Cauldstane by Linda Gillard.

From Goodreads. When ghostwriter Jenny Ryan is summoned to the Scottish Highlands by Sholto MacNab – retired adventurer and Laird of Cauldstane Castle – she’s prepared for travellers’ tales, but not the MacNabs’ violent and tragic history. Lust, betrayal and murder have blighted family fortunes for generations, together with an ancient curse. As members of the family confide their sins and their secrets, Jenny learns why Cauldstane’s uncertain future divides father and sons. But someone resents Jenny’s presence. Someone thinks she’s getting too close to Alec MacNab – swordsmith, widower and heir to Cauldstane. Someone will stop at nothing until Jenny has been driven away. Or driven mad. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Especially a dead woman. My thoughts. A VERY WELL DESERVED 5 Stars. In the words of two of the characters ..... ' ''It has all the right ingredients.''   ''Let me guess .... Money. Class. Sex. Scandal. And a big country house?'' ' At the heart of Cauldstane are the MacNab family, consisting of Sholto, his sons Alec and Fergus and Zelda, Sholto's sister.  The MacNabs have been the resident family of Cauldstane for centuries but the family are struggling to make ends meet and keep the roof above their heads. Sholto sets about employing a ghostwriter to write his memoirs, in an attempt to rise some finance. In steps Jenny Ryan, not quite the ghostwriter that Sholto was expecting. Like other novels by Linda Gillard this one follows similar themes - secrets, romance, family relationships, a mature heroine and at the heart of it a house that comes alive and takes on a character all of it's own. Opening one of Linda Gillard's books is like settling down into your comfiest chair, as once you get into it you know you're never going to want to leave it. This book will appeal to people who enjoy books by Rachel Hore and Kate Morton. This author should be more well known than she is but as Publishers failed to make her fit into a specific genre, she has had to turn to self publishing to get her work out there and I'm glad that she did. Thanks Linda Gillard for another great story and I wait longingly for the next one.  This is set to be one of my Top 10 of the year.