Ghostly Tidewater Trilogy

by Kath Russell

Ghostly Tidewater Trilogy, by Kath Russell, is a collection of three contemporary stories featuring spirits who haunt the waterways, shores and marshes of the Old Line State and the mortals who encounter them.

The restless shade of John Wilkes Booth wanders his escape route to Virginia in search of the horse he abandoned on the Maryland shore, Moll Dyer, accused of witchcraft long ago, returns to the scene of her tragic death on a stormy winter night and a mysterious spirit watches over troubling events on a tidewater college campus.

Maryland is home to the Poe gravesite, the Blair Witch Project and many other spooky connections and legends. Maryland ghosts are charming and chilly, horrible and helpful, vengeful and protective -- apparitions to suit every paranormal taste.

When it comes to certain geographies, like the Sleepy Hollow of the immortal Washington Irving tale or the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Nathaniel Hawthorne's witchy setting, readers just know they are in for a satisfyingly supernatural encounter.

Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2011

Reviews

[Vered · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghostly Tidewater Trilogy is a collection of three short stories, all of which take place in small towns in Maryland. Each town has a legend of some haunting spectre and a very alive protagonist trying to get by. In the first story, The Ghost of John Wilkes Booth, John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin, keeps returning to find his horse while a young writer is caught up in local politics to protect the shoreline from a greedy developer. Ghost of a Smile highlights Moll Dyer, a woman who dies one winter night after witch hunters burn her home to the ground, and an artist fears her home might meet the same fate. Another spirit floats around a college campus while one of the students struggles to escape the dark attention of a stalker in The Ghost of Lyon Lodge.

Each of these stories have a few things in common: a haunted town; a protagonist who searches for justice and comes across a ghost in the process; and an assortment of characters who each have their own motivations that interweave to create tense plots and mysteries. Kath Russel’s writing style is engaging and evocative. I could picture the scenes and characters, and felt I was standing right there as an observer. Although these are ghost stories, they’re not the spooky, over the top kind. Rather, there is a subtlety and realism to the stories that makes them all the more enjoyable to read. I would highly recommend this collection to readers looking for a different kind of ghost story, not one that will keep you awake out of fear but will hook you in none the less. (Reviewed for ‘Readers Favorite’.)

[TONIA DELLINGER · Rating 4 out of 5]

GHOSTLY TIDEWATER TRILOGY CAME TO ME A THE PERFECT TIME! IN THIS TRILOGY OF SHORT STORIES WE LEARN OF 3 GHOSTS. WE LEARN THE HISTORY AND THE LEGEND BUT THEY DO NOT MAKE VERY MANY APPEARANCES :( ASIDE FROM THAT WE DO LEARN OF 3 PEOPLE AND THEIR STORY. I INSTANLY FELT LIKE I WAS RIGHT THERE WITH EACH MAIN CHARACTER. HOWEVER, THIS AUTHOR KNOWS HOW TO LAY DOWN THE CLUES IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT WILL KEEP YOU GUESSING TIL THE END! SHE DOES A GREAT JOB GIVING JUST ENOUGH INFORMAATION ABOUT THE CHARACTER BUT NOT TOO MUCH THAT ITS OVERKILL AND TAKES UP THE WHOLE SHORT STORY. I WILL BE READING MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR SOON.

***DISCLAIMER***
I RECEIVED A COPY OF THIS BOOK FREE FROM BOOKROSTER.COM IN EXCHANGE FOR AND HONEST REVIEW.

[Lorraine Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chilling tales of ghostly visits in modern day times with murder, attempted rape and visits from a local witch in this very historic area in Maryland. The stories are just the right length and each spirit is on a different mission to help the main character from a Paranormal Event.

[Katharine]

I wrote this book, so I can't critique it.