Book Review: IT WAS HER HOUSE FIRST

Title: It Was Her House First

Author: Cherie Priest

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Pages: 349

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 

Bartholomew Sloan, a celebrity detective who never loses a case, becomes the sole heir to the home and estate of his best friend, Oscar Amundson, who was executed by the court for the murder of his wife, the silent era star Venita Rost. Venita was found dead at the bottom of a rocky overlook, supposedly murdered by Oscar. Sloan believes that she died by suicide and framed Oscar because he didn’t support her in blaming Sloan for the death of their eight-year-old daughter, Priscilla.

When Sloan enters the Amundson house after Oscar’s execution, he drinks a peg of his favourite gin, which the couple always stocked for him, and drops down dead.

In the present time, Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Mitchell, a woman with severe anxiety issues, buys the house sight unseen with the insurance money from her brother’s untimely death. A man, Hugh Crawford, a flipper of houses, died in the house a year ago, but that doesn’t bother Ronnie.

She doesn’t know that Venita haunts the house, along with Sloan, the man she hated the most. Then a man comes along, Sloan’s grandnephew, with strange intentions regarding the house. Will Ronnie’s dream of a forever home come true? Or does she face danger from the living and the dead?

 

The story is written in the past tense PoV of Sloan and Venita (in the form of a diary) in 1932, and that of Ronnie in the present time.

My interest was piqued by the very first chapter. Besides, I love stories set in old houses, and I was looking forward to this read. But the narrative took a long time, nearly the 67 percent mark, to get to the point.

The scenes relating to the remodeling of the house were interesting at first. But then they just went on and on. Ronnie never reveals the insurance amount but she keeps investing in renovation and repair activities, as if the money is limitless.

 

 

The blurb wasn’t entirely true. For the most part, Venita’s spirit does not display any particular malevolence. Nor is the house teeming with paranormal activity, so the claim that the “once-beautiful home that's claimed countless unlucky souls” is just as false. Inspector Bartholomew Sloan is referred to as her “eternal nemesis” which again makes no sense as, in the afterlife, he is quiet for the most part, exhibiting no nemesis-like actions. “And a deadly game unfolds” – again, not quite.

“Caught between a vengeful ghost and a ruthless living threat, Ronnie's scepticism crumbles. The line between living and dead isn't as sharp as it seems, and she realizes too late that in Venita's house, survival might be just an illusion.” Only half-true. The living threat was ruthless but the ghost showed no malevolence towards Ronnie.

 

 

I didn’t know what to make of Ronnie. She narrowly missed being insufferable thanks to her sense of humour. But she could have been fleshed out better. She tells us about losing her brother and she acknowledges the issue of her loneliness in a roundabout way, but the theme of grief isn’t fleshed out enough, given that Venita too is grappling with grief.

Also, while Sloan seems to keep raising the matter of her sexual orientation, Ronnie herself shows nothing of the kind. There’s no talk of past partners, lovers, nothing. Surprising, given that she is in her mid-forties. Not even one line saying she’s single, whether by compulsion or by choice. In fact, the first time, she meets Anne, she tells us that the woman is a lesbian plumber. That meeting is unremarkable. Days later, however, when Ronnie has to tinker with the pipes to get the water running, she tells us that she knows what to do as she had observed the “cute plumber” at work. Cute? Where did that come from? No attraction was visible at the first meeting.

 

I liked Venita from the diary. The mix of personal observation and dialogue was interesting. But I missed her in the here and now. Also, if Sloan is her eternal nemesis, there should have been some action on her part, towards confrontation. But he tells us he has no idea where she is.

 

I found it odd that both Venita and Sloan referred to Priscilla as a duckling. Twice each. Separately. In their own individual accounts, not in conversation. How strange is that! 

 

 

I liked the writing. Here are two quotes I liked:

On a staged performance of spinning plates, thirty might pirouette correctly—but if even one should wobble and fall, the magic is shattered and the trick has failed.

heavy and limp, like a fortune teller’s pendulum

 

  

The author did a fine job with the description of the house, but didn’t quite manage to create a sense of menace or dread, which was absolutely required in a haunted house. The premise of this book, with themes transcending life and death and the value of a soul, was interesting but the execution didn’t quite do it for me. If only there had been more of Venita and Sloan and less of the home improvement show.

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)