Ghost House was my first published book. I wrote it in the late 1970s. I was inspired by a newspaper article in the Long Island Press about a certain house in Amityville. As it happened, I sent it out about the same time the movie “Amityville Horror” came out. It was one of those “my sister-in-law is an editor” deals. The editor (her name is Linda) picked up the manuscript and thought, “oh, this is one of those.” As in: “Damn, I have to read this because a relative asked me to.” Happily, she liked what she saw!

Ghost House went into about 15 printings, I think. Just to show how times have changed, the first edition cost about $2!

It is simply a haunted house story. A family moves into a beautiful home, and strange things soon begin to happen. There is a 200-plus-year-old ghost who sees the mother of the family, Melanie, as his long-lost love (executed for witchcraft.)

My agent back then, and through all of my books, has been Denise Marcil. Someone once called her “Crackerjack,” which is true! Now I am working with the amazing Katie Kotchman and look forward to many years as her client!