King Nyx

Bakis returns almost three decades after Lives of the Monster Dogs with a tepid feminist gothic novel set in 1918 and based on the life of author and paranormal researcher Charles Fort (1874–1932), a self-described “crypto-scientist” interested in anomalies. The action begins when Charles receives a letter from mysterious benefactor Claude Arkel, who invites Charles and his wife, Anna, to his mansion in the Thousand Islands so Charles can write. The first night after the couple arrives from New York City, Anna, who narrates, is unnerved by the sight of ragged and disheveled people in the woods, one of whom she recognizes as a fellow maid from back when she used to work in Charles’s father’s house. Later, Anna finds a room full of life-size human dolls at Arkel’s mansion and is creeped out even further. Bakis has a good feel for her characters, and the setting is credibly eerie. Nevertheless, the effort to excavate the real-life Anna Fort from a male-dominated narrative is a bit heavy-handed (“Why was it anyway,” Anna wonders, “that wives were supposed to help husbands with their books and never got their name on the cover?”), and the denouement feels improbable. This one lacks nuance. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)