I have certain expectations for Gothic mysteries. First of all, the heroine must be beautiful, innocent, and plucky enough to get herself into danger from which the hero must rescue her. The setting must have a touch of the bizarre, as must the mystery the heroine solves. The hero must be a handsome, dashing man who immediately antagonizes the heroine, so that sparks fly between them throughout the novel. Also, the culmination of the novel must feature the kind of suspense that makes me wonder how on earth our heroine is ever going to get out of the mess she�s in � while at the same time I am confident the writer will pull a thrilling escape from her sleeve.

CASTLE REINER, I am pleased to report, delivers on nearly all counts, and delivers big on several. The heroine, Lavinia �Vinney� Cathcart, a beautiful English orphan forced to make her own way in the world after the death of her father, takes a governess position in far-away California. Leaving behind all she knows and holds dear in the world, Vinney battles loneliness and seasickness, finally arriving at the home of Baron Reiner, whose son, Tom, is to be her pupil.

an immigrant from some unspecified European principality. There are exotic animals on the grounds and nearly-feudal retainers on hand. When Vinney enters the castle itself, she is bewildered by how shocked the household staff apparently is at the sight of her. The reader realizes long before Vinney that our heroine bears a striking resemblance to the Baroness.

Vinney is a thoroughly likable narrator, and one of the great strengths of the novel. Her relationship with her charge, Tom, is believable � Tom is not a major character but Kinman makes him seem real while avoiding any temptation to turn him into a saccharine little angel. He is presented as a perfectly real, entirely agreeable, small boy. The hero, Paul, has complicated feelings toward Vinney � he was in love with the dead Baroness and he is both attracted by Vinney�s resemblance, and resentful as the household encourages her to take the Baroness�s place.

It soon becomes clear that Baron Reiner is not a sane man, and Kinman gradually reveals weird and inhuman experiments going on in the outbuildings of Castle Reiner. To add to the tension, Baron Reiner envisions Vinney as a second wife, and it�s not clear whether he completely realizes she�s not actually his first wife. Given what became of the first Baroness Reiner, this is not a comforting proposition.

Then the Baron decides to marry Vinney and move the entire m�nage back to his homeland. Faced with marriage to a possible maniac, as well as another sea voyage (I�m not sure which she dreads more), Vinney has to do something to save herself and Tom, of whom she is very fond.

Overall, CASTLE REINER is highly enjoyable, and I did a great deal of damage to my fingernails as I read it. It is fast-paced but the principle characters struck me as largely interesting and sympathetic, and I even liked and was interested in some of the minor ones.

My biggest complaint with this book is the ending, which feels a bit abrupt. The climactic scene was upon me so fast that I had some trouble adjusting to it. There are some very interesting minor characters and situations that aren�t resolved, and at least two murders we hear about at second hand but never get any resolution for. The Baron�s fiendish plot is told to us second-hand and after the fact, and frankly it was interesting enough that I wish I�d been able to read about it as it unfolded. The romantic element is another area that could have used a little more time � I was perfectly confident that the male lead would fall for Vinney if given a chance, but there isn�t a lot of indication that he�s going to, at least not onstage. Paul is a decent man, and loyal to his lost love, and it would have been nice to see him coming to the realization that he could have a chance to love again.

However, this is still a very entertaining example of an entertaining subgenera of mysteries. I would certainly read more stories by Dr. Kinman!