Holt, V. (1967). The King of the Castle. Double & Company: New York.
Awards: None
Annotation: This is a romance mystery novel set in the 19th Century wine country of France.
Book Talk: Dallas Lawson is a young woman who responds to request to restore paintings:
“The King in his Castle! I thought. Monsieur le Comte de la Talle summons D. Lawson to the Chateau Gaillard to carry out the work on his pictures as arranged. Well, I was Dallas Lawson, and if that summons was meant for Daniel Lawson, then my answer was that Daniel Lawson had been dead for ten months and that I, his daughter, who in the past had helped him in his work, was now carrying on his place.”
She arrives a Chateau Gaillard and is given a chance to restore a painting to prove her talent and falls in love with Comte. While restoring the portrait of a young woman wearing the family emeralds that disappeared during the Revolution and was never found, she tries to unravel the mystery and uncovers the family secrets. What Dallas discovers about the death of the Comte’s first wife puts her life endanger. Will she survive the dangers and come out of her adventure alive?
Jacket by Kiyoaki Komoda
Shelby, age 18: What do you like about Mystery Novels? They are interesting!
