The takeaway from Property of a Lady? Girl, BURN EVERYTHING. Receipts, diaries, letters, grocery lists - it all should thrown directly into the fire. People are nosy and I swear nothing good ever comes from a packet of letters tied together with a ribbon or similar. Anyhoo, this is aight. Not super scary and the characters are fine, except for the kid because get these kids out of my spooky story unless they are dead Victorian children or possessed by the malevolent spirits of the recently dead gardener and nanny. Not sure if I'll continue with the series but I wouldn't turn it away if offered.

*Many thanks to Sarah Rayne, Severn House and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A truly good ghost story in which the past and dark deeds influence directly or indeirectly anyone who has any dealings with Charect House in Marston Lacy, Shropshire. The house, nearly two hundred years old, has been left uninhabited for decades and is rumoured to be haunted by a ghost of the last male owner from the Lee family. The mystery is complicted and I admit I was surprised when it came into light.
The plot kept me interested and I liked the way the story was told, from secret letters and diaries found by two main protagonists, who are an Oxford don and an antique dealer.
As any ghost story, best read at night with a glass of mulled wine.

Property of a lady by Sarah Raine.
A very good read. Good story but slow at the start. I did find this creepy. Thanks to netgalley and severn House. 4*.

A strange house with a weird clock, tapping noises and people seen wandering around. I loved the cover and liked the story but the way it was written jarred. It was stilted and the modern characters sounded older than the ancient ones! Why would anyone today photocopy something to put in the post when there are far quicker ways to share information?? There were some creepy moments and some of the people oozed menace. I did enjoy the book, it was quite gripping and not too long.

This was an easy to read thriller thaylt kept my attention all the way through! Lots of twists and surprises I didn't see coming. Very good, would recommend!

This is the 1st book in this series and it was a very good read. Dr. Michael Flint and Nell West are the main characters in this thriller. An old house, with a sordid past seem to cause modern day problems. The story follows one “haunted house” & the inhabitants of it... through the years. There were twists and turns and the story kept me engaged. I look forward to reading the second book in the series. Thank you to #netgalley for my copy. This was my first book by Sarah Reyne and it was a 4 star read for me

I've wanted to read this book for years so when I was able to read this via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review I was very happy.

This book is the first in a series about an Oxford professor and an antiques dealer who stumble upon a ghost in an old manor house. The story was paced well and had a very haunting premise which I enjoyed. Can't wait to read the next in the series.

This book was amazing! The characters were created so vividly that they jumped off the pages and became so real.
Same with the scenery. I could picture every creepy detail of the house.
5 stars!
Thank you for my free arc in exchange for my honest review.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Do not read this book in a dark creaky house all alone with the wind blowing against the windows. It is full of atmosphere and suspense. It is a good ghost story that also happens to be a fine mystery as well. Michael, the Oxford Don, is asked by his American friend to check out the house his wife has inherited. It is just outside a small Shropshire village and has a haunted reputation.

During his visit to photograph the house, Michael meets Nell, the antiques dealer the new owners have asked to buy any articles from the original house. Nell is a recent widow and the mother of a 7 year old girl. 7 year old girls seem to have problems in this village as several of them, over the years, have gone missing only to show up later with no memory of what occurred, When Nell’s daughter becomes one of the missing, Michael speeds back to help in the hunt. Once the little girl is found safe, Nell and Michael compare notes.

The new owners have a 7 year old daughter who is having identical nightmares to Nell’s and they both involve a very scary hulking man and a little girl named Elvira. The more they dig the darker and more scary it becomes. Who is this spirit and why is he doing all sorts of diabolical deeds. It turns out the truth is far more disturbing and sadder than either of them could imagine.

This was a gripping page turner. I did not want to put it down right to the very last page which one final twist keeps the reader guessing. Five purrs and two shivery paws up.

An excellent ghost story that kept me on the edge till the end.
I liked the gripping and entertaining plot, the growing tension and the well thought cast of characters.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Sarah Rayne's first in the series featuring Dr Michael Flint, an Oriel College, Oxford don, and antiques dealer, Nell West is a creepy and spooky story, primarily located in a Shropshire village, Marston Lacy. On the outskirts of the village down Blackberry Lane, is the dilapidated, gloomy gothic manor, Charect House, built in the eighteenth century by John Lee, rumoured to be haunted by William Lee, although barely anyone has lived in for almost a century. Michael's American friends, Jack and Liz from Maryland have unexpected inherited Charect House, and ask him to go and see it, and report back on what it looks like and in what state it is in. Michael agrees, and finds it an uneasy and unsettling experience. He takes photographs to send to Jack and reports back. He meets recently widowed Nell West, and her daughter, 7 year old Beth, and together they look into the history of the house.

In a disturbing narrative of a haunted house, strange and odd, but similar behaviour is emanating from the young Beth, and in 7 year old, Ellie, Jack and Liz's daughter back in the US. It culminates in the disappearance of Beth, not the first time a 7 year old girl has gone missing in the village and been found in the church grounds. Old journals are discovered, of a psychic investigator in the 1960s, Alice Wilson, and the owner of the house in 1939, Harriet Anstey, both women who had lost their men in the wars. Both journals hint at the supernatural, a worrisome old clock, ghosts with missing eyes, and terrifying rhymes. There are references to a asylum, Victorian myths and legends such as The Ingoldsby legends, ancient dark magic, spells, and the hand of glory that can open any door.

Rayne gives us an old fashioned eerie classic ghost story, with a haunted house that has a troubling and gory past history. It is a story of a raging jealousy, obsession, betrayal and murder in the past and the beginnings of a tentative romance in the present with Michael and Nell. It is a book that I enjoyed reading, and which I recommend to those who like dark and spooky tales. Many thanks to Severn House for a copy of the book.

First published in 2011 and the first of a series, Sarah Rayne has produced a suitably spooky supernatural tale very much in the tradition of the classic English ghost story. We have the old country house with its dark history, strange occurrences experienced over many years that include unexplained sightings and noises, that old favourite of the photograph subsequently showing an unknown face in an upstairs window and (very much in the M.R James tradition) the investigating academic.

The plot concerns Michael Flint , an Oxford University lecturer who is asked by American friends to go over to Shropshire and take a look at a house they have unexpectedly inherited. While there, an apparent intruder is heard and sighted but can not be located. When both the daughter of his American friends and also that of the young window at the local antiques shop both start experiencing the same nightmares, the scene is set for the past to menace and threaten the present.

The story's narrative is dependent on the discovery of not one, not two but three hidden diaries and journals which does somewhat stretch the levels of credulity, but I suppose we are talking about a ghost story here. If you, as I do, like this genre then I think then you will be pleasantly entertained.

5 stars

I would rate this story as more of a mystery than a pure ghost story. I know it has a ghost, but Ms. Rayne's popular music-based Phineas Fox mysteries show through in her style of writing. This reader just had to keep going to learn what would happen next. Yeah, it was a little predictable, and there were many coincidences, but c'mon, it's entertainment, right? And it is gentle, not an in-your-face with horrid monsters type of book.

Oxford Professor Michael Flint and antiques dealer Nell West are introduced in this new series from Sarah Rayne.

Michael is asked via an email from a friend named Jack Harper to take a look at an old house that his wife had just inherited to see what must be done to make it habitable. It is on the England/Wales border so not really close to Oxford where Michael lives. He later meets Nell who has been hired by the owner of the house to look into an auction of old antiques that were said to have come from the house. After unnerving experiences in the old house, Michael and Nell begin to research the history of the home. It seems there is a “stocky ghost” in the home and several people have seen/met it often with dire consequences.

Michael and Nell cannot deny their attraction to one another as their hunt for the mysterious intruder continues. This is a very well written and plotted novel as are all of Ms. Rayne's novels that I have read so far. One event follows another in a logical progression. The story itself is fascinating – just a little suspension of belief is necessary – as the pages literally fly by. It is great entertainment and was a wonderful way to pass the time while trapped in my house during a blizzard with the power out. (Thank goodness for a charged up Kindle!)

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this most excellent book for me to read, enjoy and review.

I have read contemporary novels with some paranormal activity, and historical mysteries with a touch of the spirit world, but I don't recall reading a genuine ghost story before PROPERTY OF A LADY.

I wasn't quite prepared for what I encountered in this book--it isn't a genre I would seek out, but Ms. Rayne did a good job with what she set out to do. Tell a chilling ghost story.

An old fashioned ghost story set in an inherited house , dont be put off though as this book does draw you in

This is the first i have read by this author but will be certainly reading more

I just now noticed this book was published in 2011, so I’m not sure why we were asked to review it? I’m disappointed because it’s too old for me to order for our library, but it was so deliciously scary I had to turn my light on while reading in the middle of the night. I’m definitely going to check out all Rayne’s other books.
Michael is asked by his American friends to check out a country home they’ve just inherited in England. He does so and immediately feels it’s haunted, although he’s too logical to believe so. He meets Nell and her daughter who own an antique store in the village, and is procuring pieces that used to belong to the house. Both the American daughter and Nell’s daughter Beth are having the same nightmares, and Beth is taken from school, missing for 24 hours but then found safely. Michael and Nell have found diaries that show this has happened several times over the years and they’re determined to find out why. This is a gothic horror story at its best. I made sure to finish the book during the daylight hours, it’s that good. The plots are tied together beautifully and the ending is perfect. A must read.

Book one in the Nell West and Michael Flint Haunted House stories. An old Shropshire house awakens the interest of Oxford Don, Michael and antiques dealer, Nell. A spooky, atmospheric, character driven yarn - both engaging and entertaining.

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.

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.”

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