Gestures to du Maurier’s classic Rebecca should please gothic romance buffs, though, and while Moore’s Amber House (BCCB 11/12) covers much of the same ground to better effect, this novel is engaging enough and leaves enough unresolved that readers may reach for likely sequels. The supernatural elements add a spark of extra charm but don’t fit organically with the rest of the story, instead seeming tacked-on and underdeveloped. The novel ultimately is overly front-loaded, though, with the energy dissipating soon after the setup and the resolution underwhelming by comparison.

The set-up is compelling, a potent mixture of wish-fulfillment wealth and cursed inheritance, and the entwining narrative strands provide plenty of intrigue. With its layers of mystery and hidden dangers, both human and paranormal, this gothic-lite romance delivers a fast, entertaining page-turner. Stranger still, Imogen begins to see ghostly reflections and hear eerie voices around the house, and she begins to suspect that something sinister is going on with the garden maze, where both her parents and her cousin died. Meanwhile, the head housekeeper clings unnaturally to Lucia’s memory, leaving Imogen feeling like an interloper. Her only joy is an expected reunion with childhood friend and first crush, Sebastian Stanhope, but upon her arrival, Sebastian is strangely distant.

Imogen is reluctant, especially since her inheritance results from the seemingly accidental death of her beautiful young cousin, Lucia. Just what has Imogen walked into? Combining a spine-tingling mystery, powerful romance, and unforgettable characters, SUSPICION is an action-packed thrill ride.After her parents’ tragic death, Imogen Rockford left her family’s English manor, but now at nearly eighteen, she’s been called back to take up the reins of the vast estate. And at the center of the mystery is Imogen herself-and Sebastian, the childhood friend she has secretly loved for years. All is not as it seems at Rockford, and Imogen quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind the mansion's aristocratic exterior, hinting that the spate of deaths in her family were no accident. Suspicion by Alexandra Monir Pages: 304 Published by Delacorte Press, Random House Childrens Books on DecemGenres: Family, Gothic, Horror & Ghost Stories, Love & Romance, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Young Adult Source: Paperback ARC from Publisher. But when a letter arrives with the news of her cousin's untimely death, revealing that Imogen is now the only heir left to run the estate, she returns to England and warily accepts her role as duchess. Haunted by her parents' deaths, Imogen moves to New York City with her new guardians. 'There's something hidden in the Maze.' Seventeen-year-old Imogen has never forgotten the last words her father said to her seven years ago, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family's English country manor.