Virginia Coffman

[Terri Edwards]

Re: atmosphere. This aspect of a story -- perhaps more than characterization, I admit -- is one of the primary reasons I read novels. It's an underrated commodity in today's literary market, which seems preoccupied with dysfunction. The mood I look for in a good gothic is hard to describe -- sinister and yet soothing somehow -- and it's equally hard to find. Not all gothics are created equal. Coffman definitely had atsmophere down, and it's good to hear that she knew her strengths.

I agree, for a gothic to work atmosphere is everything. For me the setting is as important as the people and in a well written gothic, the buildings and locations take on a life of their own which enriches the story rather than detracts from it.

I know this thread is very old, but I wanted to thank you for getting straight the order of the Moura series! Another website that I check frequently (before I found this one!) had the order wrong, listing by the later reprints and not the original publishing dates. I began reading what actually turned out being the third in the series, instead of the second, because of the error. I could tell the story didn't flow and sure enough, after finding this thread, my suspicions were confirmed.

Thanks again! Loving Coffman, by the way. I had never heard of her until recently, and I love her atmospheric writing and the plot twists at the end, at least in the books I've read by her so far.

What are all the books in the Moura series? I have Moura and The Vicar of Moura. The Vampyre of Moura, and The Dark Beyond Moura are on order. I know there's a Return to Moura. Is that all?

From what I can make out, these are the books that make the Moura series but it’s a bit confusing as some were re-issued with different titles:

1. Moura (New York, Crown 1959)
2. The Beckoning (New York, Ace 1965 and as The Beckoning from Moura 1977)
3. The Devil Vicar (New York, Ace, 1966; revised edition as Vicar of Moura 1972.)
4. The Dark Gondola (New York, Ace, 1968; and as The Dark Beyond Moura , 1977)
5. The Vampyre of Moura (New York, Ace 1970)
6. Return to Moura (1999)