Morgan’s Castle

Charlotte Morgan is both the wealthiest and most beautiful woman in all of Greenwood, Ontario, a mid-sized town on the Niagara Peninsula. Her impressive, expansive home, Hilltop House—known locally as “Morgan’s Castle”—was made possible through the family’s highly profitable vineyards. Charlotte has little to do with the business—she is very much a woman of leisure—so why has the strong-willed matriarch of the Morgan clan hired wholly unqualified sixteen-year-old Laura Dean as her secretary? And why is Charlotte so intent on having the girl live with her and her recently widowed son at Morgan’s Castle? All too soon Laura finds herself caught in the undercurrents of evil that emanates from the rambling structure of a house divided.

First published in 1964 by Abelard-Schumann, at which the author served as fiction editor. Morgan’s Castle combines family secrets and black humour of the darkest kind. This Ricochet Books edition marks the first new edition in nearly fifty years.

Reviews

“Morgan’s Castle stands on its own as humorous but deadly fiction.” –  Ottawa Citizen

“Hitchcock and Wilder could have made a noir classic from Morgan’s Castle (the cover of the 2026 re-issue wisely kept the original ‘girl afraid’ image). Certainly Grant’s novel has all the right ingredients. Ulterior motives, double meanings, and murder, especially. … Fun, mile-a-minute and maybe just a bit cynical about the human heart, Morgan’s Castle earned its keep in 1964 and will continue to do so over six decades later.” -Brett Josef Grubisic, The Miramichi Reader