It’s the late 1920s, a time of rational thought. Jillian Leigh, raised by parents who are scientists, and pursuing a degree at Oxford, considers herself a rational person. When a lawyer shows up one day to break the news that her only Uncle, Toby, had died, and he needs Jillian to go down to the remote coastal village where he had most recently been living, identify the body, and pack up his things so his landlady can find a new tenant, Jillian is reluctant. Although they were close when she was a girl, her Uncle Toby disappeared from her life when she 14, and she barely knows him now. Unfortunately, her parents are abroad and there is no other family member available; so, although it means missing several weeks of class, she fires up her car – a luxury that women rarely owned in those days – and heads down to the coast.

Once there, mysteries begin to pile up. Toby, according to the coroner, fell off a cliff. And yet, a handsome Scotland Yard Detective is on the scene, investigating. Toby had been staying in a home that overlooked a haunted wood but, when Jillian takes up residence there, she suspects that the house itself is haunted. Luckily Toby was a professional ghost-hunter and left behind his books, notes, and equipment; and Jillian finds herself drawn into investigating the ghosts of small seaside town, including that of Walking John, a smuggler from the 1700’s who died of grief after his young son was accidentally killed in a smuggling accident.

Jillian’s days are filled with investigations and her nights with terror, as the ghostly activity is supplemented by other mysteries.

What is going on in the village? Who is stalking her? Why do people keeping telling her that she looks like a beautiful local serving maid who died many years ago? What does the ghost want from her? And why her?

And when is that handsome Scotland Yard Detective coming back again?

Luckily it all comes together in a way that makes sense.

I give this book a solid B-. Often, when I buy books, they stay on my shelf and I read them over and over. I don’t regret reading this one but I don’t see myself returning to it. It was a little light on the spooky factor – as compared to someone like John Dickson Carr, who is the master of creepy – and a little too heavy on the romance for my liking.