I have just finished reading the book,
The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery by Catherine Bailey.
The non-fiction is on the life of John Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland, particularly on his war-time service in WWI. Unlike Black Diamonds, Bailey has written her own experience in uncovering and discovering John's life through his diary, corresponding letters and war-time records, mainly at Belvoir Castle.
Without spoiling further, Bailey tries to find out why John decided to erase certain part of his life from his household and public.
I am personally not a fan of gothic, horror, mystery/suspense genre, because I get frightened and nightmares so easily
. However, this non-fiction did not scare me at all. Instead, the book uncovers tragedies and misfortunes within the Manners family.
The Guardian has written a review:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/16/the-secret-rooms-catherine-bailey-review
The Telegraph has also written a review:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture...-Secret-Rooms-by-Catherine-Bailey-review.html
What I love about both
The Secret Rooms and
Black Diamonds are the inclusion of illustrations throughout the books, family tree in the beginning, notes on the letter correspondents and indexes at the back of the book. In
The Secret Rooms particular, there are maps, floor plans of the castle and photos of letters that were striking. I do find these resources very useful to contextualise the events.
I found this book from my local library. It was published at the end of 2012.