17 December 2009

Forgotten Book: DEATH IS A RED ROSE, Dorothy Eden

This week's contribution to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books.

Sometimes these books that I have listed in my little green book are well and truly forgotten, not just by me, but also by the publishing world.

This one dates from my reading in 1978, but I have been able to find out very little about it. I'm hoping that someone who reads this blog post will know this book.

I remember that back then I read a lot of Dorothy Eden. DEATH IS A RED ROSE was published in 1956.

Dorothy Eden (1912-1982) was born in New Zealand and moved to England in 1954. She was a prolific writer of novels and short stories, and generally wrote mystery, suspense and Gothic novels.
By the time she published DEATH IS A RED ROSE she had already published 12 novels, so you could say she was well-established. She would write over 40 novels.
There is a comprehensive list on Wikipedia and an impressive array of covers on Fantastic Fiction. Dorothy Eden wrote two books under the pseudonym of Mary Paradise.

My memory is that she set her novels all over the globe, even in Australia.

So who has a copy of DEATH IS A RED ROSE on their shelves, and can contribute the blurb from the back cover?

The blurb (many thanks to Deb who found the book in her local library):
When Cressida Lucy Barclay decided to take the vacant flat on the ground floor of the large decaying London house, she knew the terms of her tenancy were odd, the other occupants distinctly unusual, and the landlady the strangest of all. With her parrot, her tarnished finery and her passion for camels, Arabia Bolton was the kind of person one could only describe as fabulous. Flamboyant and impulsively generous, she remained unpredictable, especially in her obsession with the memory of her long-dead daughter.

There was a story here, thought Cressida, so in spite of the strangeness of the house and its residents she decided to stay. But the more she delved ito the past, the more she became involved with them all.

Cressida gradually began to feel as though a net were closing round her, a net whose strands were closely interwoven with the mystery of a dead girl whose name was also Cressida Lucy and of a room where the scent of red roses hung heavy in the air.

Thanks also to Margot who copied this blurb from another edition:

When Cressida Barclay rented a flat in a large decaying London house she got more than she bargained for. Her fellow tenants were an eerie lot and her landlady a strange old widow, who identified her new lodger with her long-dead daughter also named Cressida. Someone else in the house also felt that way and, afraid for her life, Cressida was further weakened by the overpowering scent of roses associated with a long-dead girl.

7 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Not me, but I will be on the lookout for it.

Deb said...

I'm not familiar with this book, but I just checked and my local public library has it. I'll have to check it out and see what it's all about.

Dorothy Eden did write one book I'm familiar with, "Never Call It Loving," which was a "biographical novel" about the scandalous affair between Irish Prime Minister Charles Parnell and Kitty O'Shea, the wife of one of his political supporters. I read it a couple of years ago and thought it was quite interesting.

Kerrie said...

Thanks Deb - would be great if you could find a blurb

Deb said...

OK Kerrie--just back from the library where I checked out their copy of Death Is A Red Rose. It is a Black Dagger Crime reprint from 1987 with a foreword by Gwendolyn Butler. Here is the blurb--

When Cressida Lucy Barclay decided to take the vacant flat on the ground floor of the large decaying London house, she knew the terms of her tenancy were odd, the other occupants distinctly unusual, and the landlady the strangest of all. With her parrot, her tarnished finery and her passion for camels, Arabia Bolton was the kind of person one could only describe as fabulous. Flamboyant and impulsively generous, she remained unpredictable, especially in her obsession with the memory of her long-dead daughter.

There was a story here, thought Cressida, so in spite of the strangeness of the house and its residents she decided to stay. But the more she delved ito the past, the more she became involved with them all.

Cressida gradually began to feel as though a net were closing round her, a net whose strands were closely interwoven with the mystery of a dead girl whose name was also Cressida Lucy and of a room where the scent of red roses hung heavy in the air.

--It's me again. I can't say much for the grammar in that blurb, but perhaps the words will jog your memory of what happened in the book. Based on the blurb, I don't know that I'd be that interested in reading the book, but Gwendolyn Butler's foreword is very good, making reference to Jane Eyre and Eden's ability to write children who are refreshingly real and sympathetic, so perhaps I'll give it a go.

home renovation said...

I am not interested to reading books but i read this book two time. after hearing this you can say that how much interested book it is........

Kerrie said...

Thanks for the blurb Deb - I have added it into the post

Anonymous said...

I READ DEATH IS A RED ROSE AND IT SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME. I HAD TO SLEEP WITH THE LIGHTS ON ALL NIGHT LONG. BUT, I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!!!! DOROTHY EDEN IS MY FAVORITE AUTHOR OF ALL TIME, BUT DOROTHY DANIELS IS A CLOSE SECOND. IF YOU HAVE THE TIME TO READ THIS BOOK, I HIGHLY RECOMEND IT, YOU'LL LOVE IT IF YOU WANT TO BE SCARED TO DEATH!!!!

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