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by Sheridan Le Fanu (Author)
All three novels are of the genre "Sensation Novel" which is a Victorian ancestor to the detective novel. Crime is at the heart of the novels, but there is no detective hero, and the crime goes alongside the melodrama. Wylder's Hand has a fiendishly convoluted plot, as should all crime fiction in general. The plot is melodramatic, but the characters are complex and sophisticated. The chief villain is selfish and merciless, but without malevolence. The secondary villain is sinister and chilling, even managing to persuade himself that he is honourable whilst committing outrageous crimes. Guy Deverell is an old English Gothic mystery, complete with a huge old English manor house in the countryside, a bishop, the aristocracy, cigars, sherry and brandy. The characters are particularly well-drawn and compelling, join them as the mystery unfolds. Tenants of Malory begins in the little Welsh town of Cardyllian, and initially there is romance and hope. However, the two families are at war, providing the background for secrecy, deception, ambition and abandonment. Join the characters as they navigate their moral mazes.
