When Emmalyn Remembers

When Emmalyn Remembers is a gothic romance by the American writer Jennifer Wilde, published in 1970. It is built on an inheritance, a house with a violent history and a woman whose memory has been destroyed by what she saw.

Henrietta Stern willed her weathered seaside mansion to Emmalynn, and the blood on its veranda was still visible when the new owner arrived. Emmalynn witnessed an axe murder there and responded by losing her memory of the event entirely, which left the case where the police had closed it.

That closure is not settled for everybody. Burt Reed, the man accused of the killing, died in jail, and his son George is determined to clear his father's name and will stop at nothing, including putting Emmalynn's life at risk. Another man, Boyd Devlon, keeps suggesting an intimacy with her, and the truth is that if Burt was innocent, the real killer has an interest in making sure she never remembers. Every man in the story has a reason for wanting the case left alone, and her memory is the only thing that can settle it.