Strange goings-on at a remote hotel on the Isle of Skye in the early summer of 1953 are the subject of Mary Stewart's second novel, Wildfire at Midnight.
Model Gianetta Brooke, still bruised from the end of her short marriage, arrives at Camasunary for a few weeks of rest and relaxation. Her fellow guests are an odd assortment of people, and from the emotional undercurrents which seem to run between them she gets the impression that she has unwittingly walked into the middle of a drama of some kind. Just how dangerous the situation is quickly becomes apparent, and as that drama plays out on the slopes of the mighty Cuillin, where even in summer the weather can turn from benign to deadly in mere minutes, Gianetta encounters murder, mystery, superstition ... and her ex-husband.
I'd describe this jolly good read as a 'locked room' detective story on a mountainside with a wee dash of The Wicker Man and The Thirty-Nine Steps; I enjoyed it very much indeed.
For more Mary Stewart, have a look at Touch Not the Cat, and - as an aside - this post.
Mary Stewart was one of my favorites, especially as a voracious reader growing up in a tiny town in Maine: I visited a lot of exotic spots in Europe thanks to her. Wildfire at Midnight is one of her creepier ones--I think Moonspinners and Nine Coaches Waiting are my favorites.
Posted by: Rebecca Leamon | 22 January 2021 at 10:32 PM
Moonspinners was one of the first ones of MS's I read as a teenager (I think my old copy is still around).
Posted by: Cornflower | 23 January 2021 at 10:33 AM
Just love all Mary Stewart. Am about to start the Gabriel Hounds, one of the few I haven't read.
Posted by: MOIRA OLIVER | 23 January 2021 at 12:24 PM
I haven't read that one either but it does sound good.
Posted by: Cornflower | 23 January 2021 at 01:07 PM
I used to get Mary Stewart books from the library and I can still remember how pleased I would be walking home with my newly borrowed Mary Stewart book. Wonder if I would enjoy them so much now? Might try and reread one if I can find one at the moment. Anne
Posted by: Anne | 23 January 2021 at 10:25 PM
Definitely worth a try, I'd say, Anne.
Posted by: Cornflower | 24 January 2021 at 01:58 PM
My mother was very fond of her - is there one called something like Madam will you Walk?, which I remember on her bookshelves. Wildfire at Midnight, while not exactly my genre of choice, has some fine descriptions of Scottish mountains, which I enjoy now I am too old and flabby to get up them myself! And Stromy Petrel has a similarly remote Scottish feel, albeit on an island not in the mountains.
Posted by: Limdsay Bagshaw | 21 March 2021 at 10:29 AM