It Was Her House First is a haunted house mystery sure to please fans of supernatural jump scares and detective fiction alike!
Disclosure: Cherie Priest graciously read and blurb my latest novel, The Talking Cure. This review was neither requested nor offered in exchange.
It Was Her House First
It Was Her House First features two appealing protagonists and two interwoven story lines, occurring in the past and present. Bartholomew Sloan, the ghost of a world-famous, 1920s era detective, is trapped in a decaying mansion with the raging spirit of a woman he greatly wronged. When Ronnie Mitchell, a down-to-earth young woman with a can-do attitude buys the house intent on restoring it to its past glory, Bartholomew is in turn, curious, protective, and hopeful for a means of release.
The reader (and Ronnie, through reading a water-logged diary) learns that the house was build by a famous 1920s film star, Venita Rost. Bartholomew Sloan was a welcomed visitor to the beautiful and happy home. At first. But when this visitor brought tragedy with him, Venita’s world and sanity crumbled. But she didn’t go down without a fight.
Ronnie Rehabs a House
In the present-day story line, Ronnie faces her own tragedy. Her brother has died in a house fire, and although he was on hospice care for cancer at the time, she reproaches herself. With his life insurance money and her friend Kate at her side, Ronnie throws herself into the huge, exhausting project of rehabbing the old mansion. It’s a daunting task, and when Coty, a strange young man claiming to be Bartholomew’s descendant, becomes obsessed with the house, Ronnie is at first puzzling then suspicious.
This is Ronnie’s story, and she is a great character with an engaging voice. “I suppose we get the ghosts we get, not necessarily the ones we want,” she muses, wishing for a few last words with her brother. Matter-of-fact about the possibility of spirits, likening then to “stray cats,” when she first begins to perceive evidence of Bartholomew, she’s no longer so sure of the benign nature of the hauntings.
Ghostly Anxiety
Ronnie lives with anxiety disorder, finding comfort in the sense of control she derives from her obsessive worry. This makes her a bit of an unreliable narrator, which the book uses to good advantage: from her occasional self-doubt to the trope of her friend not totally believing Ronnie’s experiences in the haunted house or sharing concerns over Coty’s motives, the reader holds a smidgen of doubt as to what is exactly going on.
The house itself, an extension of Venita, the actress, and a personification of her wounded rage is a character for Ronnie to befriend. Which concerns Bartholomew; “And then there’s the house itself. It’s haunting her as surely as it haunts Venita and I. Surely, given enough motivation, anything at can choose to haunt.”
Bartholomew Haunts Her House
Bartholomew, in life vain, brilliant yet foolish, and kind yet selfish, is penitent in the afterlife. Remediation of his sins and crimes are impossible, but the possibility of protecting Ronnie and even facilitating her efforts on the house are attractive. Maybe there is a way out for both him and Venita after all.
The narrative moves at a nice pace with descriptions of all-too-authentic sounding house repair tasks (I’ve just done a mini-version of this sort of thing, which can be quite haunting, even without spirits in the house.) skillfully building conflict and tension toward the haunted phenomenon. And more mundane and dangerous threats lurk as well.
This was an entertaining read, a real treat, that I lapped up in a couple of sittings. Highly recommended. I believe it is a standalone book but would happily follow Ronnie in further haunted house rehabs.
“The Talking Cure is a marvelous story—an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery infused with a strong sense of the Weird… and a hearty dose of magic on the side. It’s ideal for all fans of the sinister, the surprising, and the strange.”—Cherie Priest, award-winning author of Boneshaker
Find The Talking Cure at these fine locations:
Left Bank Books in St. Louis
What do you look for in a ghost story? Comment on the blog.
If you are interest in It Was Her House First, you might like to read my review of Grave Regrets by David Massengill.
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor
Subscribe to the email list for exclusive content and announcements of new books and appearances. And, of course, I’m selling books. Check out all my stories at Amazon.com and my Shop.
Wolfhearted is also available as an Audible audiobook, here.
Last year, St. Louis Writers Guild published Weird STL, an anthology celebrating the strange, spooky, and just plain wonderful stories of our hometown. This volume of short stories, poems, a play, and essays includes a Sean Joye universe short story, “Big Magick.” Joseph Arwald, one of the baddies from The Big Cinch, tells us what really happened to the Ferris Wheel from the St. Louis 1904 World’s Fair.
Reviews, even a line or two, put the books you enjoyed in a more prominent position on Amazon and are vital for independent and small-press books to find their audience. Remember your most recent read? Leave a review for it on Audible, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Goodreads.
The direct links to post Amazon reviews are: Wolfhearted, here, The Resurrectionist, here, and Water of Life, here. The Big Cinch, here. The Talking Cure, here. Thanks in advance.