Wendy Webb’s novel places a former crime reporter in charge of an artists’ retreat whose invitations may conceal another purpose.
Who belongs at Cliffside Manor is part of the danger in The End of Temperance Dare. Eleanor Harper arrives to direct an artists’ residency, then begins to suspect that the incoming fellows were selected for reasons beyond their work. Wendy Webb’s official synopsis and publication details.
Webb’s synopsis gives Eleanor an investigative background: she previously covered crime for a newspaper. She takes the position expecting a change of surroundings, although she does not understand why the job was offered to her. Her own recruitment therefore precedes her questions about everyone else’s.
The building has undergone a change of purpose, too. Before becoming a retreat, it served as a tuberculosis sanatorium. The novel’s supernatural threat connects that history of suffering with the people occupying the estate now, including visiting photographer Richard Banks.
This is a mystery about a particular gathering as well as a particular house. Eleanor must work out what brought its residents together while trying to protect them. Lake Union published the novel in June 2017. Wendy Webb’s official synopsis and publication details.