27 ratings | 23 reviews | avg rating:4.11

more photos (1)

Tim Prasil’s Followers (12)

Tim’s Bookshelves

to-read (1)
currently-reading (1)
read (39)
american-lit (3)
historical-ghostlore (3)
spooky-stuff (25)
world-lit (6)

Tim’s Friends (3)

Kelly

596 books | 55 friends

Maria DeBlassie

654 books | 203 friends

Katherine Nabity

1,992 books | 180 friends

Tim Prasil

Goodreads Author

Website

https://brombonesbooks.com/

Twitter

TimPrasil

Genre

Fiction, Mystery, Horror

Member Since

August 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/timprasil

edit data

Tim Prasil writes novels about a quirky yet brilliant ghost hunter named Vera Van Slyke. The tales are told in the voice Lida Bergson, a former Spiritualist medium who Vera debunked. Nonetheless, Vera and Lida became friends, a sort of Holmes and Watson with ghosts.

There are three novels so far.

1) Help for the Haunted is a "composite novel" featuring thirteen distinct yet interwoven adventures set between 1899 and 1909. It's a good place to start (though, really, readers can start with any of the books)>

2) Guilt Is a Ghost is a traditional novel that explains how the lead duo met in 1899. Something terrible happened at that meeting, and the place became haunted. Vera and Lida return to investigate in 1903!

3) The Hound of the Seven Mounds fi ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Tim Prasil questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

If you could travel to any fictional book world, where would you go and what would you do there?

Tim Prasil For some unfathomable reason, I'm attracted to the often-gloomy settings of Thomas Hardy's novels. Think Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscur…moreFor some unfathomable reason, I'm attracted to the often-gloomy settings of Thomas Hardy's novels. Think Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. They're set in England's West Country.

Is it the accent? Is it the haunted moors? Is it the atmosphere of tragedy? Who knows? It just seems like a great place to warm up at the pub on a miserable night. And that's what I would do there.(less)

flag

like
Comment

What are you currently working on?

Tim Prasil I'm in the early stages of the third novel in the Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries series. Since Vera and her "sidekick" Lida have rather strong paral…moreI'm in the early stages of the third novel in the Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries series. Since Vera and her "sidekick" Lida have rather strong parallels to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, I decided to make this story an American spin on The Hound of the Baskervilles, the great Holmes mystery.

Curiously, Arthur Conan Doyle's The House of the Baskervilles has rather strong parallels to The House of the Seven Gables, an earlier novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. There's an alleged family curse. A painting of a sinister ancestor who resembles a living descendant. A brother recently out of prison. I'm trying to work all of these elements into my own story -- but in ways that are amusing and possibly even clever!(less)

flag

like
Comment

See all 3 answers from Tim Prasil…

Combine Editions
Tim Prasil’s books

Average rating: 4.28 · 170 ratings · 32 reviews · 29 distinct works

	Help For The Haunted: A Decade of Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries (1899 - 1909) 4.46 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Giving Up the Ghosts: Short-Lived Occult Detective Series by Six Renowned Authors by Tim Prasil (Goodreads Author) (editor), Gelett Burgess, Algernon Blackwood 3.88 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Spectral Edition: Ghost Reports from U.S. Newspapers, 1865-1917 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lost Limericks of Edgar Allan Poe 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Guilt Is a Ghost: A Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mystery (Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries Book 2) 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ghostly Clients & Demonic Culprits: The Roots of Occult Detective Fiction 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Echoing Ghost Stories: Literary Reflections of Oral Tradition by Tim Prasil (Goodreads Author), Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Certain Nocturnal Disturbances: Ghost Hunting Before the Victorians it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Victorian Ghost Hunter's Casebook it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Imagining Life on the Moon During the Rise of the Telescope by Tim Prasil (Goodreads Author), Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Tim Prasil…

332 posts
Tim Prasil's Blog

Railroad Hauntings You Can Still Visit: A Very Tall Apparition in Galway

Clues to an Eight-to-Nine Foot Ghost

In late 1908, multiple witnesses were reported to have encountered a towering spectral figure moving along the railway tracks in Galway, Ireland. One article in a Welsh newspaper puts the ghost’s height at “about nine feet in height.” A later report reprinted in papers from the U.S. state of Mississippi to the Taranaki region of New Zealand puts it at eight-foot

Tim is Currently Reading

Tim Prasil is currently reading

Werwolves: Various Folklore

by Elliott O'Donnell

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Nov 25, 2020 01:29PM

rss
Tim’s Recent Updates

Tim Prasil wrote a new blog post Railroad Hauntings You Can Still Visit: A Very Tall Apparition in Galway Clues to an Eight-to-Nine Foot GhostIn late 1908, multiple witnesses were reported to have encountered a towering spectral figure moving along the rai Read more of this blog post »
Nov 27, 2025 04:20AM · like