Inheritance of Shadows - a Review

Inheritance of Shadows, written by Janis Susan May, is a mystery/suspense novel. A.J. Mathis returns home to Merrywood for a visit. Her father, Charles Mathis, had been a famous fantasy/science fiction novelist. He is supposed to have killed himself in this house and A.J., even though she was a toddler at the time, is supposed to have witnessed it. She has lived her life trying to keep everyone from knowing that Charles Mathis was her father.

The house A.J. had lived in with her mom & dad burnt down only days after he supposedly committed suicide. A.J.'s father had been crazy about her, even slowing down his writing because his daughter was so important to him. He is supposed to have committed suicide, but was stabbed in the same fashion as a ceremony that he made up for his books.

As a young girl, she didn't know who her real father was, nor did she know who he was to the rest of the world. Her mom married a minister . Both she and her new husband proclaimed that the books Charles Mathis wrote were evil. Her mother signed over the royalties from her ex-husband's books to the church, therefore, A.J. was penniless. Writing was viewed as suspicious by her mother and stepfather. Reading was not done for pleasure. Her mom and step-dad made her live an extremely sheltered life.

Edison greets her as soon as she pulls up to the house. He had been there when she was a toddler and has stayed on. He reminds her of a character from her father's books. The other servant, James, also reminds her of one of the characters from her father's books. Even the housekeeper, who walks around silently, cannot be heard approaching. Did one have to be able to walk silently in order to work in this house?

She is told that Corwin Warrender is also coming to stay there and her heart almost stops. Corwin Warrender, who is planning on writing a biography of Charles Mathis, is someone whom A.J. had been romantically involved with at one time. A.J. Is not thrilled at all about him being there or about him being the one to write the biography of her father.

The books her father wrote had what I would describe as a cult following. There is an MAS convention planned during A.J.'s stay at Merrywood; Edison conveniently forgot to tell her of this. She is not thrilled when she discovers that she, as the daughter of Charles Mathis, is the guest of honor.

Were the characters from her father's books that she keep seeing wander around in groups part of the convention? They move so silently, so quietly, and they evade the security guards. Could they be something more?

Each chapter opens with a selection from one of Charles Mathis' books. All through the book you know something is going on, you just can't pinpoint exactly what is wrong. Then everything explodes close to the end of the book and things get pretty unpredictable and wild. It becomes hard to tell who is crazy and who isn't crazy. Things are so up in the air that the book is hard to put down. And it has an extremely satisfying ending.

I received my copy of this ebook free from NetGalley. If you would like your own copy of this book to read and enjoy, I have provided an Amazon link below for you. In case you do not own a Kindle, I have also provided a link for a basic Kindle to read it on.

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