Spite House
(2023)(The first book in the Spite House Chronicles series)
A novel by Alistair Cross and Tamara Thorne
Welcome to Spite House
There's an island up in Gold Country at the northern end of Snapdragon Lake. It's named Manchester for the family that owns it, but the locals call it Spite Island. There's a single lonely mansion on that island and a group of authors have been invited to write about its ghosts and its mysteries. But the real mystery is, who will survive this luxurious but deadly retreat?* * *
A Cursed Island
Before Solomon and Ruthia Manchester bought the beautiful but lonely island on Snapdragon Lake, it was considered a cursed place. Local tribes called it Trickster Island, and said it was never meant to be inhabited by humans. When pioneers attempted to settle there, they ended up deserting their village with the suddenness of the Roanoke Colony.
Down in the town of Snapdragon, dark stories were told by the locals. They called it Spite Island and avoided the place despite an abundance of game and timber. Nothing good ever happened there, they said.
A Cursed House
But in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Solomon and Ruthia bought the island and named it after themselves. They built their house and resort, which was soon widely considered the finest Gilded Age getaway in the western United States. The hotel played host to the rich and famous, and boasted fine dining, as well as its own spa and zoo.
The locals never dignified the Manchester name. They still don’t.
Today, the hotel is deserted and only old Agnes Manchester and her companion, Velda, occupy the property. Having fallen on hard times, Agnes has agreed to sell the island to an entrepreneur who intends to revive the resort and make it a world-famous vacation spot. There’s only one stipulation: She and the ghosts must remain undisturbed in their private home.
Before the real renovations begin, a group of writers are invited to Manchester House to lend their creativity and craft to early publicity for the new resort. They arrive ready to write about the history of the Manchesters and their ghosts. They look forward to exploring the house and its secrets, as well as the remains of the hotel, the cemetery, and the old zoo. They’re ready for gourmet dinners, good stories, and good company.
Cursed Creatures
Already cut off from the outside world by miles of icy water and no internet or cell service, the guests soon find themselves truly alone when a violent storm hits, and even the single phone line goes down. Still, it’s fun. It’s an adventure. The house has withstood worse over the centuries.
But their host, Agnes Manchester, doesn’t inspire confidence. She watches her guests with dark, suspicious eyes, and claims to commune with her ancestor, Ruthia, on a daily basis.
And then there are the shadows. They shift and move in the hallways and corners of Spite House, and the guests begin seeing, feeling, and hearing things that can’t possibly be real. As ghost stories are told each night after dinner, and the windchimes crash and sing in the wind and rain, the writers think their imaginations are getting the better of them.
But they’re wrong.
In the privacy of her seance room, Agnes Manchester smiles because the spirit of Ruthia Manchester walks once more. And soon, the others will follow.
Genre: Horror
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Used availability for Tamara Thorne's Spite House