MRS. ROCHESTER'S GHOST

A modern American Jane Eyre won’t rest until she learns the fate of her employer’s wife.

When Jane arrives at Thorn Bluffs, a former artists colony on the very edge of Big Sur, she’s leaving behind a failed career as a scriptwriter, a romantic betrayal, and her mother’s recent death. Almost at once she thinks she’s made a mistake in letting her friend Otis Fairfax, Thorn Bluffs’ chef, talk her into coming there to tutor a motherless teenage girl. The estate is isolated; Jane’s cottage, though it’s rent-free, is bleak; and the absent owner, Evan Rochester, is rumored to have murdered his wife, the lovely but mentally unstable Beatrice. Jane has always had a taste for the macabre, but even she’s unsettled on her first night, when she thinks she sees a ghost. She’s almost ready to quit when Evan and a motorcycle emerge from the mist. Despite his rudeness, arrogance, and unwillingness to talk about his wife, who supposedly drowned herself in the surf on their wedding anniversary, Jane can’t help falling for him. Stolen garments, a mysterious medallion, a red stain on the rug, a deteriorating tower with a slashed portrait, Evan’s beautiful business associate, and Beatrice’s vengeful brother keep Jane guessing about Beatrice and doubting whether she can trust Evan—even after they become lovers.

Despite its emojis, mojitos, Range Rovers, and Beechcrafts, Marcott’s reworking of this Gothic classic holds its own.