Her timing was perfect. As she rounded the corner,
daily Mass had ended, and the Archbishop was standing outside the ornately
carved doors of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
His followers were tiered below him on the steps. He
turned and allowed his eyes to trace the contours of her body and she felt the
thrill of power. A sheer white muslin shift clung to her black swim suit, still
wet from morning exercise at the community pool. Despite the heat and the
humidity from the Gulf of Mexico, she strolled by as if it were a cool spring
day in Vermont.
Elaine Chauvier was a stately woman, aware of her long
legs and enticing figure. Some said she was a snob and she would have agreed
with them. After all, she was from aristocracy. Her great grandfather and General
Robert E. Lee had been close friends, and her family had owned sections of
plantation land and nearly a hundred slaves. No one could give this woman a
passing glance without being momentarily transfixed. Soft black hair, always a
bit ruffled to give a false impression of casualness, framed a face of classic
perfection. Piercing dark eyes conveyed the superiority she felt over everyone.
Archbishop Andre Figurant gave hardly a thought to the
man who knelt to kiss his ring or the mother holding up her baby for a
blessing. His focus was across the street, beyond the wrought-iron fence
surrounding the Cathedral’s property. The gliding presence hypnotized as well
as beguiled him.
Fans of
Agatha Christie and her enormous ensemble casts will find many enjoyable
parallels in the work and structure of author Barbara Frances. I particularly
enjoyed the setting for this tale, playing on the traditional tropes of the
Southern gothic genre, but also adding many flairs and twists from ghost
stories, fables and psychological horror works. Both the characters and plot
are multi-faceted, giving readers a lot to follow, but also a lot to gain from
paying close attention to each clue and motivation. The mystery itself
sometimes takes a back seat when the (often literal) ghosts and shadows take
over, playing with the characters’ sensibilities and forcing them to ask much
deeper questions of themselves and others. What results is an emotive but also
thoughtful, spooky mystery novel. I would highly recommend Shadow’s Way to
mystery and gothic fiction fans looking for something new, unique and really
well crafted.
Ms. Francis’ novel Shadow’s Way, had me enthralled from page
one, it kept me reading until so late into the night that I used a flashlight
in order not to wake my husband.
I’ve always enjoyed reading gothic tales, but this one went
beyond most that I had read. The synopsis was correct, past and present mingled
and left me on the edge of my seat. Was G – G – Daddy a real paranormal
experience or a figment of Elaine Chauvier’s imagination, which got worse as
she sunk deeper into insanity?
I loved the various characters that Ms. Francis brought into
play as needed to heighten the story. They were well rounded and interconnected
in ways that one has to keep reading to get the full picture.
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