REVIEW: Night of the Huntsman – Toni V. Sweeney

by
Night of the Huntsman Book Cover Night of the Huntsman
Toni V. Sweeney
Suspense, Mystery, Dark Fantasy, Horror
self
10/26/2024
Kindle
455
Amazon

Amazon Link: Amazon

Newly-widowed Megan Bowdoin is shocked to discover her late husband Richard was actually the 18th Baronet Bowdoin and not simply the college student she’d thought. Determined to learn more about Rick’s heritage, she travels to Hunts End, the English village located on the family estate.

The villagers are friendly but closed-mouthed about how the last baronet died, or the reason Rick’s mother took him away the day after his father’s death and forbade him ever to return to England. One or two are definitely hostile, such as handyman Bert Bligh who urges Megan to leave Hunts End as soon as possible.

A great deal of their animosity stems from the legend of a ghostly huntsman who rides the high road, bringing drought to the crops and destruction to the descendants of those who caused his death, namely Rick’s family.

Settling into the family hunting lodge, Megan doesn’t realize her arrival has disturbed the sleeping spectre, who now finds a much more personal reason to set his sights on the last living person with the Bowdoin name—Megan herself.

How brave will Megan be to save a group of people she doesn’t really know?

Review By Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

Amazon Link: Amazon

When Megan Baudoin’s husband rushed to take his dog to the vet he got in a car accident killing them both. Now Megan is dealing with the constant statements by people voicing their words of sorrow. Then a letter from a solicitor arrives asking her to come to his office where she gets the shock of her life.
Megan’s husband Rick always told her of his childhood where his mother packed them up leaving the UK for America after his father’s death. He was told to never return to the UK, but he did. He and Megan arrived in the UK and began their new lives. Now the solicitors inform her that Rick was the 19th Baudain Baronet and she has been left everything in his will.
Megan learns the main manor has burned down but she now owns a cottage. She sells her home and moves into the cottage, which is bigger than she expected. Ready to start her life over once again she is now the newest resident of Hunt’s End, a small town where people keep telling her to leave.
Chief Constable Ben Maygood visits Megan’s cottage for her safety. She learns of Herne the Hunter, a legend tied to the Baudains, and she is the latest Baudain. Despite the drought affecting crops and animals, Megan remains skeptical of the legend, finding it hard to believe in a supernatural being in the twenty-first century.
Then Megan meets Jon Horne who becomes her friend. They ride horses together and he finally tells her the sad story of Herne the Hunter. I won’t reveal what the story is in this review, but it is sad. So much has happened to Megan in such a short amount of time, losing her husband, finding out she is now the wife of a Baronet where everyone calls her Lady Baudain and having the townspeople wanting her gone.
Jon Horne is a mystery, a mystery only she can see and interact with. She has a housekeeper, Lizzie, who is Ben’s cousin and she can’t seem to keep her mouth shut when something catches her attention.
She becomes closer to Jon, only as friends, but then she begins to suspect him of keeping secrets from her, and he is. Secrets that could prove deadly but is it too late to stop what is going to happen.
The story kept me glued from beginning to end anxious to solve the mystery of who Jon Horne is and what the truth of Herne the Hunter is. Why has Herne the Hunter appeared after years and what does it mean for Megan.

Leave a Comment