The Cross of St. Anne

By: Gary Alan Ruse

Narrated by: Bill Burrows

A supernatural suspense novel....

When New England antiques dealer Annie McCormick sells a religious relic to Curt Devereaux, the charming owner of a new museum on Jarritt's Island, she could not be happier. But when the relic she delivers turns up missing and Annie learns the ghostly secret of the sinister old mansion-turned-museum, her dream adventure becomes a nightmare that puts her life...her very soul...at risk!

©2011 Gary Alan Ruse (P)2015 Gary Alan Ruse

Charming Mystery w/a Paranormal Twist

The Cross of St. Anne is a delightfully intriguing mystery set in a spooky old mansion on Jarritt's Island, and revolving around the mysterious disappearance of an antique relic.

Annie McCormick is charged with the task of delivering the relic to its eccentric purchaser, Curt Deveraux, and from the moment she arrives at his rambling historical home, feels uneasy among the other members of the household, as well as from the house itself. Then the cross mysteriously disappears from its case, and Annie not only feels responsible, but becomes the prime suspect.

The plot takes us through a maze filled with twists and turns, with a little bit of haunting, a little black magic, and a little romance.

Although the narrator has an amazing baritone voice, his stilted and somewhat mechanical narration is what kept me from rating this higher.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Supernatural Mystery

If you could sum up The Cross of St. Anne in three words, what would they be?

Enchanting story with romance, witchcraft, and things that go bump in the night

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Cross of St. Anne?

When Annie opens the case and the St Anne's cross is not in it.

Have you listened to any of Bill Burrows’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Bill Burrow's is a new to me narrator. I like his deep voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Annie discovers that the Devereaux family is not anything like she thought they were.

Any additional comments?

I liked this story because it had a mixture of romance, supernatural and spooky as well as some surprises that things as well as people are not always what they appear to be.

Step in to the Masion of Mystery

Annie is driven to Curt's mansion by his chauffeur/handyman Spenser, she doesn't like him, he makes her feel somehow uneasy. Curt is not there to greet Annie, instead she is met by Karen who runs an hotel nearby, in her down time she assists with the planned museum. The two women take to each other immediately and Annie accepts Karen's invitation to tour the house.

On their return, Curt appears, and when the time comes to complete the delivery of the relic Annie is stunned to find that it's missing, but as she last saw it during the trip to the house she could only conclude that it had been stolen. Annie's nightmare begins.

She meets Curt's strange family who treat her with hostility and she finds staying in the mansion to be a creepy and scary experience, she wants to leave but the police and Curt want her to stay until the theft has been resolved. From her gloomy bedroom she witnesses strange goings on in the dead of night, why was Spenser out in the grounds carrying a shovel? In true sleuth fashion she ignores all risks to her safety and sneaks out to follow him, she almost gets the life scared out of her by the sinister cat. That's not the most frightening thing she is to experience! She finally gets to discover what lay beyond the locked door of the chapel.

This book is what I would call an almost cozy, it has all the cozy attributes: female comes across a crime; turns into amateur sleuth, abandons common sense to put life and limb at risk, and there is of course, a bit of romance. It's a good formula but this story is just a bit too sinister for the cozy label as there are some potentially disturbing accounts of occult and evil activities. The author certainly knows how to create atmosphere with some great descriptive writing, yet I didn't find it a compelling listen, and I certainly needed the denouement.

Narrator
Narrated by Bill Burrows, who has a wonderful voice but I found his style too "announcer" like. I think if he'd maybe used a few more contractions, saying, for example "didn't" or "wouldn't" it would have sounded so much more natural. Still, this is just personal preference on my part.

This audiobook was provided by the author in return for an honest review.