Bloodroots Manor — Jon Messmann

The House stands there, a place for cauldrons and witches, with the stink of death. Was she going crazy again, or was someone there trying to kill her? Young interior decorator Nancy Hazleton is still reeling from the shock of her husband's fatal accident when she is hired by the Howells, a mysterious family in Kentucky, to redecorate Bloodroots Manor, their ancestral home. She arrives from New York very late at night, in middle of a brutal storm, and things only get worse from there. She finds herself amidst a strange family inexplicably seething with resentment towards her...including Old Sam, the ruthless power behind everything, and his daughter Jodie, who has a burning look of madness that Nancy knows far too well...like her own reflection. She begins to suspect that she was brought here for something more than decorating...and they the only way they will let her leave is in a pine box. There is a sense of evil about the manor that permeates everything. Well-written and filled with suspense. Green Bay Press-Gazette A gripping novel of mystery and suspense, back in print for the first time in 50 years. Claudette Nicole is a pseudonym for Jon Messman, the prolific author of crime novels, spy thrillers, westerns, and gothic suspense.