Should I finish it?

[Penfeather]

In my search for a good book, I try to find the older "Gothics" and avoid ones written in the 1970s, when mass production made it possible for awful books to be published.  So imagine my disappointment to see something from the early 1960s that is so poorly written.  I find myself returning to the tried and true, but unfortunately, there are a limited number of those available.  I have to admit that I don't even bother with today's authors because I like the historical ones or contemporaneously written ones from the past (I just have not found a consistently good modern author with the exception of Barbara Erskine, but I don't always like her settings).  I just discovered a few Wilkie Collins and will get on to those.  I think I will "skim over" the bad ones just to add them to the "Avoid" list for other readers on this forum.

It's especially frustrating because even among the '70s market glut there are the odd rare gems to be found in the slag heap, but you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find them (pardon my metaphor salad).  The reviews and lists on this forum are helpful in identifying some of the titles and series that seem to please a lot of readers.  

I've not read Erskine yet.  Can you recommend one of hers that you like?