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A Dreadful Splendor: An Edgar Award Winner Kindle Edition

by B.R. Myers (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 617 ratings

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INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

“This gem of a book sparkles with wit and originality. . . . There is no shortage of tricks and feints in this excellent novel and Genevieve is a delightful character.” — The Globe and Mail

“A spooky gothic romance with impeccable vibes. I loved this!" — Erin Sterling,New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Hex and The Kiss Curse

In this wickedly whimsical Gothic murder mystery brimming with romance, betrayals, and chills, a fake spiritualist is summoned to hold a séance for a bride who died on the eve before her wedding, but as nefarious secrets are revealed, the line between hoax and haunting blurs.

Be careful what you conjure...

In Victorian London, Genevieve Timmons poses as a spiritualist to swindle wealthy mourners—until one misstep lands her in a jail cell awaiting the noose. Then a stranger arrives to make her a peculiar offer. The lord he serves, Mr. Pemberton, has been inconsolable since the tragic death of his beautiful bride-to-be. If Genevieve can perform a séance persuasive enough to bring the young lord peace, she will win her freedom.

Soothing a grieving nobleman should be easy for someone of Genevieve’s skill, but when she arrives at the grand Somerset Park estate, Mr. Pemberton is not the heartbroken lover she expected. The surly—yet exceedingly handsome—gentleman is certain that his fiancée was murdered, even though there is no evidence. Only a confession can bring justice now, and Mr. Pemberton decides Genevieve will help him get it. With his knowledge of the household and her talent for illusion, they can stage a haunting so convincing it will coax the killer into the light. However, when frightful incidents befall the manor, Genevieve realizes her tricks aren’t required after all. She may be a fake, but Somerset’s ghost could be all too real…

A Dreadful Splendor is delicious brew of mystery, spooky thrills, and intoxicating romance that makes for a ghoulishly fun and page-turning read.

"A delightful mix of gothic, mystery, and romance. I had such fun reading this book!" — Gwenda Bond, New York Times bestselling author of Not Your Average Hot Guy

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Editorial Reviews

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“Breathtaking, puzzling and spine-chilling all at once. A spectacular, haunting mystery with a touch of romance and twists galore. Absolutely brilliant!” — T.A. Willberg, author of the Marion Lane Mysteries

"Delicious double crosses, a haunted estate, and a heroine who might just lose her heart—if she can keep her neck out of the hangman's noose. A Dreadful Splendour will keep readers guessing." — Kathleen Peacock, author of You Were Never Here

"Thrilling, atmospheric and propulsive, with healthy doses of heart and humor thrown in for good measure, A Dreadful Splendour is a cleverly crafted mystery with an irrepressible heroine you won’t soon forget. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun reading a book!" — Tom Ryan, author of Keep This to Yourself

"A Dreadful Splendour is a delightful mix of gothic, mystery, and romance, perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Sherry Thomas. Con artist heroine Genevieve is a memorable addition to literature's gallery of charming rogues. I had such fun reading this book." — Gwenda Bond, New York Times bestselling author of Not Your Average Hot Guy

“A spooky gothic romance with impeccable vibes. I loved this! Beatrix Greene fans, you will love it, too!” — Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs

“This gem of a book sparkles with wit and originality….There is no shortage of tricks and feints in this excellent novel and Genevieve is a delightful character.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto)

About the Author

Always in the mood for a good scare, B. R. MYERS spent most of her teen years behind the covers of Lois Duncan, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King. She is the author of the international bestseller, A Dreadful Splendor, winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award,as well as numerous YA books. When not putting her characters in precarious situations, B. R. Myers works as a registered nurse. A member of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, she lives in Halifax with her family—and there is still a stack of books on her bedside table.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09NL11CTZ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks (August 23, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 23, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3466 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 411 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #41,868 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #335 in Gothic Romances
- #417 in Gothic Romance
- #472 in Ghost Mysteries

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4.3 617 ratings

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B.R. Myers spent most of her teen years behind the covers of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Lois Duncan. When she's not putting her characters in awkward situations she works as a registered nurse. A member of the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia, she lives in Halifax with her husband and their two children.

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Rachel Fahrenbach

A fun mystery

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2024

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I picked up this book after seeing it on an awards list. I hadn't heard of the author before but the premise was intriguing. Myers did a great job telling the story in an engaging and fun way. I was completely transported into the story from page one.

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Samantha Lynne

A fun read with gothic themes and interesting characters

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2023

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London in the 1850s is not a kind place for a young woman with no one to rely on but herself.

Genevieve Timmons is a spiritualist, but not an authentic one. While her moral compass doesn't exactly point due north, she uses the skills her mother taught her to conduct seances that bring peace to the living and line her pockets just enough so that she can get by, all she needs is this one last job and she'll be on a train out of London for good.

But when her last job goes horribly wrong, Genevieve finds herself in jail awaiting the gallows and has no choice but to accept an offer to conduct another seance in an effort to soothe the sorrows of one Mr.Pemberton, master of Pemberton Park, an estate near the sea.

But all is not what it seems and a mystery is afoot. Mr.Pemberton's betrothed is believed to have committed suicide and everyone at Pemberton Park believes the estate is haunted and its family cursed. Genevieve will have to sift through the lives of everyone there to determine the truth and conduct a seance believable enough to root out a murderer-her life depends on it.

I really enjoyed this one. The mystery itself had enough twists and turns that I didn't immediately guess what I suspected might happen, although I knew early on which characters were not trustworthy. The romance wasn't overbearing to the overall plot and the story does give us a very satisfying HEA. All in all, it was an enjoyable read. If you're looking for a light read with morally gray characters, gothic romance (light on the romance), and a murder mystery with paranormal themes then you'll probably enjoy this.

6 people found this helpful

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JKom

Well-done historical mystery/romance story

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2023

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Genevieve Timmons is a con woman - a fake spiritualist who finds herself in jail and execution. When an old man arrives and offers her a possible reprieve, she has little choice but to take it. It's the strangest offer anyone has ever made to her - the man WANTS her to perform one of her fake seances! In return, he'll plead her case and promises he can get her off easy.

The lord he serves, Mr. Pemberton, inherited an earldom and the property of Somerset Park. But locals are sure the house is not only haunted, but cursed - and not long ago, the daughter of the house, who was going to marry Mr. Pemberton, was found dead, drowned after a fall off the nearby cliffs. A seance to soothe the disconsolate bridegroom is just the thing, the old man feels.

Genevieve figures it will be easy to hold the seance...but then matters start to become complicated. Pemberton is not mourning Miss Audra - instead, he is sure she was murdered, and wants to use Genevieve's seance to finger the person he suspects. The housekeeper, Mrs. Galloway, seems full of malice and suspiciously secretive - but why? What are the little noises Genevieve keeps hearing in her bedroom - and who is handling her spiritualist tools when she's not there?

And why do the plaintive, ghostly words, "HELP ME", keep appearing, and being heard when there is no one else around?

Genevieve finds herself caught up in a maelstrom of old family secrets, where love, hate, madness, malice, and resentment create a terrible danger - not only to her life, but to her heart as well.

3 people found this helpful

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Barbara

Just for fun.

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024

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If you just want to curl up and have a bit of fun, go for it. The plot is pretty good and the gothic vibes won't disappoint.

2 people found this helpful

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Nancy

A Gothic Murder Mystery

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2023

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I was surprised at how much I liked this book. I enjoyed the characters and found myself rooting for Genevieve despite her career as a con-artist spiritualist and thief who ironically does not believe in ghosts. She can accurately read people which gains trust from her marks and she usually leaves them with a positive feeling about the departed person they want to contact. She is being blackmailed by a lawyer to conduct a fake séance for Mr. Pemberton so he will accept the suicide death of his fiancé 6 months prior while Mr. Pemberton wants her to conduct a séance to get his fiancé’s murderer to confess. Genevieve finds herself in a pickle with threats of going back to prison hanging over her head by both men as neither man believes in her abilities to speak to ghosts leaving her to discover who the killer really is. Story is complete in this book.

5 people found this helpful

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Reads Alot

A Delicious Gothic Mystery.

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2024

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“A Dreadful Splendor” by B.R. Myers is an Edgar Award Winning novel that will more than satisfy fans of Victorian gothic mysteries. Facing the hangman’s noose, main character Genevieve Timmons has no choice but to accept an odd invitation to a remote English manor house. Her purpose? To summon the ghost of the Lord’s beautiful and recently dead young fiancé. The longer Genevieve stays, the more she realizes the truth of what is really going on is as obscure as the sea fog surrounding the mansion. Was the young woman’s death really a suicide? There are the servants, some friendly, others cold to Genevieve. There’s the distant and arrogant Lord, his ancient attorney, and his doctor friend. And what about the angry ward of Genevieve’s late father? They all fit together somehow, and if Genevieve wants to dodge the hangman’s noose, she must find out, and fast.

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2024

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I absolutely loved this book! Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. The mystery was quite complicated. The author painted a great picture with both characters and setting. The manor itself was a character. There was a little romance, especially toward the end. After such a gothic theme, it did have a HEA.
I can’t wait to read another one of the author’s books!

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M Dickens

a good read for autumn nights

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2022

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I usually read historical fiction, but enjoyed this book as a change in pace. Good imagery and it was fun trying to figure out the “who did what”.

3 people found this helpful

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Dana Gricken

Loved it!!

Reviewed in Canada on October 17, 2022

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I loved A Dreadful Splendour! The writing flowed well, I loved Genevieve, Mr. Pemberton was hot (yes, I said it) and I loved the twist at the end. 5/5 stars! Perfect gothic read.

One person found this helpful

Ivie

A beautiful gothic romance

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2023

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I have never had a penchant for gothic stories but this one was enchanting. The characters were well crafted, it took me a while to pin point the villain but there was still a twist at the end. A fabulous read

One person found this helpful

Rina

haunting / twisted / eerie

Reviewed in Germany on January 25, 2023

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Favorite character: Genevieve
Three words: haunting / twisted / eerie

Genevieve Timmons inherited a rather dubious talent and job from her mother: she earns her money by faking to be a spiritualist, pretending to communicate with the deceased relatives of the wealthy society of London. When she sees something nice and sparkly, she sometimes even takes that too. Of course, that's not her whole life plan and she's saving money to finally escape London.
Everything seems to be going pretty well until she makes a mistake and the police finally catch her and put her in a jail cell, awaiting for the gallows. Luckily, a lawyer arrives with an offer: since the bride-to-be of Mr. Pemberton, the Lord he serves, has died under tragic circumstances, he is desolated and cannot accept the way she died. Genevieve is supposed to perform a séance for Lord Pemberton, convincing enough to bring him peace. In return, the lawyer will fight for Genevieve's freedom. With nothing to lose, she accepts the offer and travels to the Somerset Park, an old estate at the seaside, since generations in the hand of the Linwood family.
Genevieve has no doubts that she can trick the Lord, but when she arrives, the supposedly grieving Mr. Pemberton has other plans. He is quite aware of Genevieve's swindle and pressures her to a very different séance: he wants to find his fiancée's murder, since he doesn't believe at all that she committed suicide, even though there's no evidence to support his suspicion.
Soon, Genevieve becomes tangled in the secrets of the entire household and in the old estate ghosts don't seem as fake as she always thought them to be.

A gothic manor, a family curse, a murdered bride-to-be, paranormal activities, a romance and a fake spiritualist, I hoped this book would be right up my alley and it didn't disappoint.

I really liked that the female main character Genevieve was definitely morally gray but still likable. She takes advantage of grieving families by pretending to communicate with their deceased relatives, she steals, and is a convincing liar, to make enough money to survive. You get a lot of glimpses into her past and her complicated relationship with her mother, who taught her questionable lessons and made Genevieve the person she is.
The most important thing, I really enjoyed the mystery around the killer of Lady Audra Linwood, almost everyone has a motive and even if you have a suspicion at the beginning of the story, that changes throughout the book more than once. Each character has their own problems, all centered around the estate and the Linwood family, which fit perfectly with the killer's motive. I've suspected everyone of being the killer at least once and I actually found each of the side characters interesting, which is pretty rare. You get a beloved young Lady with insanity running through the family tree, a too nosy and rather distant housekeeper, an unworthy ward with a mysterious past, an estranged cousin who inherits everything and a rather invested family lawyer.
The small excerpts from Lady Audra's diary made the whole story even more intriguing.
The setting was just amazing. You travel from the Victorian London to an old estate at the seaside. The estate is full of secret passages and tunnels, countless rooms and old family portraits. The perfect surrounding for paranormal activities!
The story contains a romance, it's definitely slow-burn and more of a subplot, but I still liked it.

I would really recommend A Dreadful Splendor if you like murder mysteries in an historical setting mixed with paranormal activities.

Amazon Customer

Great Read

Reviewed in Canada on August 19, 2022

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Another great read from B.R.Myers. Her fully developed characters always have me missing them when I finish the last page, even the antagonists, they too have a story that stays with you.

2 people found this helpful

Mystery and Mayhem with Susan

So Dreadfully Good!

Reviewed in Canada on October 29, 2022

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I was so caught up in this book that I almost read it in a day. Terrifying, mysterious, unexpected romantic!

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