Scarlet Widow

Beatrice Scarlet, Book 1

By: Graham Masterton

Narrated by: Emma Gregory

Beatrice Scarlet is the apothecary's daughter. She can mix medicines to save lives - but she can't save the lives of her parents. An orphan at just sixteen, Beatrice marries and emigrates to America.

New Hampshire, 1756: In the farming community where Beatrice now lives, pigs are found dead with slices of looking-glass embedded in their mouths. According to scripture this is the work of Satan, but Beatrice suspects the hands of men. She must act quickly to unmask the killer - or become the next victim herself....

©2016 Graham Masterton (P)2016 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"A skilfully written and wonderfully unnerving thriller." ( Bookshelf Butterfly).

"Graham Masterton has perfected an eerie start that gets you intrigued right from the get go […] It's so fast-paced and never once misses a beat nor does it ever let-up on the speed." ( Published Moments)

Very likable protagonist

tight plot, interesting take on the colonies, great background to the intersection of belief vs science in the early development of rational thought

Masterton is the Master!

How I love Graham Masterton, his books are sublime and my only wish is that Audible gets more of them! The Scarlet Widow is thrilling and terrifying, a book I found hard to put down and in fact as soon as I finished, I read the next in the series, The Coven. What makes him so masterful in the telling? To me, it's the terrible beauty of the simplicity of plot, that he twists and turns into the macabre, beautiful, and often shocking...painted vivid, with words. Masterton, has an uncanny way of bringing to life the details of character and time. An author whose works linger long after the telling of it.

Emma Gregory's narration added to the story, bringing Scarlet's voice to life. Sublime.

Brilliant story, memorable, disturbing, wonderful!

Kept me guessing!

I really enjoyed the combination of historical fiction and murder who done it. I want more.

Slllllooooow start

For me the first part of this book had me wanting to give up...but I felt it had potential....and it did. Can't wait to start the second one! I like this narrator, she does a good job with the different character voices...I'm happy I finished it

was interesting at first

it was a book that I fell in love with while reading it so I bought it to hear the rest sooner or later the book did get Boring

Purile

Bland cardboard automatons march helplessly through standard Masterton gore and family tragedy. I have yet to read a novel by Masterson that doesn't feature a cis-het couple whose only son goes missing. Strongly agree with the reviewer who said the characters don't have enough sense to flip a light switch. However, the narrator was very good!

He does short horror better...

I had recently read a book of short stories in the horror genre of Masterton that were really good, so I figured I'd give this a try. It's middling at best... The characters combined don't have the smarts it would take to flip a light switch. When the most likely to be the villain character threatens you and your child repeatedly, why would you then go right back home alone? It's just frustratingly foolish. Also....weak research...terms like 'driveway' and others were not in common usage at the time or place in this book...I found that really jarring and irritating. It's just not good. And don't even get me started on the spoiler title...