The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish – Review

Published: July 23, 2024

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Series: Hecate Cavendish #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 359 (Kindle)

My Rating: 3 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish is book one in New York Times bestselling author Paula Brackston’s new, magic-infused series about Hecate Cavendish, an eccentric and feisty young woman who can see ghosts.

England, 1881. Hereford cathedral stands sentinel over the city, keeping its secrets, holding long forgotten souls in its stony embrace. Hecate Cavendish speeds through the cobbled streets on her bicycle, skirts hitched daringly high, heading for her new life as Assistant Librarian. But this is no ordinary collection of books. The cathedral houses an ancient chained library, wisdom guarded for centuries, mysteries and stories locked onto its worn, humble shelves. The most prized artifact, however, is the medieval world map which hangs next to Hecate’s desk. Little does she know how much the curious people and mythical creatures depicted on it will come to mean to her. Nor does she suspect that there are lost souls waiting for her in the haunted cathedral. Some will become her dearest friends. Some will seek her help in finding peace. Others will put her in great peril, and, as she quickly learns, threaten the lives of everyone she loves.

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The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish was appealing to me on many levels, but ultimately it was the shallowness of an intriguing cover and the fact that the main character works in a library and can see ghosts that had me hitting the request button on NetGalley. I love books that are filled with even more books, especially if some of them might be magical!

This follows Hecate Cavendish, a young woman who has just begun working at the cathedral library as the assistant librarian. It’s a huge library with ancient books secured with lock and chain, a giant medieval map covered in mythological beasts, and a locked cabinet she’ll likely never get to open. It’s the stuff of book enthusiast dreams. Shortly after her hiring the tombs beneath the cathedral were vandalized, though it seems to Hecate that perhaps something broke out rather than someone broke in. Hereford is suddenly plagued by a rash of murders and unusual circumstances that Hecate is sure are related to whatever escaped from the cathedral’s depths. Buoying this belief is Hecate’s own new found ability to see and speak with the peaceful dead that reside in Hereford’s cathedral and the fact that she is perhaps the chosen daughter of her namesake, the goddess Hecate.

This is an intriguing story set in what seems to be an unusually egalitarian town. Hecate’s father supports her working in the library and believes her immediately when she comes to him with tales of speaking with spirits. He’s been around the world on archeological digs and has seen strange things, not to mention he was told by a seer before Hecate’s birth that she would have extraordinary gifts. She has two handsome suitors, a dear friend who seems to be the exact opposite of her and yet who accepts Hecate’s oddities without hesitation, and even the police are inclined to believe her. All this is perhaps the most fantastical part of this story about roaming spirits and uncanny magic. I did find Hecate to be a likable main character and all the side characters were inoffensive, though unmemorable.

I think that this book needed more pizzazz. While I felt compelled to continue reading thanks to the progressively more unsettling events, this never truly grabbed my attention the way my most favorite books have in the past. I didn’t love any of the characters and ultimately wasn’t invested. Nothing is inherently disappointing or bad about The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish, it’s just not going to be a favorite book and I don’t feel compelled to continue the series.