The Silence

by Sarah Rayne

Overview

A century-old crime menaces the present in this spine-tingling tale of supernatural suspense

Antiques dealer Nell West is valuing the contents of her late husband Brad’s childhood home, Stilter House. Set on the remote Derbyshire Peaks, there was once a much older property there, in which the notorious Isobel Acton committed a vicious crime.

Warned against visiting the house by an elderly aunt of Brad’s, Nell hears mysterious piano music soon after her arrival. It becomes clear that the music is tangled with Isobel Acton’s macabre fate more than a hundred years earlier. A fate whose consequences still menace the present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847514745
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	06/01/2014
Series:	A Nell West and Michael Flint Haunted House Story , #3
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	549,386
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Sarah Rayne is the author of novels of supernatural suspense, including the new series featuring Michael Flint and Nell West. She lives in Staffordshire.

Editorial Reviews

Fans of this veteran author will be well pleased.

Booklist

Fans of this veteran author will be well pleased.

Booklist

Rayne continues to mix eerie hauntings and witty protagonists in her enjoyable third neogothic mystery (after The Sin Eater) starring widowed antiques dealer Nell West and her paramour, university professor and children’s book author Michael Flint. When Nell is asked by the West family to evaluate isolated Stilter House, she and her young daughter, Beth, discover mysterious piano noises and a sordid history. Nell’s late husband, Brad, spent much of his youth at Stilter House, and may have encountered the supernatural while he was there. Meanwhile, Michael gets a phone call from one of Brad’s relatives suggesting that something is wrong, and he follows Nell to the country. Documents and letters about the possibly deranged builder Samuel Burlap, who was involved with the West family in the early 1900s, drive a good part of the novel. Rayne continues to update the classic haunted house story in ways that are faithful to the genre’s roots while centering the action on a contemporary couple whose growth ably moves the series forward. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Fans of this veteran author will be well pleased."
Booklist on The Silence

“Rayne continues to mix eerie hauntings and witty protagonists in her enjoyable third neogothic mystery”
Publishers Weekly on The Silence

“Rayne's third Nell West ghost story perfects the craft of deftly chosen details, simmering suspense and chilling surprises, all woven into a quiet, elegant narrative.”
Kirkus Reviews on The Silence

From the Publisher

Beautiful music lulls and lures the unsuspecting listener to the brink of danger and the secret of a century-old crime. Antiques dealer Nell West has been hired to evaluate the contents of her late husband Brad's childhood home, Stilter House. Besides fueling her professional interest in the remote Derbyshire Peaks home, the assignment also provides an opportunity to give her young daughter, Beth, a clearer picture of her father. Nell scarcely worries about gossip that the house is haunted, though given her recent adventures (The Sin Eater, 2012, etc.), she has reason to. Inside Stilter, Nell faintly hears piano music and assumes that Beth has been playing, but the keyboard is securely locked. Meanwhile, Nell's lover, Michael Flint, who must wait until the end of term at Oriel College to join her, receives an agitated phone call from elderly Emily West warning that Nell and Beth mustn't spend the night at Stilter. Even if he took this warning seriously, it wouldn't matter, since Nell has no phone service there. As she looks through the house, she finds various papers--letters, court statements, diary entries--that offer information about servants abruptly leaving after only one day of work, the eerie music she'd heard and, worst of all, a series of unspeakable crimes against children. Armed with greater understanding, Michael joins his lover at Stilter. But will he be too late to help? Rayne's third Nell West ghost story perfects the craft of deftly chosen details, simmering suspense and chilling surprises, all woven into a quiet, elegant narrative.

Kirkus Reviews