Devil May Care

A classic mystery tale from prolific New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Peters.Ellie is young, rich, engaged and in love. These are the carefree days before marriage and new responsibility, and anything goes -- including house-sitting at eccentric Aunt Kate's palatial estate in Burton, Virginia. Ellie feels right at home here with the nearly invisible housekeepers and the plethora of pets, but she soon realizes that there are disturbing secrets about the local aristocracy buried in a dusty old book she has carried into the mansion. And her sudden interest in the past is attracting a slew of unwelcome guests -- some of them living and some, perhaps not. And the terrible vengeance that Ellie and her friends seem to have aroused -- now aimed at them -- surely cannot be...satanic.

From the Back Cover

Ellie and Henry are young, rich, and engaged. When Ellie’s eccentric Aunt Kate asks her to house-sit at her palatial estate in Burton, Virginia, Ellie is happy to oblige. She feels right at home there with the nearly invisible housekeepers and the plethora of pets, but conventional Henry finds Aunt Kate and her lifestyle a little hard to take. After he leaves, Ellie realizes that there are disturbing secrets about the local aristocracy buried in a dusty old book she has carried into the mansion, and her sudden interest in the past is attracting a slew of unwelcome guests—some of them living . . . and some, perhaps, not. But there are no such things as ghosts, are there? And the terrible vengeance that Ellie and her friends seem to have aroused—now aimed at them—surely cannot be . . . satanic.

From AudioFile

Ghostly apparitions in creaky mansions and townspeople fearing damaging secrets from the past combine to wreak havoc on Ellie's vacation house-sitting in rural Virginia. She's understandably scared, but we aren't. There's mirth as well as mayhem in Peters's mysteries, and Grace Conlin reads with a mischievousness suggesting that nothing really bad will happen. Her arch delivery reinforces Peters's descriptions of unlikable people, Ellie's stuffed-shirt fiancŽ in particular, but her voice warms when impersonating Ellie's eccentric aunt or Ellie herself. Even during the climactic scene her pace does not quicken, nor does her tone become tense. Consider this a puzzling caper, capably, if not dramatically, read. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author

Elizabeth Peters (1927-2013) was a New York Times bestselling author whose novels were often set against historical backdrops. She earned a PhD in Egyptology at the University of Chicago. She also wrote bestselling books under the pseudonym Barbara Michaels.Grace Conlin (1962-1997) was the recording name of Grainne Cassidy, an award-winning actress and acclaimed narrator. She was a member of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC, and won a Helen Hayes Award in 1988 for her role in Woolly Mammoth's production of Savage in Limbo.

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