The Dark Library

March 14, 2025

University professor Estella Ecker escaped her father's control and a suffocating life in a small New England town, only to be summoned back to find her father felled by a stroke, unable to tell anyone where his wife has gone. When he dies two weeks later, Estella discovers her father left them destitute, and World War II rationing makes life even more difficult. Certain that her mother isn't dead, Estella spends the next eight months fighting the local cop's apathy. After discovering a message from her mother in an old book, Estella comes to believe that she didn't disappear voluntarily. The suicide of the dean of her department and appearance of a handsome new English professor present additional puzzles to unravel. As Estella uncovers more about the parents she never really knew, she discovers her father's penchant for collecting secrets, which makes her question if anyone in town can be trusted. VERDICT Evans's latest (after The Traitor Beside Her) misses the mark, failing to engross readers in the Ecker family secrets and the turmoil of World War II. Despite numerous intriguing elements, too many details dull the edge of the mystery.--Julie Ciccarelli

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May 1, 2025
E's mother has been missing for months and the police investigation has gone cold. Dr. Estella Emily Ecker, E for short, a professor specializing in gothic literature, is called back to the family estate, Rockfall House, where she does not want to be. Her controlling father fell ill and died, taking any clues about her mother to his grave. Putting aside her strained relationship with him and her passive, cold mother, E is the only one left to deal with the estate, its precarious finances, and the mystery surrounding her mother. She finds herself entrenched in the estate's complex web of past and present mysteries as she begins going through her father's vast collections of rare books and art. Finding more than just paper, ink, and paint, she finds herself going down a path of increasingly dark family secrets. Evans uses suspense, gothic themes, and well-timed twists and turns to deftly push E forward in her search for answers about her parents, the estate, and the community at large.

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June 1, 2025
Homefront intrigue in 1942. Dr. Estella Ecker, who prefers just E, has returned to Bentham-on-Hudson, New York, where she grew up, upon receiving bad news about her parents. Her father was the dean of Bentham College, and they'd lived in Rockfall House with its magnificent library and art collection. Her mother was clever and beautiful but didn't stand up to her overbearing, unpopular husband. Now, word comes that her father has had a stroke, soon fatal, and her mother has disappeared. E takes a job teaching English at Bentham, and despite her Yale Ph.D., she's given the title of "research assistant" because she's a woman. Many of the professors have gone off to war, leaving some suspiciously young, sharp-eyed men to take their places. Shockingly, the current dean, Jameson, soon jumps to his death. Although he was not a nice person and had been petty and mean to E, refusing her a better office and salary, he seemed unlikely to die by suicide. E has a rocky relationship with the police, who think her mother died by suicide, but she's about to get help from an unlikely source: handsome new English professor Devan Chase. E is barely managing to keep up Rockfall House and care for her housekeeper, Annie, a motherly figure who's protecting family secrets. The only other person who knows her plight is the family lawyer, John Wickley, who proposes marriage as a way to solve her problems. When she discovers $500 hidden in her father's desk, she can't help wondering where it came from. She's never thought her mother dead, and with help from her few friends and Devan, she hunts for clues. A book written by her mother and some shocking photos hidden in her father's library point to the scandalous truth. Murder, espionage, romance, and a surprising denouement.

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