Celeste rules her kingdom with an iron fist. Her kingdom being a courtyard surrounded by three buildings converted into flats. Little escapes her notice, sitting from her perch in front of a large window overlooking the fenced square. When one of her tenants is murdered, she hires two residents to act as private sleuths.
Lina has never been one to catch the eye of men. She is, by her own admission, rather plain and disinterested. She had resigned herself to the life of an old maid until she is charmed by a suave and handsome Johnnie Aysgarth–and his happy-go-lucky veneer is hiding some dark elements.
Carolyn agrees to act as the family representative at an old family home for a party hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. She is amused to learn they want everything left in its charmingly cobwebby condition–and they want to be visited by a ghost. Much to her surprise, one does oblige. It turns out to be an ancestor.
Vernon uses the parapsychological topics–haunted houses, séances, poltergeists, ghost labs–to explore their place in the realm of spirit studies and how they contribute to (or degrade) to discourse of ghost hunting.
Before Grantchester, there was Father Brown. And before Miss Marple’s poison pen letter, there was Ethel Lina White and her novel of misgivings.