We have just entered the month of October – the spookiest month of the year! The evenings are darker and colder, the weather is changing and it ends with Halloween. This makes October the perfect time of the year for curling up on the sofa with a chilling ghostly tale, especially one that is based on a real legend. To get into the spooky spirit, I have just finished reading It Began With a Ghost Story by Jean Harrod – a dark, ghostly paranormal thriller based on a true Yorkshire legend, the ghost of Kitty Garthwaite. Not only does it feature a ghost, it is set on the eerie North Yorkshire moors.
It Began with a Ghost Story opens on the mist-swept North York Moors, a place where past wrongs and local lore sit heavy in the rugged air. The story follows Grace Winter, a London doctor who inherits a hidden cottage from her late mother and travels north to uncover family secrets. What begins as a trip to discover more about her mother and wrap up her affairs, it soon unfurls into a tangled murder-mystery when a young man is found dead in a spot famed for a legend about Kitty Garthwaite, a spectral figure blamed for the deaths of men in the area. The mystery and resulting investigation is layered with the old tale, blurring the lines between whether the danger is otherworldly or rooted in the very real human world.
The inspiration for this story is the North York moors and an 18th century servant girl named Kitty Garthwaite (aka Sarkless Kitty). After discovering she was pregnant and abandoned by her lover, Willie Dixon, she was found dead in the nearby river at Lowna Ford, near the village of Hutton-le-Hole. Soon after, Willie was found dead in the same place. The following decades see many more men lose their lives in the same place with their heads bashed in. The ghost of young Kitty is blamed for the deaths and the legend grows.
Grace Winter is sorting out her late mother’s affairs only to discover she has also inherited a secret house in North Yorkshire that she knew nothing about. She decides to pay a visit and takes along her best friends Evie and Sam for a holiday break. But what is supposed to be a relaxing break turns into a nightmare with ghostly going-ons and a murder which all three become involved in, with Evie becoming the main suspect.
Overall, for me, this was a very good ghostly psychological thriller. I have read her three previous novels in the Jess Turner Diplomatic Crime Series and loved them, and found this just as good, and a thrilling start to a new series. This is a paranormal, murder-mystery that will keep you hooked.
Inspired by the legend of Kitty Garthwaite (aka Sarkless Kitty), the story is told in the present day with flashbacks to the late 1700s. The two stories intertwine extremely well, moving briskly enough to keep momentum while keeping the tension and only revealing its secrets when absolutely necessary.
The characters are grounded and feel real: Grace is believable as a pragmatic GP that is forced to deal not only with the loss of her mother but the secrets that are being revealed as a result. Evie, who is going through her own emotional issues, provides more mystery when she becomes obsessed with the ghost of Kitty, and Sam is hot-headed and likeable. And then there is the extra larger-than-life character of the North York Moors that provides the eerie atmosphere that is the backdrop for the past and present occurrences.
The plot of the story is very satisfying – a murder-mystery ghostly tale that mixes clues, red herrings and some very good twists. The book balances its paranormal suggestion with procedural police investigation, local gossip and the strain and unravelling of relationships that all push the story forward until the exciting final reveal.
For readers who love ghostly mysteries with a folkloric edge, It Began with a Ghost Story is an engaging, well-paced atmospheric read and a brilliant introduction in to a new series featuring Grace Winter.
If you like ghost stories that offer more than spine-tingling scares in atmospheric settings, that come across as very real and believable, and create a feeling of otherworldly chills that linger long after the last page has been turned, It Began With a Ghost Story is a good choice.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £8.99 (Paperback) / £3.99 (Kindle)
Available to buy from Amazon here.
