One of Peggy Gaddis' later novels first published in hardcover in 1964 by Arcadia for the library market and it recycles numerous themes from her earlOne of Peggy Gaddis' later novels first published in hardcover in 1964 by Arcadia for the library market and it recycles numerous themes from her earlier novels. Nurse Lindsay puts her hospital career on hold to return to the bayou to care for her ailing Aunt Jennifer who had—spitefully—raised her after Lindsay's parents were killed in a fishing boat accident. Lindsay is the typical sassy Gaddis protagonist readers want to root for, but it is mean Aunt Jennifer, wheelchair confined and using her words like a cattle-prod, who steals every scene she is in. The verbal jousting between Lindsay and Jennifer are the high points. The low being the three dolts pursuing Lindsay: a doctor, a journalist, and a bayou guide. The nurse romance plot, and I won't spoil the outcome, demands that she end up with one of these guys, although to Gaddis' credit, Lindsay isn't really interested in any of them for almost the entire book. So that's the tension that keeps this one moving. Less developed is the mystery of why the journalist is sniffing around the bayou. That plot point is teased a lot but barely pursued until some thin gruel of criminal activity is surprisingly introduced to spur the novel's conclusion. It's the story not told that if it had been would have elevated this one considerably. There's a Valentine paperback edition with the title Strange Shadows of Love which tries to make this seem like a gothic novel. It isn't. Not one of Gaddis' best....more
Repetitious and repetitious. With that said, we follow nurse Poppy as she wrestles with the decision of whether to return to the clinic in her small GRepetitious and repetitious. With that said, we follow nurse Poppy as she wrestles with the decision of whether to return to the clinic in her small Georgia home town or to stay in glamorous Miami Beach. And which of the two men in love with her will she choose? Handsome Dr. Harper or pop idol Nicky Farrell? All three of these characters are emotionally high strung, so that at least keeps the narrative pinging from emotional high to low with ricochets everywhere in between. If it were half as long it would have a made a tight if predictable novella. Instead we have sixty pages of repetition and that makes a boring novel. True to the formula, you know how this ends before it starts....more
The story of three nurses all in love with the doctors they work with. Formulaic and soap opera-ish in plot and delivery. The kids say "gee" and "gollThe story of three nurses all in love with the doctors they work with. Formulaic and soap opera-ish in plot and delivery. The kids say "gee" and "golly." Spoiler alert: the happiest of happy endings. Dern/Gaddis wrote many better than this....more
So this turned out to be a quite surprising novel. I was expecting a typical nurse/doctor romance novel and it is actually more in the gothic bucket wSo this turned out to be a quite surprising novel. I was expecting a typical nurse/doctor romance novel and it is actually more in the gothic bucket with a creepy old plantation house and a hysterical young woman running through the woods in a nightgown. But wait! Is that a sasquatch roaming the woods in this 1956 novel? Yes it would seem so, to say more would introduce a spoiler. Suffice to say this monster lurking in the woods really juiced the plot. The other plot point is will the nurse/doctor romance materialize. Well nurse Beth Mason, by her own admission has a "prickly personality" and doctor Cary Latham is just assigned to this backwater until he works off his debt. House calls back then at $2 per visit! Will the doctor and nurse fall for each other? Will the nurse dump her lawyer boyfriend? Will the doctor fall for the hysteric in the nightgown who frolics with the sasquatch on the beach under the moonlight? Read on. Peggy Gaddis delivers in this one....more
First disappointing Gaddis/Dern/etc. that I've read. Another willful nurse choosing between two men. The doctor-suitor characterization is really bad First disappointing Gaddis/Dern/etc. that I've read. Another willful nurse choosing between two men. The doctor-suitor characterization is really bad and the schoolteacher-suitor isn't much better. These guys are dolts. The doctor, unfortunately for the plot, exits stage left way before the end. Speaking of the ending, it comes much too easy. The only excitement here is the tasty manipulation games played by our nurse's rival as she tries to steal away the schoolteacher. On a positive note, some good descriptions of the everglades and a couple of feisty patients who have the best dialog in the novel....more
When this book was added to Goodreads it was listed under Peggy Dern. The cover by-line and copyright on this one is Peggy Gaddis. Originally publisheWhen this book was added to Goodreads it was listed under Peggy Dern. The cover by-line and copyright on this one is Peggy Gaddis. Originally published in hardcover in 1953 by Arcadia with the title Moon of Enchantment. Gaddis by-line then, too. Deciding which name to go with gets confusing with Gaddis/Dern books because of her extensive use of psuedos. Some of her books were republished three or four times, each time with a different pseudo. Sometimes same title, sometimes different.
We have a kind of mystery set-up here. Julia Blake takes on the job of a "Special" nurse to a man who has been beaten into a coma. He has a rich benefactor, Alice Jerome, and before we know it Julia is living in Alice's Palm Beach mansion along with Alice, attorney/gopher Kent (the love interest), and spoiled-brat-inheritor-in-waiting Isobel. The mystery is who beat coma-man and why? Gaddis, however, was not adept at mystery plotting so it becomes a background concern . Secrets are the real driver of this plot. Everyone has one and is sharing with some characters but not others. That's the essential tension that moves the story forward. Romance is percolating, but muted, mostly verbal jousting. Ultimately the mystery angle completely fizzles out and is never answered, including leaving a major plot thread completely ignored. The book ends with a going-through-the-motions romance and marriage. Spoiler, yeah it's Julia and Kent. And yes, they get the big inheritance, too.
Overall, this was unsatisfying. The more interesting parts of the story are tossed aside and the romance that takes its place is unconvincing and unexciting. Julia Blake is not your typical strong Peggy Gaddis protagonist and having a weak lead makes this a somewhat boring ride. More narrative and descriptive passages in this one compared to other Gaddis books I've read. The dialog, usually a Gaddis strength, is decidedly less snappy, and the character's all sound quite similar.
This is the same book as the Peggy Gaddis by-lined "Settlement Nurse" and "Heiress Nurse."This is the same book as the Peggy Gaddis by-lined "Settlement Nurse" and "Heiress Nurse."...more
Although the ending, as is fairly typical of this genre, wrapped up in the happiest of happy endings in an almost saccharine way, I enjoyed this quickAlthough the ending, as is fairly typical of this genre, wrapped up in the happiest of happy endings in an almost saccharine way, I enjoyed this quick and easy read because Andrea Drake is another of Gaddis' strong and will full characters and it was fun to follow her path. From the beginning she is going against the grain and everyone's advice with her head high and this continues until the page count and the plot formula required this one to end with everyone singing her praises.
With more than 200 novels published by the time this one appeared in 1959 (originally published in hardback by Arcadia for distribution to libraries), Gaddis was in full command of her craft. The dialog is especially good, with many biting back and forth conversations advancing the story by using "exposition as ammunition." Each character's personality comes though in their dialog and that makes it fun to read. The action starts in the middle, the pace is brisk, and the back story is slow to come in and done artfully. And unlike a lot of Gaddis novels, they don't all fall in love at the beginning. Instead that comes at a rush in the end, which made the flow of the story (until the easy ending), more believable.
There is a Large-type edition titled "Heiress Nurse." I just added the one with the Peggy Gaddis byline, but goodreads also has a "Heiress Nurse" by Peggy Dern. These are the same book....more
The more of these I read I can see why Peggy Gaddis was so popular. The plot and its complications teasing out and pulling through. Conflicted charactThe more of these I read I can see why Peggy Gaddis was so popular. The plot and its complications teasing out and pulling through. Conflicted characters in conflict with each other. And another smart and willful nurse protagonist to root for. Genie Hayes is fun character, gets her nose into everything. At one point the doctor tells her she has loose lips for an RN. But she keeps the important secret that the plot revolves around. Ultimately not much happens in the novel other than a lot of verbal jousting, which was enjoyable as for as it went. More action and this would have been a better book. And, oh, how quickly they all fall in love!...more
Excellent writing and characterization. Medical parts done well, particularly the emergency room surgery scene. Evocative descriptions. Good use of boExcellent writing and characterization. Medical parts done well, particularly the emergency room surgery scene. Evocative descriptions. Good use of body language to suggest emotional/psychological states. Strong plot with enough conflicts to keep things interesting. Pitch perfect happy ending that this genre usually requires including the bad actors getting what they deserved as well. Plenty of foreshadowing of the big event (a tsunami), my only complaint being that we didn't really get to experience the tidal waves because the protagonists were already on high-ground, where they were well-positioned to treat the injured in the aftermath. There were a couple of noir-ish side plots that I would have liked to have seen teased out more, which would have put our nurse protagonist in more danger, that's really all that was lacking....more
Ok, I'm pushing this one again. It's Peggy Gaddis at her sublimely darkest. I still have about 150 of her 250 books left to read but it is hard to imaOk, I'm pushing this one again. It's Peggy Gaddis at her sublimely darkest. I still have about 150 of her 250 books left to read but it is hard to imagine one of those topping Man-Crazy Nurse. It's going to be in my top-ten noir novels, for sure. Awesome nurse noir! (Peggy was having a dark time —thankfully for us!) Originally published in 1954 by Croydon in digest form and marketed as a romance. But there's no happy ending romance in this one, it's seriously dark all the way to the nihilistic ending. The cover art and jacket copy of this Pyramid edition was clearly aimed at sleaze readers, and there are a few sex scenes, but this is noir all the way. Arline Grayson is a highly respected nurse at a hospital until she is unable to resist the charms of Dr. Blaine Christopher, a known skirt-chaser. She quits the hospital to become a private duty nurse so that she won't have to work with and be tempted by Dr. Christopher any more. She is shocked to discover, however, that he's the doctor of the patient on her first private assignment. He's a sleaze-ball and specifically requested her. The slippery slope begins when he takes her to a seedy hotel. Her desire is greater than her disgust and she loses a bit of herself in the process. She disintegrates progressively in classic noir fashion as she makes one mistake after the other and utterly destroys her life via mostly self-inflicted wounds. Although Dr. Christopher is a stunningly good homme-fatale and helps things along by getting her black-balled from private nursing. No more spoilers from me. Great book!...more
The plot had potential but this is poorly written on just about every level. The title and the cover text have nothing to do with anything in the bookThe plot had potential but this is poorly written on just about every level. The title and the cover text have nothing to do with anything in the book....more
Exceedingly chaste even by 1962 standards. The adults all sound like children. But a nicely plotted quick read with a hurricane bringing all the plot Exceedingly chaste even by 1962 standards. The adults all sound like children. But a nicely plotted quick read with a hurricane bringing all the plot points to a conclusion....more
Gil Brewer is one of my favorite crime/noir writers and late in his career, writing as Elaine Evans, he wrote four gothic novels, of which Shadowland,Gil Brewer is one of my favorite crime/noir writers and late in his career, writing as Elaine Evans, he wrote four gothic novels, of which Shadowland, published in 1970, is the only one I've been able to find and read. Brewer fully delivers on the gothic atmosphere and paranoia and that is the best part of this novel. Fast-paced action scenes were always a strength of Brewer's and there are plenty of them here, too, usually with the protagonist running, which is another gothic trope Brewer nails. And he also showcases his scenic abilities with a lot of set-piece verbal confrontations between characters. The challenge is that Brewer makes a less than minimal attempt to guide the reader through a plot that doesn't make any sense. Lacking even a skeleton of a story as support, atmosphere and action alone fail to hold this novel together. It's an interesting read for Brewer collectors and completists, but my recommendation doesn't go beyond that....more
The uneven quality of the writing - prose that lapses at times into cliches and extended expository telling - had me speed reading a fair amount of thThe uneven quality of the writing - prose that lapses at times into cliches and extended expository telling - had me speed reading a fair amount of the time, but otherwise this is an interesting noir about a private nurse who moves in with a family and takes over. The writing is at its best while our nurse is plotting how to take over the household and when she is manipulating and controlling the family. Yes, she has sex with them all, but it is described in that censorship era way that has a new chapter starting just when things get steamy, meaning, you turn the page and that sex scene you were reading is ancient history....more
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