The best books in this genre have mysteries that are built on uncertainty and the realization that almost nobody the character interacts with can be relied upon to be reliable. This means that, added to the already Gothic premise, these books have an excellent sense of something’s-a-little-bit-off permeating them so that we always feel slightly unsettled, our fight-or-flight instincts on full alert according to our nature. Many of them are bathed in literal mists and shadows and lonely castles, but even if they aren’t, we might as well be there anyway. I might have raged at the “chick” part of this genre label, but I have no qualms with the “noir” part of it. There is a seductive darkness to much of the prose that makes it perfect night-time, fall, winter or stormy day reading.