About this ebook
Gina Biletti is done. Done with men, done with solving other people's problems, and definitely done with the late-night replay reel of every wrong decision she's ever made. What she wants—no, what she needs—is a time out. Not yoga, not journaling, not another self-help podcast telling her to "lean in." She means an actual adult time out. A chair in the corner, maybe. A sign that reads Do Not Disturb Until Further Notice.
When she's offered a short-term research gig in the Austrian Alps—two weeks helping to sort historical files in a peaceful old manor house—Gina sees it as the perfect way to disappear somewhere scenic and chill while she figures out her next move.
What she gets is more Jane Eyre than The Sound of Music. A gloomy castle with a sealed-off wing no one talks about. A barefoot heiress obsessed with folklore—and her brooding fiancé with too many secrets. A glamorous Cambridge professor haunted by scandal. A moody stable boy. And a wolf dog. Did we mention the wolf dog?
Then there's the archive itself—full of redacted documents, missing reports, and whispered warnings from a possibly-senile historian who doesn't trust anyone else to finish what he started. Except Gina. Kind of.
The deeper Gina digs, the more tangled the truth becomes: long-buried WWII mysteries, a Nazi scientist with a stolen satchel of secrets, and a local legend about a drowned girl who drags the wicked into the fog.
Someone brought Gina here for a reason. And someone else will do anything to keep the past buried.
Atmospheric, subversive, and crackling with slow-burn suspense, The Castle and the Candle is modern gothic at its most addictive—for fans of Rebecca, The Broken Girls, and every TikTok account that's ever filmed a candlelit staircase and whispered, "This place has a vibe."
FILE UNDER
Modern Gothic Mystery
Smart, Reluctant Female Sleuth
Castle Vibes in the Austrian Alps
Folklore, Archives, and Family Lies
WWII Cold-Case Clues
Spies (Maybe), Lies (Definitely)
Messy Women Solving Crimes
And Yes, There's a Wolf Dog
Discover more
Ratings and reviews
About the author
Hi there! I’m B.G. Wood, author of the Murderwell Mysteries and accidental pioneer of what’s being called the ‘chaos cozy’ mystery genre. (I just wrote what I wanted to read, and apparently that’s a whole thing now!)
The Murderwell Mysteries series is centered around Maidenwell, a charming recreation of an English village in the middle of Oregon. In Maidenwell, the tea is strong, the gossip is stronger, and someone keeps inconveniently dying right when my messy protagonist Gina Biletti is trying to get her life together.
Like Gina, I traded my New York roots for the high desert of Central Oregon, where the growing season lasts approximately fifteen minutes and the occasional judgy alpaca stops by to critique my gardening failures. The whole concept of Maidenwell was born from my love of English villages, discovered during magical trips through the Cotswolds with my dad when I was in my twenties. Those village visits planted the seed for what would eventually become my mystery series.
When not plotting fictional murders (yes, my search history is concerning), you’ll find me exploring local arts festivals, binge-listening to podcasts, or curling up with a good book (and a glass of Oregon Pinot, of course). I am also an avid dog parent (to a rescued chow chow and an insane husky mix) and appreciator of pizza, bagels, and sometimes pizza bagels.
With nine Murderwell Mysteries available by the end of 2025, there’s plenty of mayhem to go around.
