The story in one page
Across ten stories, the veneer of English civility is peeled back to reveal killers, cowards, and the unlucky pursued by relentless forces. One man celebrates escaping a murder charge after his wife’s death is ruled an accident, only to find himself crouching in his garden at night, hunted by a presence the locals call Black Jack. A brilliant chess master finds his career ruined when the ghost of a man named Morisson stands behind his opponents, forcing them into flawless, superhuman play that breaks his will. Whether in the claustrophobic setting of a haunted lodge or on a cursed seventeenth hole at a golf course, the protagonists face terrors that arise directly from their own past sins or professional obsessions.
Who's who
- Morisson
A deceased chess rival whose presence ensures his former opponent loses every match.
- Mr. Kato
A hollowed-eyed author followed by a presence that terrifies workers in a printing room.
- Black Jack
A local spectral figure believed to be hunting a man who murdered his wife.
- Mr. Cheltenham
A publisher who notices his authors and printers are being spooked by unseen entities.
What it's really about
- Inevitable Justice
- Legal acquittal provides no protection against supernatural vengeance or psychological collapse.
- The Presence of the Dead
- The deceased manifest as physical pressures that disrupt work, sport, and sanity.
Why it's memorable
- A murderer flinging glasses into a dark corner while shouting for a ghost to leave.
- A chess master watching his opponent’s hands move feverishly while a ghost stands behind them.
The ending, explained
Spoilers — show the ending
In one tale, the mystery concludes when a search of a cedar tree reveals a Colt revolver with a single spent cartridge, providing the final proof of a crime.
For your book club
- The way psychological guilt manifests as an external, audible, and visible haunting in these stories.
- The specific 1920s settings, like chess clubs and publishing houses, that ground the supernatural in daily life.