This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

The letter arrived on a Tuesday morning, delivered by a courier who disappeared before Mrs. Eleanor Blackwood could properly thank him. The envelope bore no return address, only her name written in elegant script across cream-colored paper that felt expensive between her fingers. Inside, the message was brief but intriguing.

Mrs. Blackwood, your reputation as a solver of peculiar mysteries precedes you. I find myself in need of your particular talents. A matter most urgent has arisen at Ravenshollow Manor, and I fear conventional authorities would dismiss my concerns as mere superstition. Please come at your earliest convenience. Transportation and accommodation will be provided. Your discretion is paramount.

Yours in desperation, Lord Pemberton Ravenshollow

Eleanor set down her morning tea and considered the letter carefully. At sixty-two, she had built an unusual career investigating cases that others deemed too strange, too supernatural, or simply too embarrassing for the regular police. Her background in both psychology and folklore, combined with an analytical mind that refused to accept the impossible without thorough investigation, had earned her a modest but steady clientele among the wealthy and eccentric.

Ravenshollow Manor. The name stirred something in her memory. She retrieved her leather-bound notebook from the mantelpiece and flipped through pages of careful notes until she found what she sought. Three years ago, she had heard whispers at a conference about strange occurrences at an estate in the Yorkshire moors. Servants leaving without notice, livestock found arranged in peculiar patterns, and lights seen dancing in empty rooms. The whispers had mentioned a family curse, though Eleanor had dismissed such talk as the usual rural folklore that grew around old houses.