The Dead of Winter, by Chris Priestley

Michael Vyner recalls a terrible story, one that happened to him. One that would be unbelievable if it weren't true!

Michael's parents are dead and he imagines that he will stay with the kindly lawyer, executor of his parents' will . . . Until he is invited to spend Christmas with his guardian in a large and desolate country house. His arrival on the first night suggests something is not quite right when he sees a woman out in the frozen mists, standing alone in the marshes. But little can prepare him for the solitude of the house itself as he is kept from his guardian and finds himself spending the Christmas holiday wandering the silent corridors of the house seeking distraction. But lonely doesn't mean alone, as Michael soon realises that the house and its grounds harbour many secrets, dead and alive, and Michael is set the task of unravelling some of the darkest secrets of all.

One review I read of this title called it "delightfully creepy." I'd agree. I've never read any of Priestley's books before, but I'm definitely going to start picking them up.

Think "gothic horror." (not goth, gothic). Set in a Victorian-era time and lace, one can't help but begin to feel creeped out from the get-go. A lawyer for a guardian Michael is supposed to be uninterested in, because his own father is dead after saving this man. Then, to know that not only he is now an orphan, but this guardian wants to uproot him completely from anything and anyone he does know...in modern stories this would be a set up for many a bad thing to come---and not just ghosts.

This one captured my attention like few gothic ghost stories written post- Edgar Allan Poe can. Priestley is definitely on par with Poe, for all the descriptive writing and the intensity of the thrill...definitely a master.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This book is part of the e-book collection for my local public library system. I was not solicited to write a review, nor am I receiving any compensation. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”