Property of a Lady

I’ve noticed before, perusing Ms. Rayne’s “psychological mysteries,” especially those which border on the actually ghostly (which is many of her novels), that Ms. Rayne exhibits the ability Henry James demonstrated in “Turn of the Screw” a full century or more earlier. “Real life,” in whichever era Ms. Rayne is weaving, is delineated with clarity, conciseness, and focus; and in places, reading a Rayne story is akin in some ways to reading in the sub-genre known as “British cosy mysteries.” So did “Turn of the Screw” appear, at the beginning, and for some time afterwards.


But horror and the Supernatural are not always best exposed by “splatterpunk.” Sometimes it is the very subtleties, the quiet approach, the soft creak of old lumber, the wind’s whistling in the attic eaves, that inspires the churning of our stomachs and the anxiety in our emotions. Sarah Rayne is utterly skilled at the subtle underpinnings, the spider’s silk that entraps the unwary venture, She is as accomplished a storyteller as Henry James in “The Turn of the Screw” and as H. H. Munro (Saki) in the inimitable classic “The Open Window.”

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this book.

Property of a Lady
by Sarah Rayne

I have read this book before in the past 2 year but had forgotten and requested a copy from Net Galley. This was a great book. Well written, good mystery that keeps you guessing. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a good mystery, ghosts or haunted house stories.

Originally published in 2011, this is a very traditional ghost story more along the lines of Henry James than Stephen King