look forward to seeing what she does in the future.

I received a copy of Midnight at Maidenstone Hall from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very fun queering of the gothic-novel tradition. The atmospherics of the story are deft, absolutely in the gothic tradition, and marred by some typos that are, I hope, corrected by now. The aftermath of the Great War is underused by gothic storytellers as yet. May that channge after this.

Recommended, despite queer themes, for all audiences in search of a creepy read for #Deathtober.

I was disappointed by this book, and mostly because it was a fun read with a bad story that should’ve been a good one.

I don’t remember much of this one since I read it at the end of 2023 but I do know that I thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to try more by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Level Best Books for a copy of this book!
Set in 1919, Midnight at Maidenstone Hall follows Marsden Fisher (formerly Thomas Bäuerle) looking for answers on the disappearance of his lover Simon Falconer. Presumed dead by everyone, Marsden knows Simon was last seen at his home, Maidenstone Hall, before he was pronounced dead on the front. Wanting to know more Marsden takes up a position as tutor to Alice, Simon’s younger sister.
Very quickly Marsden realizes why Simon never spoke about his family. Alice and her twin Beatrice are constantly fighting, Lord Scarborough has a temper, Lady Scarborough is an alcoholic, and the entire staff is in on all the family secrets. The family home is half destroyed by fire and bankruptcy is imminent.
Alison Clare wrote a fantastic period piece/mystery/thriller. The characters were wonderful, I loved the slow unraveling of everyone’s secrets. Really fun read!

This was an intersting mystery with more twists than a rollercoast and just as wild a ride. I had it pretty much figured out near the end but the author still managed to surprise me.

In the spring of 1919, a young man assumes the alias of Marsden Fisher and travels to Maidenstone Hall, the Yorkshire country residence of the Earl and Countess of Scarborough, to tutor their daughter Alice. Searching for the truth about the death of his lover, Alice’s late brother Simon, Marsden arrives to find that nothing is as he expected it to be. The house has been half destroyed by fire, the family’s financial ruin is imminent, and only a small core of frightened but loyal servants remain to serve them.

Alice and her twin sister Beatrice are feuding so terribly that they cannot be in the same room together. It is clear the family is hiding a terrible secret and the lies surrounding Simon’s death convince Marsden to fear for his own safety. The longer he stays at Maidenstone, the more he fears the family will discover his true identity and his relationship with Simon, but Marsden cannot leave until he discovers the truth: about Simon, and the terrible screams that echo through the Hall at midnight.

Excellent. Dark and glittering thriller. Readers of all sorts will love this. Will be ordering for my library.

A good historical mystery with a touch of gothic. Well plotted, dark, highly entertaining.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is a hard one for me to rate. While I enjoyed the story overall, there are glaring flaws that make me wish the author had chosen a different route for the depictions of mental illness and LGBTQ characters.
Spoilers ahead.

I feel that it's interesting to show how love can distort a person's perception of character. But, to never really expand on that person outside of a few events and then the rest of the book villifies the character completely, it makes me question the reliability of the main character instead. If there was actually not really anything loving in the letters, why were they so deluded by them? I also expected that as an LGBTQ book, there would be a more conclusive exploration of Marsden's sexuality and circle back to how he previously had lamented to Alice he was incapable of having that heteronormative family but then just quickly accepted it. While I understand it was for her sake, since this is an LGBTQ book I expected there to be a bit more to round up that he loved her in a familial way or another method to make him at peace with his sexuality. But we're basically just left with, he lost everything and was destitute because he was immoral and sexually deviant for finding attraction in the same sex but now he has a wife and child and look how good his life is. Also the depiction of Simon, there being no clue to the reader of what he was capable of despite all the time Marsden had spent with him except one incident he kept bringing up, and one good thing he did for Marsden. I expected the memory of Simon saving Marsden in the trenches to be expanded on, whether to continue the delusion of how besotted Marsden was with Simon he saw the event more positively than it was or to show that a character can be multi-faceted and that maybe he was a better person when he was with Marsden. But no, there's really no way of redeeming Simon's character after the plot twist. Simon just felt too flat of a character with no real build up of how he could be charming yet clearly unbalanced in most of his interactions unless Marsden was really just distracted by how pretty Simon was the entire time. The book only having bad depictions of gay relationships and no resolution for that besides conform to society sour this narrative in the end with it's homophobic undertone.

The other main issue I had was of the depiction of multiple personality disorder. Honestly, I was surprised the doctor could even diagnose it for what it was considering the era. So at first I thought we were supposed to root for the doctor for understanding her condition but then it quickly became no getting a diagnosis is evil? And then the fact the book could never commit to if this was truly supernatural or psychological thriller made it feel like it's ok if you're being haunted by the ghost of your dead sister but god forbid you have a mental illness from an extremely traumatic event. Other than the implication she would get a lobotomy if she went, it felt weird the author didn't specify what the intentions of the doctor were for treatment. It made it seem like a very cartoonish 1900s scary doctor and he was just going to torture her for his own twisted fascination. But then his statements were often too knowledgeable about personality disorders to be that he didn't understand/respect her condition and couldn't help her. Also just the fact that she just wakes up and is instantly cured and now her life is so much better doesn't feel good towards people who really do have DiD or other mental illnesses.

Overall, were it not for the depictions of said matters, I would have really enjoyed this book. The dialogue could be a bit obvious that Marsden was asking too many questions and not being sneaky at all, but I still enjoyed the characters and the progression of story. I used the read aloud feature so I missed the typos other reviewers mentioned, but I feel like this author could really make something good if she stayed away from these more... homophobic/poor depictions of mental health.

This review may contain spoilers.

The (misleading!) premise of this book sounded perfect for me. At first, I thought it was going to be a case of “author made a solid plot, but didn’t write it well”. But I was sorely mistaken: while the writing was clumsy and the grammar was an inconsistent mess, the plot was also all of those things. Calling this derivative of tired gothic tropes would be an insult to those tired gothic tropes—instead, what I’ll call it is an ableist, homophobic, poorly constructed plot that relies on topics like incest, rape, and self-harm for what comes off as pure shock value while showing zero understanding of the gravity of those things. I try to be constructive in reviews of ARCs, but this entire book was wholly misrepresented and lost any chance of me being able to review it in such a way. If the way this author handled such sensitive subjects hadn’t already made me wary of ever picking up their work again, the misrepresentation of this book in its description and marketing would.

4 Stars! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. Even if it is a bit late.

Marsden Fisher was just trying to find out what actually happened to the man he loved and got thrown into a big ol' house full of big ol' secrets.

I will say, I had a theory about Beatrice and Alice but didn't come to the truth until only slightly before Marsden did. Well done on that!

I sped through the last half of the book, the last 20% being fully absorbed and unaware of my surroundings. The plot was interesting, the secrets were really fun to try to guess, and the characters, especially Marsden, were well fleshed out. All in all, a really fun read. The book is knocked down a full point because I feel like the Big Unhappy Part near the end could have been done a little better. Who was holding the gun, who got shot, who was hiding yet another secret. It all got a little bogged down.

This book would have been 4 stars if not for the subtle (blatant, actually) homophobic shit.

Good things first, I enjoyed the process of uncovering the mystery. I figured out a lot of the plot twists, but I personally don't view that as a sign of bad writing; rather I feel that it shows that the author planned the mystery in a manner that will make sense to the reader, instead of coming up with a plot twist that comes out of nowhere just to shock the reader. The writing is also accessible and enjoyable, and the atmosphere is chilling and adds to the gothic vibe of the story. The pacing was engaging and kept me interested in uncovering the mystery.

Moving on to the critiques (I'm going to do this from bad to worst):

I joked with my sister that reading this felt like playing a game, where you can control the character to walk up to the NPCs and spam the question prompts to get the answers you need before moving on. The main character asks a shit load of questions, just question after question in a single conversation, until the other characters point out that he's asking a lot of questions and the conversation ends. Almost every conversation in this book is like this. This is not a big issue and can be overlooked for the sake of the story.

This book also needs editing. There's a lot of typos that will presumably be fixed before the book comes out. There's also a big action scene at the climax, and the writing is weirdly stiff. It's very, this character did this. This character lunged at this character. This character fell to the ground. This character picked up an object. This character threw an object at this other character. The writing just took me out of what should have been a thrilling climax.

I have noticed that a few other reviews mentioned this, but I feel this bears repeating. Simon is portrayed as such a horrible character, with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He also leans into the negative bisexual stereotype of being a flirt who sleeps around (and also rapes people). He is completely vilified, with no explanation for why he is that way. Not that villains/antagonists/bad people in general deserve explanations for why they do bad things, but considering that the MC fell in love with this guy, surely there has to be a little more depth to this story than finding out that, surprise! Simon was a horrible person all along.

This leads into my next critique. This book is weirdly homophobic. I was initially under the impression that the MC is bi, because he feels attraction towards the twins. That is fine. Later, the narrative off-handedly mentions that the twins are the only women he has ever felt attraction to. Considering the fact that he was disowned by his father for being caught with another guy, and he considers his whole life and future being ruined because of that, you might think that he would have a reaction, or maybe some thoughts and feelings, towards discovering an attraction to women. He has none whatsoever. Ok man. This might be a side effect of bad writing but I don't think so. I think this was done with intent.

Spoilers below.
Earlier in the story, he talks about how his future has been ruined, and that all his life he wished he could be "normal" and get married and raise a family like everyone else. And the book ends with him getting married to Alice, and raising Alice's daughter as his own, and he is beyond thrilled about it. What kind of message does it send, that he discovers that his (male) lover is a horrible person and that he wasn't truly loved by him, and his happy ending is getting married to a woman and raising a baby. It could be argued that this message isn't intentional, that he's happy because he isn't broke anymore, which is partially true. "Marsden found he liked waking up warm and fed, and he very much liked having his own home and never having to scrounge for money." This is valid! Being poor sucks!!

But: "Marsden noticed the people around them stopping to stare, parting to watch him swan along the platform with his perfect family: his beautiful young wife and pretty daughter. He imagined they envied him-- the poor, lowly German, the social pariah. He, once disgusting and unnatural, now possessing what other men desired. His past, fears, and loneliness all evaporated in his wake as he succumbed to becoming the man society always wanted him to be. His father would have been proud." WTF??!!!? "once disgusting and unnatural" You mean gay. "he succumbed to becoming the man society always wanted him to be" I love heteronormativity!!! "His father would have been proud." His father, who disowned him after he caught him with a guy, and kicked him out with no resources and made him broke in the first place, would have been PROUD??!!?!

There's nothing wrong with the MC realising he's bi and marrying a woman, but turning around and shitting on being gay is not it. I'm not even sure he's bi, because the second he catches feelings for her, there's no more mention of him feeling attraction towards men.
Spoiler over.

Anyway, ignoring the homophobic shit, the ending also comes out of left field, and is just a completely different vibe from the rest of the book. Why would a gothic vibe murder mystery story end like that??? I wish the last 10 percent of this book was cut out.

There's more weird shit in this book, like looking at his now daughter and romanticising the way she resembles his dead ex (my brother in christ, she is a rape/incest baby), but I don't have time for that. Overall, book sucks, hire sensitivity readers, or just don't write about gay people ever again.

strong trigger warning for incest rape.

"when he closed his eyes, marsden could picture simon with astounding clarity: the breadth of his shoulders, the scent of his cologne, the way the wave of his blonde hair fell across his left eye when he laughed. he pictured simon's body beneath the soil, rotting and corrupted by earth and worms <...> no matter what he chose to do at this moment, he knew he was damned."

it's never a nice feeling to start a year with a let-down. unfortunately, "midnight at maidenstone hall" is the definition of interesting concept, lacking execution. the summary certainly piqued my interest – a young man with an alias arrives at an estate to work as a tutor for a girl who, as it happens, is the sister of his missing–presumed–dead lover, a fellow soldier he met as they fought in the great war.

while the mystery appears intriguing at first – what is the matter with alice and beatrice, what really happened to simon and why does everyone speak in hushed, upset tones about him – clare reveals her cards all too soon, especially with the pacing of the book. i guessed a few of the twist and was on the right track for a couple more – the problem is that they're revealed at around 60 percent mark of the story. you reach the pinnacle of the hidden truths and then have to trudge along for another hundred pages or so, painfully waiting for the story to wrap up. the latter half becomes very predictable, coming into some tropes that are glaringly obvious even to someone like me who hasn't read all that much gothic horror.

it's difficult to discuss the matter of queer rep in this book and its dubious shelving as "lgbtq+ lit" without getting into spoilers, but the crux of it is that while marsden is portrayed as a gay character, simon falls into certain negative stereotypes that gay men have been historically portrayed as (there's also the matter of such tropes beind applied to a character who's implied to be bisexual but let's save that can of worms for another time).

i wasn't fully sold on the writing style and use of language from the first few chapters – i love flowery language and it felt like some more flourish would've made the text more vibrant. the depiction of post-war britain did not feel very convincing to me, weakened further by the aforementioned writing style. but really, the errors throughout the text were the worst of it. my copy was an e-arc and while i hope that the errors were caught before the official release, they were so jarring it was hard to get into the text sometimes. from basic spelling errors, to mixing up the gender pronouns, to misspelling the names, to using what i assume to be the draft name of one character, to repetitive sentences and words – the whole text screamed for an editor's eye louder than alice screamed during her midnight bouts. it was also jarring how much american english spellings were used, especially given that the story is set in yorkshire and the author is australian.

overall, "midnight at maidenstone hall" struggles to be a ghost story, a psychological thriller, and a romantic tragedy, and, at the end of the day, fails at all three.

DNF at 74%.

Marsden Fisher wants to find out what happened to his lover, Simon Falconer, who supposedly died on the front. His last known whereabouts : Maidenstone Hall, his family's estate, which Marsden infiltrates in by taking up a position as a tutor for Simon's sister, Alice.

Alice is said to be unwell though no one will tell Marsden any more details about her condition. There's also Alice's twin, Beatrice who acts in strange ways and is definitely out to stir trouble. And then the frightening screams who resonate through the house as midnight strikes... Marsden quickly understands that the residents of Maidenstone Hall hide many secrets. But is he truly ready to uncover the truth?

I unfortunately DNFed this book because I felt I wasn't really engaged in the story though I did try. I found the plot a little too predictable but that usually isn't much of a problem for me. What bothered me is the fact that none of the characters were really interesting and I found it difficult to be invested in their story because of that. I also didn't understand them most of the time, and a lot of Marsden's actions felt a bit nonsensical and careless. There is a possibility that I misunderstood his character and making him this way was a deliberate choice, however I really found the whole of it a tad bit inconsistent and annoying.

The pacing is simultaneously slow and fast and it really surprised me to realize that at 74% into the book, there still wasn't much action to make the book really thrilling.

I still think this book could be a good fit for people looking for an easy read or something cosy but still mysterious.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy, all opinions are own.

Torn between a 3 or 4 star rating.
There's so many aspects of this book that I really liked (especially the writing and the atmosphere were incredibly good and nice to read). At the same time there are some aspects that I just couldn't look past. Namely the character of the lost brother is someone whose characterisation I would've liked to be seen more fleshed out and not just an accumulation of the worst person possible.
Furthermore the main character's ending just felt... off? Without wanting to spoil, I understood the logical reasoning to the decision but what the characters' true feelings about it were was simply missing and something that I really would have liked to see.

I was disappointed by this book, and mostly because it was a fun read with a bad story that should’ve been a good one. This author truly does have talent, and I look forward to seeing more of her work as she matures as a writer with her plotlines. I think she does a good job of developing characters and writing nice plot twists.

My main complaints:

(1) This is not a book that should be labeled as lgbtq. Just because the main character is gay (yet ends up married to a woman with no inclination of ever finding a man to love again) does not mean the book itself can be called lgbt. I also worry about applying the label of a rapist child-murderer to arguably the second most important gay male figure in the book. This book does not offer representation at all. I was already worried about the author being female and not in a gay relationship writing this book, and I feel those worries were not unwarranted.

(2) This story can’t decide if it wants to be a psychological thriller or paranormal mystery, and thus leans into both to achieve neither.
I would rather it leaned more paranormal, as the way an already heavily stigmatized mental illness is played out does not sit well with me as a reader. Additionally, the language used in the book describing this mental disorder is not accurate for the time frame.

I would not recommend this book, but I might recommend the author in the future. I would be willing to give her works another shot in the future if I hear good things.

I normally read romance novels, so this was out of my wheelhouse. But when I was younger, I loved mysteries, so I figured I would give this a try. There were some elements that I was able to predict, but others were a complete shock to me. It got a little spoopy at times (and I am a total wimp), but I still really enjoyed this book! No spoilers, but the little ending tease?? I loved.