I read this book by Charlotte Riddell back in October for Spooky Season because one of my favorite podcasts, Bonnets at Dawn, covered ghost stories by some famous and not-so-famous female writers of the days gone by. Their guest mentioned this book in particular, so I immediately bought a copy from Amazon and read it right away. It’s super short, so if you want something you can read in a few days to finish up your reading goal for the year, I highly recommend this one.
The book is told from the perspective of a young law clerk by the name of Mr. Patterson. He works for a lawyer named Mr. Craven, who owns his own law firm in London, which he inherited from his father. Mr. Craven has a problem client by the name of Miss Blake.
Miss Blake is from Ireland and never married, but her sister married a speculator and moneylender named Mr. Elmsdale, who spent all his money building a huge house, furnishing it lavishly, and keeping his wife in silks and diamonds.
But after a decade or two, his wife got sick and died, and Mr. Elmsdale shot himself in his own library, at which point everything he had went to his daughter, Helena Elmsdale. Since Helena was but a teenager and not yet of age, Miss Blake was managing her affairs for her, including the grand house her father had built for her mother, River Hall.
Craven’s law firm, on Miss Blake’s behalf, on Helena’s behalf, keeps trying to rent out the house, but no one will stay in it. People keep signing leases for two or three years, but never stay more than six months, claiming the house is haunted.
Once they get a tenant, Miss Blake heads off to the continent with her ward to spend their money, but always comes back to her lawyer’s office to demand to know how he expects her to live without the income from the house.
It should be noted that Helena also refuses to stay in the house, having been the first to claim she heard her father walking the halls after his suicide.
Mr. Craven is at his wits’ end trying to figure out what to do with this problem client and her house. Mr. Patterson, convinced it’s no ghost, but a flesh-and-blood neighbor messing with them, offers to stay in the house until he can get to the bottom of the mystery.
During his stay, Mr. Patterson does see a ghost, but he also sees a man lurking about the house and the offices of his employer. He also sees some very distinct footprints in the snow just outside the house.
SPOILER ALERT!
If you don’t want the ending spoiled for you, I suggest you stop reading now and come back after you’ve finished the book.
It turns out they were both right. The late Mr. Elmsdale was haunting the house, but he didn’t commit suicide, he was killed. And his killer has been stalking the house trying to get rid of the tenant so his crime won’t come to light.
I really appreciate a ghost story in which the practical explanation for the haunting turns out to be true in addition to the ghost being real. It’s kind of like an Agatha Christie novel, only instead of all the suspects being guilty, it turns out every explanation is the right explanation!