Elements of a great Gothic?

[Penfeather]

An element I like in a gothics is a precious jewel. Like the beautiful opal in Pride of the Peacock by Victoria Holt. Or the perfect pearl necklace like in Spring of the Tiger by Victoria Holt. Or the topaz with a falcon carved into the surface like in Falcon's Shadow by Anne Maybury

Yes! And just as a great house isn't complete without tales of a haunting, a great jewel seems to demand the shadow of a curse.

I don't know about the three you mentioned, because Pride of the Peacock is the only Holt book I didn't finish reading, and I haven't read the others. I'll check out Falcon's Shadow, though, because I like Anne Maybury.

[AliceChell]

Penfeather, you are reading Carola Salisbury! I admire her/him quite a bit. I own almost all of them in hardback. I consider them a small treasure.

[Penfeather]

Penfeather, you are reading Carola Salisbury! I admire her/him quite a bit. I own almost all of them in hardback. I consider them a small treasure.

Yes, and I'm a bit disgruntled with her (I'll stick with one pronoun to simplify things) at the moment, as she's just committed the sin of changing location halfway through the book! E tu, Carola? It's not an unpardonable sin, but it's irksome. We were moving along so pleasantly in the Landeric estate in Cornwall, then for absolutely no good reason Salisbury yanks us away to Venice, to a new house, with a new cast of characters, completely dropping the thread of the pervious story. Yes, Venice is a beautiful city and one of the great places of the world, and we know the story thread will be taken up again later, but Salisbury should know better. Used this way, the change of environment is a weak plot device meant to promote action where the story had warned of flagging.

I am taking a break from Dark Inheritance to read Widow's Walk by Mary Bishop, which just arrived in the mail. After I finish the one I'll go back to the other.

[AliceChell]

Yes, he does tend to do that, and I don't like it either. But I love his (I'll take the other pronoun!) writing style and there's a fresh, clean feeling to his heroines that I value, if that makes any sense. His book The Woman in Grey was very interesting to me. It takes place in Venice, except for one short trip out, and involves a woman accused of a crime she didn't commit. The true villain is a wonder to behold. Quite surprising! Since you read The Winter Bride, you know the kind of thing I mean.
One more thing, I don't think that The Pride of the Trevallions could fail to please you. It's my favorite.