Where do I even start with this book? Well first let me say, READ THIS BOOK! The story is captivating, Clara is one of the strongest and most intelligent FMC’s I’ve had the pleasure to read about. The town of Briar Hollow is charming in the most small town America type of way, but holds the secrets of many of the people who reside there. An Insidious Inheritance is one of those books that keeps you guessing from the start and only deliveries the answers (that you weren’t expecting) at the end.

Haunted inn, creepy atmosphere, believable main character, and a satisfying conclusion. It says this is book #1 in a series, but it also works as a standalone. All questions are answered by the end and there is no cliffhanger.

This book is set in 1933, and the main character, Clara, is a young woman who inherits an old inn from her estranged father. When she gets to the inn, she finds that the place is haunted and she starts wondering what happened there and if her father (who was abusive, so she knows he wasn’t a good person) had anything to do with it.

I’m not sure I would categorize this as a historical mystery, since it takes until about halfway through the book for Clara to do anything that could be called investigating. If you’re reading this hoping for a mystery plot, you might be disappointed and tempted to drop the book before it even gets to any of that. What I would call this instead is a ghost story. The book is great at crafting a creepy atmosphere (with strange noises and occurrences around the house and the feeling of being watched).

The pacing was a bit uneven – especially during the first half of the book, I felt like the story got stuck on set-up and exposition and had lost momentum. Clara’s personal background and her character were well-rounded and believable. However, I didn’t always buy Clara’s reasoning or the way she arrived at her theories or conclusions from the clues she found.

The villain was an interesting character and the resolution of how he was dealt with was satisfying. The romantic subplot felt a little forced to me and I think it could’ve been left out completely without losing anything important from the story. (And this is coming from a reader who loves romantic subplots and often gets more invested in that than in any other part of a story.)

Thank you to the author and to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

An Insidious Inheritance
Amelia West


This is a spooky read.
The setting is Upstate New York in the 1930s. Clara had no contact with her estranged father for years. Upon his death by suicide, she inherits an isolated inn. The property is dilapidated and has no electricity.
Several things bothered me concerning this book.
1. Repetitiveness:
a. The reader is told over and over that Clara is in financial dire straits. Usually once or twice is enough.
b. The year is 1930, something the country is in great depression. There is no need to tell the reader about the depression over and over.
2. Some of the details are confusing. Clara can’t pay rent. She has a part time job and yet she owns a car. Contradictory!
3. The library scene has contradictions. She doesn’t know the names of people and yet she knows their names.
4. Some elements of the plot are not explained; they are dropped. What happened to them.
5. Again, and again, there are inconsistent parts.

This plot has great potential but still needs work. It needs proofreading and editing.



Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the author, Amelie West for the advanced reader copy! All thoughts are my own:

Clara Dawson's father passes away and leaves no will behind. This means that his property, an inn called Hollowfield House, would be her inheritance. But things were a little more complicated than that.

This was incredible. First read of 2025 and I'm betting now that it ends up in my top 5 at the end of the year.

The concept was great, I had such high hopes for this once I read the synopsis that I got a little scared beginning the book that the author wasn't going to be able to deliver on it, but I was wrong.

The atmosphere of this book was written to perfection. The twist was great. I'm not someone who seeks out romance books, but I enjoy it when it's written into other stories., The slow burn was flawless. I really wanted to be more critical of this book seeing as it was an ARC, to give more constructive criticism, but I honestly have none. This isnt even out yet and now I can't wait on the next one.

Excellent debut novel, no notes!

This was a fun and atmospheric gothic novel, following Clara as she inherits her estranged father's property when he dies. I enjoyed the writing style and pacing and appreciated that there were supernatural elements running through this story – not all the bumps in the night can be explained away by human interference. I liked Clara as a character, however could have done without the building attraction with Tuck. It always bothers me in stories when the love interest has an overly protective reaction for a woman he’s just met, seems a bit of a controlling red flag. Even though Clara was quite proactive in investigating the history of the Inn and her father’s shady business, I would have liked her to stand up for herself a bit more with the male characters. Saying that, I recognise this is set in 1933 and there were a lot more barriers in Clara’s way in terms of being independent. All in all, this was a solid, if slightly predictable read. Recommended for readers looking for a plucky and independent heroine standing up for the forces of good in a small town setting.
Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for the advance reader copy.
Review to be promoted to FishbirdCentral.com closer to publication date in January 2025.

Clara Dawson hasn't spoken to her estranged father in a decade...so when she gets finds out that she has inherited his home in upstate New York, she will enter a world of mystery to find our more about him.

I loved the setting of this book. The 1930s in Rochester isn't something I knew a lot about, and the era (the Great Depression, the looming spectre of World War II) gives a real sense of tense atmosphere and spectre of unease. I think it's a wonderful location and era for a mystery series and I'm excited to see how West continues to play with it.

I also really enjoyed both our main characters. The book cares deeply about the way that women were disempowered and controlled in the 1930s, and deals sensitively with the result of childhood violence. I also really enjoyed the romance with our MMC, Tucker, and am hoping that if the series continues, we will have more of a sense of who he is, his background and his motivations.

I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical mysteries and plan to read the next book in the series.

This is a beautifully written story about a woman working out a mystery while working out her life. I loved the paranormal aspects to the story and the touch of romance. As a romance reader I craved more but it wasn't what the story was about. I enjoyed everything from plot, to characters, to the writing and the pacing. It took me a moment to get into the voice of the book but once I did, I found it very charming. I'd recommend to anyone wanting a good mystery with some spooky moments. I almost had to turn my light on. Luckily Hubby is snoring beside me and I'm safe. Haha. The story gives a lot of character development and I loved how much I got to know the main character. I'd love to follow more of her story.

West does a great job at creating a mysterious scenario that will set readers on the edge of their seats - or staying up until 12am to finish! Good read for anyone in a mystery slump, or just a reading slump in general.