R.I.P IV Challenge

R.I.P. ? Readers Imbibing Peril !

Hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings, there couldn’t be a better journey to set out on as the evenings draw in and Halloween approaches.

I am opting for Peril the First: Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

When I persused my shelves and considered the books I might borrow from the library or buy I came up with an insanely long long. So I took an axe to it, blood was spilled, and finally these four emerged:

Paul Ferroll by Caroline Clive

Paul Ferroll’s wife lies violently murdered in her bed. A servant is arrested and later acquitted for the crime, time moves on, and Ferroll eventually remarries. A respected magistrate, a gifted author, and a loving husband, Ferroll’s character nonetheless seems to have a dark side.Why does he shun the friendship of his neighbours, neglect his young daughter, and evince indifference when the villagers die during a cholera outbreak? Is his strange behaviour caused by remembrance of his first wife’s untimely death, or does there lie hidden a much darker secret? Hugely popular and influential in its time and recognised as the successor to Jane Eyre and the predecessor of the sensation novels of Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Paul Ferroll has suffered from an unfortunate neglect in the past century.

We Have Always Lived In the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods – until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night. Acquitted of the murders, Constance has returned home, where Merricat protects her from the curiosity and hostility of the villagers. Their days pass in happy isolation until cousin Charles appears. Only Merricat can see the danger, and she must act swiftly to keep Constance from his grasp.

Hammer by Sara Stockbridge

Grace Hammer lives a sweet enough life with her four children in London’s dank and dirty East End, dipping the pockets of wealthy strangers foolish enough to venture there. She keeps a clean house and a tight hold on her magpie nature, restricting her interests to wallets and pocket watches, which are bread and butter – at night she dreams of shiny things. Unbeknown to Grace, her most audacious crime is about to leap seventeen years and come knocking. Out in the dark countryside Mr. Blunt rocks in his chair, grinding his teeth, vowing furious retribution. He has never forgotten his scarlet treasure, or the harlot that stole it from him. At night he dreams of slitting her lily-white throat…

The Mysterious Warning by Eliza Parsons

The good old Count Renaud is dead, and his will makes the degenerate Rhodophil his heir, disinheriting his other son Ferdinand, who has married against his father’s wishes. Rhodophil promises to share his new riches with his younger brother and his wife Claudina, but Ferdinand hears a mysterious voice from beyond the grave, warning him to flee his brother and his wife to save himself from sin and death! Ferdinand obeys the supernatural warning and sets out to find fortune and adventure. In the course of his quest he will encounter a recluse in a ruined castle with a horrible secret, find himself captured and imprisoned by the Turkish army, and encounter one of Gothic literature’s most depraved female characters, the monstrous Fatima. And if he survives all these dangers, Ferdinand must return to Renaud Castle to solve the mystery of the ghostly voice and uncover the terrible truth about his wife and his brother!

A dark quartet indeed! I am really looking forward to this …