The Haunted Grange (1989)
Mar 29, 2007 3:31:38 GMT -5
Post by Gloomy Sundae on Mar 29, 2007 3:31:38 GMT -5
R. Chetwynd-Hayes - The Haunted Grange (Kimber, 1989)
The excellent horror anthologist Hugh Lamb's review of The Haunted Grange (Kimber, 1989), from The Ghost Story Society Newsletter # 3, June 1989.
Readers of Chetwynd-Hayes' latest novel are required to know a little bit about some of his other books, particularly those which mention Clavering Grange, the subject of this one. Which is a bit of a cheek, considering one of the books mentioned The Dark Man must be about 25 years old by now. However, you can read the book without following up the references, which I was obliged to do.
Clavering Grange is a spook-ridden old pile, inhabited by spook-ridden old heaps, who alternatively snarl at each other and the hero, or get him between the sheets, as does the lady of the house. He resembles, it seems, the dead daughter of the couple who own the Grange, and to confuse matters further, the dead daughter turns up and falls in love with the hero.
This is weird stuff, and like a lot of Chetwynd-Hayes, ambles along without getting very far. He does rescue himself from complete tedium just when you least expect it, and right at the end he brings in two lovely ghosts, the Wanderer and the Banshee. The Wanderer is the Grange's spirit of death, here in the guise of a soldier in full battledress (I was oddly reminded of the film Rosemary's Killer) and the Banshee is a real charmer who, should you look at her, makes you scream yourself to death, dislocated jaw and all. If only they'd been in the book from the beginning ... but if you like Chetwynd-Hayes' little touches - the vulgar servants with splendid bob-mots ("It's all explosions and buggered all the time"), the well-turned phrases in the dialogue, and the final few pages of well-done terror - then you'll enjoy it. I can only say thank heaven the old pile has been pulled down at last. They should have had Francis St. Clare in this one.
The excellent horror anthologist Hugh Lamb's review of The Haunted Grange (Kimber, 1989), from The Ghost Story Society Newsletter # 3, June 1989.
Readers of Chetwynd-Hayes' latest novel are required to know a little bit about some of his other books, particularly those which mention Clavering Grange, the subject of this one. Which is a bit of a cheek, considering one of the books mentioned The Dark Man must be about 25 years old by now. However, you can read the book without following up the references, which I was obliged to do.
Clavering Grange is a spook-ridden old pile, inhabited by spook-ridden old heaps, who alternatively snarl at each other and the hero, or get him between the sheets, as does the lady of the house. He resembles, it seems, the dead daughter of the couple who own the Grange, and to confuse matters further, the dead daughter turns up and falls in love with the hero.
This is weird stuff, and like a lot of Chetwynd-Hayes, ambles along without getting very far. He does rescue himself from complete tedium just when you least expect it, and right at the end he brings in two lovely ghosts, the Wanderer and the Banshee. The Wanderer is the Grange's spirit of death, here in the guise of a soldier in full battledress (I was oddly reminded of the film Rosemary's Killer) and the Banshee is a real charmer who, should you look at her, makes you scream yourself to death, dislocated jaw and all. If only they'd been in the book from the beginning ... but if you like Chetwynd-Hayes' little touches - the vulgar servants with splendid bob-mots ("It's all explosions and buggered all the time"), the well-turned phrases in the dialogue, and the final few pages of well-done terror - then you'll enjoy it. I can only say thank heaven the old pile has been pulled down at last. They should have had Francis St. Clare in this one.