It was refreshing to have two main characters whose personalities sit far outside of what is considered the norm for these types of novels, however, much of the time, I did find Margaret's affliction to be a bit contrived. Other than that, I feel the characters are generally well written. I will complete this series of books, but I don't think I'll be returning for any more works from this author. I love gothic romance novels, but in my opinion the best ones feature a burning passion between the two main characters to counterbalance all of the doom and gloom. Passion, or rather, believable passion, is sorely lacking in this series. Characters will have completely platonic interactions with each other at length, sometimes for weeks or months on end, then all of a sudden observe a few shy smiles or sparkling eyes and declare themselves in love. There is no build up at all. As for the mysteries, here the author truly falters. The mystery aspect of the story is as sophisticated as an episode of Scooby Doo. I was able to work out much of the secret fairly early on.