Standard gothic romance. Pippa and her sister have a happy childhood until their parents die. Than they go to live with their grandfather in a dark gloomy castle. The older sister runs off with the heir to a fictional German dukedom. Pippa latter discovers her sister was murdered. Pippa tries to uncover the truth about her sister, finds love and faces danger. ( )

“The Judas Kiss” intrigued me from the beginning with its great hook of an opening line:

“I was seventeen years old before I discovered that my sister had been murdered.”

The usual amount of suspense you expect from a Holt novel is in evidence, but while many of her other books have predictable outcomes for certain themes and characters, this one has very few. Pleased to state that I was surprised by some revelations, while other matters that I thought were obvious turned out to be red herrings.

Okay, some things were predictable, but in the most part, the author succeeds in shrouding events in mystery, and surprising the reader – this one, at least – with the way these mysteries are resolved.

The plot is varied and winding, with changes of setting and mood. The main character, Pippa, is determined to prove that her murdered sister was married to an important foreign noble, and that he was not his mistress as all assumed. Pippa also means to discover the couple’s child, which nobody believes to have existed. This drive and determination keeps the story moving forward with no lulls.

The characters are well-developed. Pippa makes a good heroine and I liked her. Also liked her unfortunate sister and their friend Daisy.

Countess Freya was my favourite character. She lives in something of a dream world, which made her endearing and funny. ( )

Recently I started reading through a number of Victoria Holt's books for the first time. I'd been put off her as an author after several failed attempts at 'The Night of the Seventh Moon' but then I picked up Mistress of Mellyn and realised I'd been unfair. So far I've chewed through Mistress of Mellyn, Kirkland Revels, Manfreya in the Morning and now The Judas Kiss.

Out of all of these, The Judas Kiss has definitely been my favourite. I can't say whether it was that the characters seemed to be better defined or that the plot had more depth but whatever it was, it worked. I have a short attention span and it takes a special book to keep me hooked, The Judas Kiss managed to do that. ( )

need to upload correct cover ( )

I wasn't very fond of this book, didn't care for the writing style. The story was interesting enough, twists and turns along the way, keeping the reader guessing. It did turn out well in the end. ( )