Beware, This House is Haunted!

Jessica and Lizzie are enduring a rain-sodden holiday in a Cornish cottage with their mother, step-father and inimical step-brothers, when the monotony is broken by the appearance of ghostly, threatening notes on the bulletin board. The children decide to challenge the supernatural messenger, who materialises as Beryl, a fractious schoolgirl who is still in a bad mood after her fatal road accident 62 years ago. The children attempt to befriend Beryl, and the narrative enters an ominously bland phase until they go one disastrous step too far in their efforts to mollify her. The touches of horror in this smoothly written domestic drama suggest that the book might satisfy older children in search of a moderately chilling tale. Seekers of a seriously troubled sleep will, however, be disappointed.