The Story Keeper

• Author: Kelly Rimmer
• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Publication Date: July 21, 2026
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A crumbling mansion, a forgotten book, and a mystery that could destroy them all . . .

Beneath the decaying grandeur of Wurimbirra, a family estate on the east coast of Australia, dark secrets lie buried. Fiona Winslow returns to restore the mansion she once called home, but what she uncovers is more than just decay – it is a mystery locked away for generations.

A forgotten book, The Midnight Estate, leads her into a story of love, loss, and betrayal mirroring her own. And as the lines between fiction and reality blur, Fiona must confront a chilling Is the true mystery hidden in the walls of her ancestral home, or within the pages of a book that seems to have chosen her?

A Gothic tale told across three timelines, The Midnight Estate is a haunting mystery entwining a family’s darkest secrets and a captivating book-within-a-book puzzle.

I’ve heard nothing but great things about Kelly Rimmer’s writing, and this was my introduction to her writing. A few of my recent reads have been set in Australia, and I was thrilled to get the audiobook version. Quick confession: I really enjoy listening to many accents, and apparently I’m on an Australian accent kick this month. Either way, this was a read that surprised me but got me emotionally invested rather quickly.

Siho Ellsmore does the narration, and managed to achieve the balance between a heavy Australian accent that was still easy to understand for someone who isn’t accustomed to the accent. Ellsmore navigates Australian, British, and American accents extremely well, although at times the American English accent sounded a bit off. However, Ellsmore voices a range of voice tones and kept me glued to the book.

The story begins with Fiona Winslow returning home after the implosion of her marriage, and her taking a little bit of time off from work to restore the crumbling mansion where she grew up. She’s extremely close with her cousin Jon, who is close in age and grew up with her. However, he wants nothing to do with the family estate and is more than happy to see Fiona there. Her mother is not. She wants to be far away from the estate of Wurimbirra and doesn’t want Fiona to be there either. However, Fiona loves the house and is willing to overlook the rumors that the house is haunted.

She stumbles upon a book hidden away in the house, called The Midnight Estate, by an author she can’t find any information about. Assuming it was an author who had faded into obscurity, she begins to read the book and quickly becomes absorbed. The timeline splits into Fiona’s present day, and the book, a separate timeline in the past, offering up a matryoshka doll, with a book fitted within a book. 

While I found Fiona’s timeline to be a bit on the slower side, as she works her way through the book and starts to venture out in the town she grew up in, interacting with other locals and connect in new ways with some people she knew in her younger years. It took me a little while to get invested in the second timeline, but once I did, I was hooked. I found myself being more intrigued by the timeline set in the past, even as it becomes easy to draw parallels between the two storylines. Initially, the changes between the timelines was a bit confusing and abrupt until I understood what was going on.

Fiona herself is a well-rounded and realistically depicted character, however some of the side characters felt a bit flat to me. It took me longer to connect with Marie, and it took even longer for me to feel connected in any way to Silas, the protagonist of the book. I was surprised it took Fiona as long as it did to put things together, since it was relatively obvious to me, and I’m not usually the person who solves the mystery easily. I loved that it was a mix of genres, including historical fiction, mystery, and even a hint of romance.

Overall, this was an interesting read that captured my attention and didn’t let go. Rimmer has a wonderful talent, and this reads as partly a love letter to books and reading, and partly as a wonderfully gothic masterpiece with the estate of Wurimbirra as a character of its own. Now that I’m thinking about it, the book gives me similar vibes as the Lost Bride trilogy by Nora Roberts. Equally intriguing and beautifully descriptive, Rimmer manages to create characters that I loved reading about and a story I couldn’t put down. 

Bottom line: A well-crafted, dual timeline book that includes a book-within-a-book and is centered around a neglected estate and the secrets it holds.

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