📚✨ Book Review: The Dark Library by Mary Ann Evans
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (4/5)

A hauntingly beautiful story that pulls you into a world where books hold more than just stories..
they hold secrets. 🕯️📖

Evans crafts a dark, mysterious atmosphere filled with magic, danger, and quiet strength. If you're a fan of gothic vibes, secret societies, and strong female leads, this one's for you.

Perfect for a rainy day read. 🌧️💀

Thank you, Netgalley & Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.5 stars, rounded up)

The Dark Library by Mary Anna Evans is a beautifully atmospheric gothic tale that slowly wraps itself around you, layer by layer. This is not a fast-paced thriller—it’s a meticulously built story, steeped in historical fiction and brimming with the quiet, creeping tension that defines the best gothic novels.

The setting is richly described, with the library itself becoming a character—dark, brooding, and filled with secrets. Evans excels at crafting an environment that feels both intimate and ominous, pulling you into a world where the weight of the past presses heavily on the present.

The pacing is slow but purposeful, perfect for readers who love to savor the details and immerse themselves in the subtle unraveling of mystery. The historical elements are woven in with care, adding depth and authenticity to the narrative without ever feeling heavy-handed.

The characters are complex and flawed, their personal struggles and hidden motives adding another delicious layer of intrigue. I especially appreciated the exploration of legacy, forbidden knowledge, and the moral gray areas that arise when the past refuses to stay buried.

Overall, The Dark Library is a thoughtful, moody read that rewards patience. Gothic lovers and fans of slow-burn historical fiction will find plenty to admire here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press and Mary Anna Evan’s for the opportunity to read and review this gem!

I really wanted to like this book, however, I had trouble connecting with the characters, and the prose just wasn't grabbing me. Perhaps it's a case of bad timing, but it just wasn't for me. There wasn't anything 'wrong' with it as such, just didn't light my fire.

The Dark Library was a solid 3⭐️read for me. It wasn't what I had expected, and there were a couple of other things that only made it 3 star for me, but it was, overall, still an interesting story. The story contained some serious themes. It is set in the 1940s and includes depictions of racism, sexual harassment and assault, as well as domestic violence.

I think, though given it had such complex and dark themes, the book didn't have enough depth, and it didn't really seem to know what it wanted to be.

It had a real hook at the start, but then it seems to meander along into multiple directions, was it dark academia, a gothic thriller, romance, a family drama, or a historical literary story.

Our main character is summoned back home because her father has become ill and her mother is missing. In coming home and searching for her mother, our main character stumbles onto some dark family secrets. Dark secrets involving many respected people in her town.

I felt that the resolution of her missing mother was rather anticlimactic, and the town's secrets were very dark, but in the end, everything was wrapped up too quickly and neatly.

The premise of the story was interesting, though. It just needed a bit more to it.

This is the first book by Mary Anna Evans that I have read. I loved The Dark Library and look forward to reading more of her books.

I liked the character development and her descriptions. The description of the storm was especially well-written. I felt like I was there with the characters. I liked the characters, and I liked E's determination. The story contains detective elements, as E tries to find out what happened to her mother. During her search, she finds some disturbing facts about her father. I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't put the book down. I was eager to find out how the story ended. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a chance to review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a gifted copy of this novel.

I will say that I don’t believe that I am the ideal reader for this novel, as I didn’t really connect with this one. I did enjoy some elements; such as the historical context, the descriptions of the library itself, and the story arc with the mother. However, I would classify this book as a historical fiction with some mystery/thriller elements within, rather than a mystery/thriller book with historical context. To me, I felt it difficult to connect with any of the characters, and really struggled at times with the pacing. Although I did not necessarily guess the twist at the end, the ending felt a bit quick comparatively with the slow burn pacing of the rest of the novel. This book isn’t for me, but if you enjoy slow burns with historical context, you may want to give this one a read!

Years after leaving home due to her father’s suffocating and oppressive treatment, Estella receives a phone call from Annie-her family’s housekeeper-that she must come home. Estella’s father has had a stroke that caused his death and her mother has gone missing. When she returns home, everything is disjointed and up in the air and she takes a teaching position at the college where her father influence was powerful to say the least. Not only that, their family house is celebrated throughout the decades and her Father’s library hold rare books that her father closely guards and with strict orders, Estella is not allowed to touch the books.

With her father’s death, her mother missing and the war that is raging on, Estella must figure out how she will support Annie, the house and the gorgeous land it sits on. The more she looks into her father’s and mother’s life, she realizes how much she doesn’t know about them and the secrets they have kept.

This Gothic tale of mystery, buried secrets, death, family and local town intrigue begins slowly and half way through the story, unfolds in a major way. I must confess, at first, I didn’t have high hope for this story but as the plot reveals itself, you have a better understanding of why the story starts out the way it does. It gave me a better understanding of the-bread crumbs-if you will- the author was dropping. You won’t be shown an explanation of why the story is called “The Dark Library” until the second half of the book and it is a shocker! I did not see that coming a mile away. The premise of this story is unique and the author sure can weave a story of intrigue and deceptive people that leaves you trusting no one. The ending does tie up loose ends the reader wonders about and I want to encourage readers who might be frustrated with the beginning to rally on. You won’t regret it.

A truly atmospheric story with Gothic themes, deadly secrets and twisty turns of events that has you racing to the end to discover the deceptions, truths and the fate of Estella and the people in her life.

Estella, who prefers to be called simply E, does not have warm feelings about her family home and hasn’t been back in years. But she is compelled to return, even following in her domineering father’s footsteps, when her mother disappears. E seems to be the only one who cares about the disappearance – everyone else wonders just much of her father there is in E. As she digs through the depths of her family home looking for clues, anything that might help her find her mother, she learns more about her father than she ever wanted to know.

I love this author’s Faye Longchamp series, so I jumped at the chance to read this book. It is just as good as I’d hoped, with an atmospheric setting, well-developed characters, and secrets to uncover. E is a fantastic character, torn between wanting to live her own life, preferably far away from her family’s influence, and wanting to find her mother. It’s up to the reader to decide which of the townspeople are who they say they are and which are putting on a front. I chose incorrectly on more than one occasion.

The secret her father had hidden for years was shocking, not at all what I thought it might be. Its revelation explained a lot of what was going on, and why so many people were distrustful. Once that came out, I couldn’t put the book down until I learned how everything was going to be resolved.

I look forward to reading more books by this author, whether part of the Faye Longchamp series or another new, unrelated book.

An interesting blend of cozy mystery, historical fiction, literature, and romance in this novel. The main character is endearing while the plot will keep you turning the pages and have you on the edge of your seat at points. An enjoyable story with plenty of twists and turns.

A gothic, historical mystery? Yes, please. The Dark Library by Mary Anna Evans pulled me in with its atmospheric setting, missing person case, and strange happenings. E searches for her mother, and deals with the death of her father in this 1940s tale of dark secrets and forbidden libraries.

Despite its slow start, I found myself pulled into the mystery. This story follows Estella, who prefers to be called E as she returns home to Rockfall House after the death of her father and disappearance of her mother. She takes a professor position at the college her father governed.

The estate is a mess with only the housekeeper/cook remaining and the finances are a nightmare. Besides that, there is the matter of her missing mother. Did her father push her off the cliff as some suspect? Evans weaves an interesting and atmospheric tale from the library filled with books her father never allowed her to touch, to the new governor at the college who unexpected lept to his death.

We have two men vying for E’s attentions. The first is her solicitor, who is older and kind but whom she feels no chemistry and a young professor but someone is watching the house and there is evidence of someone trying to break in.

A box of forbidden books hidden under her bed, including one penned by her mother, might hold the answers. I enjoyed how the author built suspense and revealed pieces of the puzzle. She used both the setting and the period to build her story, and it was suspenseful.

Filled with twists and turns, The Dark Library delivered and is perfect for fans of gothic mysteries. Be warned, it starts off slowly, but if you allow it, it will sink its claws into you.

Unfortunately I don’t think I was the right audience for this. The writing didn’t pull me in and I think my expectations were a little off for this one. The writing was easy to follow but I didn’t feel connected to the characters and didn’t feel invested in the story. I’m sure there’s plenty of readers for this book but I just don’t think this was one for me. I’m not going to give a negative review because it just wasn’t for me, I’ll let other readers decide.

This book is not for me. The pace is slow, with a lot of telling but not much action. DNF ~10%.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I have been reading Mary Anna Evans’ books for years and was very pleased to receive an early copy of her latest book, The Dark Library. This is not a part of her series but an historical fiction set in in 1942, in the very early days of World War II in a college town on the Hudson River, not far north of New York City.

Estella “E” Ecker, PhD has returned to the home town she left when she was 17, having intended to stay away forever. Her overbearing and controlling father had made life impossible and her mother was unavailable to her. But a frantic call from Annie, her parents’ housekeeper, has brought her back to Bentham-on-Hudson some 10 years later as her father lay slowly dying and her mother is missing. While she tries to figure out what has happened, she is able to find a job at the college in town, as a research assistant and teacher. Even though many men have left their positions at the college for the war, a woman with a doctorate still finds it impossible to be hired as a Professor!

There are many levels of activity and mystery in this novel, as well as a side of romance. E must learn more about her parents and the grand house she had once left behind in order to figure out the truth about her parents, what may have happened to her mother and what might happen to herself. As it happens, there are levels of secrets she never would have guessed and some evil in this town beyond her imagination. The power of secrets and lies is ever present.

I do recommend this book highly for its interesting and well written characters, a complex and suspenseful plot that kept me guessing, and a satisfying ending. I’m looking forward to whatever Evans writes next.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an eARC of

A wonderful story of knowing when to risk it for love and happiness, or choosing to let go.

There are lots of twists and turns as the mystery unfolds, and I absolutely did not see the ending coming!

A beautifully written historical fiction, full of charm, mystery and a bit of romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this eARC. This book kept me guessing until the very end! Every time I developed a new theory of what Estella’s father had hidden in the library or about who may also be trying to find her father’s secrets, I was proven wrong.
WWII has begun and Estella is enjoying her independence in Boston far away from her overbearing father and her childhood home. But when their housekeeper, Annie, calls her in hysterics demanding she come home, Estella leaves it all behind to return to Rockfall House. When she arrives, she finds that her father has suffered from a stroke and her mother is missing. Not long after arriving her father passes away without ever revealing what he knows about her mother’s disappearance, and Estella is forced to move back in to Rockfall House, take a job at the college her father reigned over as dean, try to look for her mother, and try to keep the house with what little money her father left behind. Meanwhile it seems everyone is constantly watching her, and she begins to wonder what secrets her father left behind.
I was a little unsure of this book at first, but once I got to around the 30% mark, I could not put it down. I had to keep reading to see what secrets were being hidden in Rockfall House!

Thank you Netgalley & Poisoned Pen Press for an eARC ♥️

Some houses don’t need ghosts to be haunted. Rockfall House breathes without lungs, watches without eyes. Its library—cold, gilded, forbidden—doesn’t just hold books. It holds trials. And Estella Ecker, prodigal daughter turned accidental heir, is the unwilling defendant in a case she never agreed to plead.
Mary Anna Evans doesn’t write a mystery so much as exhale one onto the page. *The Dark Library* is the kind of story that slithers under your skin while you’re distracted by its pretty sentences. You think you’re reading about a woman sorting through her dead father’s rare book collection. Then you blink, and suddenly you’re knee-deep in a psychological excavation, watching as Estella pries up floorboards of memory to find what’s festering beneath.
The genius here is in the absence. Estella’s mother has vanished, yes, but more telling is how no one seems to mourn her. The town murmurs about the great Professor Ecker—his brilliance, his charm, his *tragedies*—while his wife’s disappearance barely ruffles the surface. Evans makes us feel the weight of that erasure. It’s in the way Estella’s fingers hesitate over certain books, as if they might bite. In the way the college faculty speak of her father in hushed, reverent tones that don’t quite hide their relief that he’s gone.
And yes , those books. Evans treats the library like a crime scene where every volume is both evidence and accomplice. First editions whisper. Annotations snicker in the margins. You’ll catch yourself wondering if the real horror is what’s written in those pages—or what’s been scratched out.
But the true revelation isn’t in the secrets Estella unearths. It’s in the dawning realization that Rockfall House was never a prison. It was a mirror. The moment she stops seeing herself as her father’s runaway and starts reading between the lines of her own life? That’s when the story cracks open like a long-sealed folio, releasing something wild and vital.
*The Dark Library* doesn’t just ask *what happened*—it asks *who gets to write the story*. By the final chapter, you’ll be gripping the pages like a banister in the dark, equal parts desperate to know and terrified to find out. When the truth comes, it doesn’t explode. It unfolds. Slowly. Like a map to a place you’ve always known but never wanted to visit.
Here’s the thing about family secrets: They’re never really about the people who keep them. They’re about the people who inherit them. Evans knows this. By the end, so will you.

Read this: if You’ve ever looked at a family photo and wondered about the shadows just outside the frame.

Can a forbidden library be creepy and haunted? Estella sure thinks so when she returns in 1942 to her childhood home in New York, after the death of her father and the sudden disappearance of her mother. Rockfall House is a weathered Victorian mansion that hosts her fathers' rare book library. Upon arriving, she takes a job teaching at Bentham College and begins uncovering dark secrets tied to her family, her father’s library, and a possible murder nearby. Since the police have no clues or ideas as to what happened to her mother, she starts investigating on her own.

The author does a great job evoking an old Hollywood Gothic feel with the mansion and the small quaint college being rather claustrophobic and unnerving. Set during WWII, the town is on edge, rationing is in effect, and Estella cannot do much to affect change as a woman without the assistance of a man.

When multiple suspicious deaths start occuring, and Estella starts exploring the hidden passages in her house more carefully, the plot thickens.
This is a slow burn and starts out at a leisurely pace before things start heating up, so you must be patient.

Everything is tied together nicely at the end of the book, and the many mysteries and unusual events all make sense. A fun, spooky read!

My thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advance copy of this novel to read and review.

The only thing more intriguing than a book about a library is one about a dark library. This one in no way disappoints.

Mary Anna Evans has produced an atmospheric novel about a mysterious library but also about the mysteries that have shaped a family and its individual members. Estella, enigmatically known as E, is called home from Boston, where she had completed a PhD. Her mother had disappeared suddenly and her father’s equally sudden stroke took him off not long after. Unable to find a job she is qualified for—this is the late 1940s when female professors were scarce—she returns to the house she grew up in largely for pragmatic reasons. Her childhood was affectionless and she has no fond memories of her father. She even suspects that he may have killed her mother.

Getting a research position is more than E had hoped for, and lo it eases both financial concerns and her frustrations about the gender bias that had kept her adrift. Meanwhile, being ‘home’ in the company of Annie, the prototypical lifelong housekeeper who had made her childhood bearable, she slowly starts to piece together her parents’ lives and why things ended the way they did. But her newfound peace doesn’t last long. Soon there are signs that she is being watched. Is there something in the family mystery that implicates her? That makes her a target for retribution?

Evans is an excellent writer and storyteller. Her characters, especially Estella, are beautifully drawn, and despite the ‘darkness,’ the story has almost a cozy mystery feel, while maintaining suspense and plenty of thrills. I very much enjoyed this foray into small town gothic.

I wanted to enjoy this book so much more than I did. I don't think the plot of this novel is very accurate. There isn't a mystery aspect to this novel, it's just a historical fiction novel with a splash of intrigue thrown in. For a novel named The Dark Library, there's very little relating to the library itself. There are so many plot points that I thought I was going to love and they were either solved far too quickly, or didn't have a point to them.

I thought all of the characters, especially E, were forgettable. While I enjoyed her relationships with Annie and her friends, there was so little to endear any of the characters to the reader.

My biggest problem with this novel is that there was so much build up for very little payoff. The ending was extremely rushed with so many plot points that didn't make sense. I also hated the actions of one of the side characters in the ending. It was completely antithetical to how they were described. The resolution was extremely unsatisfying and because the writing wasn't anything special either, I won't be seeking out any of the author's other novels.

The Dark Library by Mary Anna Evans – ★★★★☆

If you’re into slow-burn Gothic suspense with a smart, determined heroine, The Dark Library is a great pick. Set in a small New York college town during WWII, the story follows Estella (or E), a PhD-holding academic stuck in a low-paid role while dealing with the fallout of her father's death, her mother’s mysterious disappearance, and a growing pile of secrets tied to her family and the college.

The atmosphere is rich—think creepy manor on a cliff, ration-era struggles, and an academic world full of tension. Estella is sharp and independent, but she’s also navigating a time when women couldn’t even access their own bank accounts without a man. That historical layer adds weight to her fight for answers.

The pacing is slow, especially early on, and some plot threads seem random at first. But by the end, everything clicks into place—especially the reveal tied to the “dark library” itself, which totally pays off. The last 15% brings a satisfying rush of revelations that tie the whole thing together.

It’s not action-packed, but the eerie vibes, layered mystery, and thoughtful writing make this a perfect rainy day read. I’ll definitely be picking up more from Mary Anna Evans.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.