The Master of Seacliff

The Master of Seacliff by Max Pierce is a recently published gay-oriented novel clearly influenced by Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. The publishing house is Haworth Press (!). The publicity and the cover are quite explicit:

Pure escapism for gay men—murder, suspicion, suspense, and a passion that only men can share fill this gothic page-turner!

The Master of Seacliff
A mystery by Max Pierce

The year is 1899, and Andrew Wyndham is twenty years old—no longer a boy, but not the man he longs to become. Brought up by a harsh and stingy aunt and uncle in New York City after the death of his parents, young Andrew dreams of life as an artist in Paris. He has talent enough but lacks the resources to bring his dream to fruition. When a friend arranges for him to work as tutor to the son of a wealthy patron of the arts, Andrew sees a chance to make his dream come true and boards a train leading up the Atlantic coast. His destination is the state called Seacliff, where he’ll tutor his new charge and save his pay to make the life he dreams of possible. But danger lurks everywhere and nothing is quite as easy as it seems.

Seacliff: A dark and brooding cliff-top mansion enshrouded in near-eternal fog, dark mystery, and suspicion —perhaps a reflection of the house ’s master. An imposing Blackbeard of a man, Duncan Stewart is both feared and admired by his business associates as well as the people he calls friends. And his home, in which young Andrew must now reside, holds terrible secrets, secrets that could destroy everyone within its walls.

You can read a sample, here.

Categories: Books, References