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    Woman Without a Past
    Woman Without a Past
    Woman Without a Past
    Audiobook8 hours

    Woman Without a Past

    Written by Phyllis A. Whitney

    Narrated by Joyce Bean

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    From an Edgar and Agatha Award winner: A mystery writer must solve the puzzle of her past when she meets the South Carolina family she never knew existed.

    Popular mystery novelist Molly Hunt knows all about the twists and turns of fiction, but real life has thrown her for a loop. Raised by adoptive parents on Long Island, Molly has just made a stunning discovery: She’s the daughter of South Carolina blue bloods and was kidnapped as an infant from their ancestral home in Charleston. Now, she’s heading south to solve the puzzle of her beginnings—totally unprepared for where it will end.

    At Mountfort Hall, her birth family’s imposing plantation, Molly comes face to face with her past: her neglected twin sister; her reclusive and mentally imbalanced mother; a calculating cousin, now the Mountfort patriarch who has no tolerance for this lovely new intruder; and a resident psychic who sees into a deadly world all her own. It’s only when Molly discovers a letter from her late father that she comes to realize how much danger she’s in—and what it’ll take to escape the shadows of Mountfort Hall alive.

    “In one of her smoothest suspense novels . . . Whitney combines a dynamic, likable heroine with eccentric characters, romantic entanglements, family ghosts and a charming setting” (Publishers Weekly). It’s everything readers expect from the “Queen of American gothics” (The New York Times).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateDec 18, 2009
    ISBN9781441818638
    Author

    Phyllis A. Whitney

    Born in Yokohama, Japan, on September 9, 1903, Phyllis A. Whitney was a prolific author of award-winning adult and children’s fiction. Her sixty-year writing career and the publication of seventy-six books, which together sold over fifty million copies worldwide, established her as one of the most successful mystery and romantic suspense writers of the twentieth century and earned her the title “The Queen of the American Gothics.” Whitney resided in several places, including New Jersey. She traveled to every location mentioned in her books in order to better depict the settings of her stories. She earned the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master award in 1988, the Agatha in 1990, and the lifetime achievement award from the Society of Midland Authors in 1995. Whitney was working on her autobiography at the time of her passing at the age of 104.  

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    Reviews for Woman Without a Past

    4.5/5

    13 ratings1 review

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    • 4/5
      I was a big fan of Phyllis A. Whitney when I was young -- first of her juveniles (still a good read!), then of her adult novels. I see from the book list inside that she wrote quite a few more after I switched to cozy and historical mysteries.While I did figure out the killer and motive, I didn't guess the who or why the heroine was kidnapped when she was an infant and sold to her adoptive parents.Molly Hunt doesn't have amnesia, the past she's missing is the one she would have had if she'd been left with her birth parents. Molly knew she was adopted, but had assumed she was given up. She writes mysteries with the kind of strong heroines she wishes she were. A chance meeting with a stranger at her publisher's is how she learns the truth.Molly is not terribly keen on flying to South Carolina to meet her birth family, especially when she learns that not all of them want to meet her. She doesn't like her original first name. Her birth father is dead. Her sister is thrilled. Her birth mother had never recovered emotionally from losing her older daughter. Is Mrs. Mountfort just a little weird or is she insane? Ms. Whitney gives us plenty of reasons to wonder which answer is correct.As is usual in this type of book, there are two potential romantic leads. If this book runs true to type, one of them is evil. Is it the one engaged to Molly's sister? Will her sister have to die so the heroine gets the man?I've never been to Charlston, but I enjoyed the descriptions very much. I also enjoyed the touch of the supernatural and the endearing psychic cat. Molly's comment that she wasn't famous enough yet to have her name appear above the title of her latest book made me chuckle.If you like romantic suspense, this is a nice example of the genre. It certainly had me turning the pages during the last chapters.Scott Ordley is the artist for the cover with the impressionist-style landscape of watger, trees with low hanging branches, and a little bridge curving over the water. The author's name in above the title and they are in equally large pale orange letters.