Book: Wolfsbane Hall by Hazel St. Lewis
Reviewed by Weird | weird.reads.books
Rating: 4.5/5
Immediate reaction after finishing: I went straight to back the Kickstarter for a hardcover. This one’s a must for my bookshelf.
Set in 1930s San Francisco, we follow Celestine Sinclair, a haunted, sharp-edged actress at Wolfsbane Hall—an interactive murder-mystery theater where the Specter, a dastardly, manipulative puppet master, scripts a nightly killing and demands it be solved.
“There was only one rule at Wolfsbane Hall: every murder must be solved.”
There’s a love-square of sorts between Celestine and the three main Ashbrook men, but it isn’t exactly a why-choose; it reads more like Celestine learning her worth and setting her own terms. (And if you ask me, only one guy is for her. 😉) After the opening act lays down the rules, Night Two explodes: the Phantom shows up and upends the game, and the story braids high-stakes sleuthing with well-placed flashbacks.
The atmosphere (moody, theatrical, a little unhinged), the twists, and the Phantom-of-the-Opera energy layered over a Clue-style puzzle really brought this to life. The little nods for Clue fans with room names and weapon choices had me giggling in glee while consuming this book. If anything, I wanted ~100 more pages to flesh out a few connections and let certain relationships breathe.
Days later, I’m still thinking about small moments and craving a community to gush with. I even want to make memes of scenes that instantly became silly headcanons—so yes, this review needed a rewrite with more love.
Bottom line: clever, dramatic, and fun—a great pick for readers who like mystery wrapped in velvet and menace. With that ending, I am anxiously (but patiently—authors have lives) waiting for the sequel to come out!
Read this if you like:
😶🌫️ Hidden identities
👤 Shadow/Villain daddies
🔪 Murder-mystery clubs
⚖️ Poetic justice
🎭 Phantom of the Opera vibes
💕 He secretly loved her
👻 Ghost lovers
Huge thanks to Haus of Fables and Hazel St. Lewis for the advanced reader copy! This is my honest and unbiased review.