The Spiritualist

by Megan Chance, Madeleine Dauer (Reader)

Sometimes truth is the greatest illusion of all. On a cold January morning in 1856, Evelyn Atherton's husband is found murdered after attending an exclusive séance. Having "married up" into New York society, Evie herself is the immediate suspect. Ostracized and vulnerable, she knows that to clear her name she must retrace her husband's last steps. And so, joining forces with her husband's best friend--and the only Manhattan lawyer who will accept her case--Evie dives into the mysterious underworld of the occult. Before long, the trail brings them to a charismatic medium, Michel Jourdain. Evie's instincts tell her the smooth-talking Jourdain is a charlatan--and her only hope for exoneration. But getting close to Jourdain means embracing a seductive and hypnotic world where clues to murder come through the voices of the dead. Caught in a perilous game in which she is equal player and pawn, predator and victim, Evie finds there is no one to trust, perhaps not even herself. As her powerful in-laws build a case against her, and with time running out, Evie must face the real ghosts of her past if she is to have any hope of avoiding the hangman.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Paranormal, Historical, Historical Mystery, Gothic

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Megan Chance is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of several novels. Booklist calls her writing “Provocative and haunting.” Her books have been chosen by Amazon's Book of the Month, Borders Original Voices and IndieNext. A former television news photographer with a BA from Western Washington University, Megan Chance lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Visit her at www.meganchance.com

Reviews

[Talulah Mankiller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I borrowed Megan Chance’s The Spiritualist from my sister this Christmas (after being put through an ordeal detailed here), and I finally finished it late last night. I was interested in The Spiritualist because I read and reviewed Chance’s earlier book, An Inconvenient Wife, at a point in this website’s history when no one on the internet cared if I lived or died. Shorter version of my reaction: I didn’t like An Inconvenient Wife. BUT. I did admire it: it had complex, believably vile characters, and although it left a sour taste in my mouth, Chance did her job at making the extremely unnerving ending seem inevitable, if not palatable. When I picked up The Spiritualist, then, I fully expected to read another book that I didn’t like but that did impress me. At first, it seemed as if that might happen: at some points, things were literally so tense that I had to put the book down and go off and read something totally brainless because damn, that shit was breaking through my medication something FIERCE. I was exhibiting most of my nervous behaviors (grinding my knuckles into my sternum, accelerated heartbeat, etc.) and it wasn’t even my life that was doing it.

And then at some point, the book completely fell apart and became I Love My Dead Gay Husband: the Novel.

I mean, there were warning signs. There were definite warning signs. Chance obfuscated the TRUTH by cranking up the tension to near-unbearable levels, but even at the beginning? I had my doubts. The book is told from the perspective of Evie Atherton, a girl from a lower middle class family who “made good” by marrying Knickerbocker Peter Atherton. Things are going smoothly enough—although Peter rarely sexes her up and spends most of his time out of the house—when the unthinkable happens: Peter is murdered, and the Atherton family tries to pin it on Evie. Turns out Peter left her everything, including all the family heirlooms he inherited, and his siblings would rather see her swing than let her have grandma’s vase.

Evie spends a night in a jail cell among the WHORES! and pickpockets, but then is SAVED the next morning by her husband’s law partner, who gets her out on bail and sets her up in the mansion of an invalid society maven named Dorothy. Dorothy is under the control of the mysterious Michel Jourdain, a HAWT CREOLE MEDIUM who is living with her and probably sexing her up, even though she’s in her sixties and he’s like twenty-something.

Evie is convinced that Michel killed her husband, mostly because he is blatantly dishonest, and also because the last time she saw Peter was at one of Michel’s séances–during which a gun went off and nearly brained Peter. Plus, Evie’s lawyer, Ben Rampling, keeps telling her that Michel did it, and one should always believe one’s lawyer. And then Peter starts appearing to her in dreams and is all, “DON’T TRUST THE LIAR” which of course must mean Michel. So Evie starts looking for evidence, and…

Okay, this is where the book completely fell apart for me: Michel was WAY TOO HOBVIOUS to be the actual killer, and the only characters who were even MILDLY developed were Evie, Michel, Ben Rampling, and Dorothy. Ergo, it had to be one of them. It wasn’t Evie, Michel was too HOBVIOUS, and Dorothy was just not written that way, ergo: Mr. Rampling.

Which is why it pained me that whenever Peter showed up in Evie’s dreams all, “DON’T TRUST THE LIAR. PS: I WAS TOTALLY GAY,” Evie was just, “BUT I ALREADY DON’T TRUST MICHEL WHAT IS UP WITH THIS HAUNTING SHIT ALSO I DIDN’T EVEN WANT YOUR GRANDMA’S VASE YOU ASSHOLE.” Clearly, Evie, he would not keep coming from The Other Side if you had stopped trusting the liar. Therefore, the liar is not Michel. Who else are you trusting? Oh, yeah, just your husband’s very close friend and law partner who just happened to give said husband a pair of gorgeous opal cufflinks shortly before he died, because men totally routinely give jewelry to people they are not fucking. Maybe you should rethink your complete reliance on that guy…

Of course, I’m being unfair to Evie. She doesn’t have the benefit of having read ten million books with this exact same plot, so how would she know? Really, the fault is Chance’s, because seriously. SERIOUSLY. You write a book, and you can’t check out any of the other books in the genre first? Jesus.

Moving on. So yes, Pete was totes gay. All the Dead Gay Husband signs were there: near-complete absence of heterosexual sex life? Check! Spends almost all of his time with handsome young men? Check! Hangs out down in the more criminal areas of town, you know, the ones where the gay whorehouses are? CHECK! CHECK! CHECK!

He was the deadest, gayest, husbandiest husband I ever did encounter. Oh, and although no one ever insinuates that he liked ‘em young or anything horrible like that, he did treat Evie like crap. On account of her not having a penis, you see. Also, he was ultimately murdered because he was promiscuous as crap and finally pissed off the wrong lover (Rampling! And after he gave him those cufflinks, too!). Way to uphold a stereotype, Chance!

For an extra dash of homophobia, check out the ending, where Evie turns the tables on her awful in-laws by threatening to expose Peter’s sexuality. The word “sodomite” was totally used, and not by any of Peter’s siblings. Nice one, Chance.

And in conclusion, there was a totally rapey scene shortly after Evie moved in with Michel and Dorothy, wherein Evie had this creepy dream that Michel was in her room with his mouth on her unmentionables. And then she woke up alone, but quickly realized that her skirt was hiked up and her door had been broken into.

Aaaaaaaaand this is the guy she ends up with.

This really was offensive on just about every level, wasn’t it? WELL DONE!

[Sarah Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, how I love when lit-fic marries a trashy historical novel. 💕 Combine that with classic 19th-c sensational themes like murder & spiritualism, & yours truly was happier than a pig in mud.

My only real complaint is Evie's book-long naïveté re: the root of her husband's marital issues. As a rough-side-of-town child whose father was a PI who kept many seedy informants to assist his work -- & who also raised her rather liberally, at least by 1850s standards -- it shouldn't have taken the entire book for her to see Peter's true nature. The clues were right there, & she prided herself on being rational & observant; I can understand her initial blindness, but not up until the ending chapters.

As for the rest, well done & very entertaining. Spiritualism is one of my favorite Victorian Macabre plots, & this book portrayed both the charlatan & the honest sides of mediumship, weaving them together into a cohesive story. I also liked how Evie wasn't some soppy holier-than-thou who declined any financial reward or ignored her material concerns, because too often utter selflessness is held above a more 'mercenary' mindset in leading ladies. There's nothing wrong with being pragmatic & accepting recompense for services rendered; I also enjoyed her ultimate revenge after the in-laws treated her like crap. Damn skippy, girl. ;)

My first read by Chance was SUSANNAH MORROW, & I thought that one a bit stuffy & stilted as the author moved from mass-market romance shelves to trade paperback historicals. This one feels much more comfortable with itself -- an author who has found her stride marrying the fun OTT flourishes with weightier fiction.

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE SPIRITUALIST was the fourth story that I have read by Megan Chance and a trip back to 1857's New York City. This was such a hard review to write; I was tempted to give it three stars and skip sharing my actual thoughts about the book. I will have to be very careful not to give too much away.

The back cover indicates it is a cold morning in January 1856 but the beginning of each chapter indicates it is 1857. Evelyn and Peter Atherton's three-year marriage was at a stand-still. A lawyer, Peter spends the majority of time away from home and 'Evie' was not sure what was wrong. At the opening of the story Peter had invited Evie to a 'circle': a spiritual meeting where people can hear from those who have passed on. Peter wanted to talk to his dead mother. Evie had her misgivings but she wants to please her husband.

At the circle, a gun goes off but no one is injured. Peter tells Evie he wants to investigate what just happened but never returns home. Days go by without a word and then Peter was found dead: murdered.

Evie was the center of the story but the many secondary characters drove the plot. At times both gloomy and dark, I continually wondered where Ms. Chance got her ideas from. (Who thinks this stuff up?)

There are plenty of twists and turns with lots of trust issues. I felt like I was watching a movie rather than reading a book. The author's description of the extremely cold weather and dirty streets was spot-on. I had an idea of what was going on but there were still plenty of secrets to uncover.

If you are an enthusiast of the TV show 'The X Files', a devotee of the director David Lynch or you like Anne Frasier's style of writing, you should enjoy this book. It contained some romance (ok, sex) but was not what I would consider a love story. Also, it was not Ms. Chance's best book but it was complicated, a little bizarre and edgy. I am glad I am done. Now I need to go wash my hands!

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wha-wha-whaaaaa

Minor spoilers*

I still love you Megan Chance! You’re a brilliant writer and I look forward to your other books, but this one fell short. The villain was thinly veiled from the get-go and I never even got a tingle of suspense. It was a boring, overdone trope that felt lazy.

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intense and very well-written book, but with a distressingly open HFN (barely) ending.

This is a first-person 20th-century HR, of which I can't remember reading many - in fact, The Silver Devil is the only other one which comes to mind. There, the first person POV produced a sense of suffocation which wonderfully evoked the stifling atmosphere of a Renaissance Italian court. We get a similar effect here, but to a much less intense degree.

It's 1856 and Evelyn Atherton's husband, Peter, has just introduced her to his newest obsession - a sly, slippery, charming young Creole man named Michel Jourdain, who claims to be able to see spirits. It's the height of the Victorian spiritualism craze, so the rich and famous are more than willing to throw open their hearts and homes to him - so long as he's willing to carry messages from the Beyond in exchange.

Of course, Evie doesn't believe a word of it. But Peter did. And when Peter turns up dead, with herself as the chief suspect, she realises she'll have to delve deep into Peter's life to find the real culprit. That means starting with Michel, and the start of a thrilling cat-and-mouse game with the man whose lies are indistinguishable from truths.

Michel's character is INCREDIBLE. He's charming, self-centred, amoral, ambitious - my favourite hero type, but with one massive outstanding problem: it's never actually clarified to what extent he actually loves the heroine, if at all. The fact that we only ever see things from Evie's perspectives makes it extra impossible to objectively determine this. By the end of the book, he says he's falling in love with her, but he's such a habitual liar that his words are honestly impossible to believe. Chance leaves it entirely up to the reader's interpretation whether his sentiments are genuine, or whether he's playing Evie for her money and paranormal skills. To be brutally honest, all things considered it's probably the latter, but their relationship was still so compelling that I had to give this book three stars.

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whereas the first chapter was interesting and promising, what follows made me think that this is a terrible, terrible book. The heroine is so passive I felt like slapping her, and the identity of the murderer is so obvious that you can guess it from chapter one, provided that you've read the sinopsis too. YES, IT'S REALLY THAT OBVIOUS!
I don't normally bother writing negative reviews, but I can't stand heroines who claim to be smart and intelligent and then behave like damsels in distress / are dominated by an alluring male character (simply because he's vaguely sexy), or by all the characters in the book.
This, along with some racist comments ('he could have been attacked by some street Arabs!'), an infuriating love interest and the OBVIOUS gay subplot that is behind the murder (oh, for God's sake) made me furious enough to care.

[Pam Porell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good murder mystery. You don’t know who to trust while you struggle with the unfairness of societies power and abuses.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Spiritualist was a very fun read, and the perfect book for October! Set in New York City in the mid 1800's, it follows the story of a woman who was born into the working class, but married a very wealthy and prominent man. A few years into their marriage, he is suddenly murdered after attending a seance. When she is accused of murder, our protagonist Evelyn decides to investigate in order to find the real killer.

Full of spirits, secrets, and a bit of romance this is definitely an enjoyable book that takes place when spiritualism was extremely popular. Evelyn is looking for the truth, but also has to come to terms with things that she has allowed herself to be blinded to. In some ways this is a book about self-discovery and the lies we tell ourselves when we are unhappy. Something interesting about the story is that as a modern reader, you will realize some key things long before Evelyn does. This creates tension because you know that she is acting on incomplete information and really want her to open her eyes. It's beautifully done because a woman during that time period might very well have the blind spots that Evelyn has.

SPOILER WARNING!

There were some things I didn't love about the book though. First, a character who we kind of end up rooting for has some serious character flaws, including his treatment of certain women. Evelyn chooses to overlook those issues, and because he's so much better than the romantic alternative it seems okay, but it's really not. I also didn't totally love the handling of queerness in that Evelyn uses the threat of outing her deceased husband as blackmail against his family. Granted, they are trying to cut her out of his will, but it still was kind of distasteful. Evelyn's character arc is to go from a fearful, mousy character, to a powerful one who lies and manipulates to get what she wants. While it's easy to cheer her on in terms of asserting herself, it's not done in a great way. That said, this was definitely a fun read!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Spiritualist is a delightful romp of a story about murder, seances and the supernatural with Victorian/Gothic atmosphere.
Evie has "married up" when she becomes Mrs. Peter Atherton, but not long afterward he is killed and she is the main suspect. His influential family is ready to see her charged and punished for his murder and believe she has done it for his money.
Dorothy Bennett is a wealthy old woman intent on contacting her deceased sons through seances. When Dorothy discovers Evie's situation, she takes her into her home and introduces her to the world of the spiritualist Michel Jourdain.
The book is fast-paced and never boring. Also, it is adult, realistic and great fun for fans of the supernatural.

Quotes: "One could sit in church every Sunday or a circle every Tuesday and Thursday and ask God - or the spirits for guidance, but in the end it was like viewing something through a cloudy glass - every attempt to see more clearly only narrowed one's vision, until what was understood was only a moment in a vast and unknowable universe, in which the only absolute was how much was unknown."

"You and I only see one side. But that doesn't mean the other side doesn't exist. To not see the whole is to not see the truth."

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't want to damn this book with faint praise. It's nicely plotted, and the writing is good. The author pulls off the first-person narrative well and does a good job of larding the story with clues about the dead husband's secrets, clues the wife misses but the reader gets. We all like to feel smart when we're reading mysteries. I enjoyed the mid-19th century setting and the premise of the society wife falsely accused of murdering her husband. I liked the shady, charming medium angle--was the spiritualist of the title the real murderer? I did wish, however, that the attraction between the wife and the spiritualist had felt more compelling. The chemistry didn't come through for me, although there was a heart-breaking moment between the two when they finally got together. And mentioning how hard it is to get through a doorway in crinolines is s a nice touch for establishing the period setting, but please don't use it more than twice.

[Aviva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was downright gripping. I knew I was being conned and I totally didn't care because I wanted to know how it ended. Okay, so Evelyn Atherton's husband is obsessed with this medium and takes Evelyn to see him. That night he disappears and Evelyn's convinced something awful has happened but everybody's telling her she's nuts and in the 1850's a woman might as well be window dressing or a pretty canary or something if she's in society so she gets wholly ignored. Then he actually DOES show up murdered and everybody accuses her. Her friends drop like flies and teh only person who wants anything to do with her is the lady who's the patron of the sharlaton spiritualist. Well Evelyn goes because she doesn't have anywhere else and come to find out, she's actually a medium herself. Oh, and the spiritualist is wicked hot and not above seducing somebody to get what he wants and she's either got to work with him or get sent up the river by him.

[Alicia Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story started out strong and then didn't really do much for me until the end. Unfortunately, until about the last 40 pages or so, I was having a hard time reading about how smart and cunning our main character Evelyn was but not actually having those statements backed up at any point. She remained pretty clueless and it was challenging for me to have a lot of components figured out and just wait for this poor lady to catch up.

Aside from that, the book is deliciously atmospheric and there is a pretty strong cast of supporting and main character's to keep the reader occupied. The story is interesting and mysterious, taking a couple different turns throughout just to make sure you're still on your feet.

[Paula Cappa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and suspenseful, this supernatural intrigue is quite a seductive little murder mystery in New York Society during the 1850s. Evie Atherton is a charming protagonist that kept me reading. I really liked her, although at times, she seemed oddly naïve for such an intelligent woman. You can really sink into this story: moody, haunting, and with the historical set, this read is a true escape. While this is not really a who-done-it (the murderer is no big surprise), the best part of this story is the dark and mysterious, and very sexy, Michel Jourdain; he drives the plot beautifully. We have a skilled writer here with a polished, stylish prose. If you like paranormal mystery, don't miss this one.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

** 4.5 Stars **

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminds one of Daphne Du Maurier's chillier romantic suspense -- even the "good" people are manipulative. Nifty historical background and just a touch of supernatural spice the gothic plot.

[Myfanwy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read Miss Chance’s Inconvenient Wife and the Visitant, both of which I liked, albeit to different degrees, I sort of felt like I knew what I was in for with the Spiritualist. Writing gothic romance is hard, and it doesn’t take much to tip a potentially dangerous but compelling romantic relationship into some sort of nightmare relationship in which consent is non-existant and the heroine is in constant danger of completely losing her grip on reality. In An Inconvenient Wife Miss Chance balanced on the line with the skill of Philippe Petit. In the Visitant, she teetered precariously on the edge. In the Spiritualist she toppled over.
I really liked the setup for this story; Victorian woman accused of murdering her husband, who was kind of awful, so she has to solve his murder? That’s my freaking jam. But even before adding the gothic elements, this too is a setup that many of Miss Chance’s peers have been unable to deliver satisfyingly. Unlike An Inconvenient Wife’s Lucy-who begins the book already terrorised to the point of insanity by her father and husband and is almost completely unable to take care of herself outside of the pampered bubble in which she was raised-the Spiritualist’s Evelyn is both highly intelligent (she is frequently disparaged for receiving what would have been considered a very masculine education from her father) and fairly self-sufficient (she worked as her father’s secretary and bookkeeper during her petit bourgeois unmarried life and is generally able to take care of herself), making it clear that even were she to be left completely penniless, she would be able to take care of herself. Thought this sets Evelyn up as an interesting character, as well as distinguishing her from Lucy and the Visitant’s more romantic Elena, they work against her narratively, making her growing belief in ghosts and her abilities as a medium seem more like a nervous breakdown than an actual connection to the other side, especially since we learn that her mother too experienced intense hallucinations and was a laudanum addict for much of Evelyn’s life. A more skillful author would have used this to create a sort of X Files season one doubt: do ghosts exist or is Evelyn just being manipulated by a clever charlatan? Are her new medium skills the real deal, the byproduct of a nervous breakdown, or Evelyn’s intelligence and observational skills turning the charlatan’s own tricks against him? But no, Miss Chance wants us to understand that ghosts are real. So the initially rational Evelyn spends most of the book profoundly distressed by hallucinations, fainting spells, and the occasional fugue state, all of which, we are to understand, are caused by ghosts. Or are they?
All of this might have worked out with a different romantic lead, but to add suspense and give the mystery its twist, Evelyn’s ultimate love interest, the medium Michel Jourdain, must first be set up as a thoroughly sketchy and dangerous guy; aside from (possibly) sexually assaulting Evelyn while she sleeps (and the consent only gets moderately less dubious from there), he is a con artist preying on the grief and gullibility of the rich, especially Dorothy, who is basically just an extremely ill eccentric old lady who just wants to talk to her dead sons. Jourdain, in addition to manipulating her into giving him huge amounts of money, engages in an ambiguously sexual relationship with Dorothy and provides with a mysterious ‘cordial’ that seems to rule her life. While Dorothy does acknowledge that she doesn’t really care if Jourdain is sketchy or not, since he makes her feel better, plus she’s got lots of money and no kids so she’ll spend her money how she wants (which is fair enough) the troubling aspects of Jourdain’s relationship with Dorothy are never really explained or deproblematised. More generally, Miss Chance does a really good job setting him up as being both physically threatening to Evelyn and capable of emotionally manipulating her to do what he wants, making it impossible to tell if he’s being genuine when he confesses his love for Evelyn, as Miss Chance would have you believe, or if he’s just adding another layer to his manipulation. Even when we learn that Jourdain is not the bad guy, it is impossible not to retain the sense that he is still a bad guy.
The ending is also bad and makes me kind of angry, so we won’t talk about it.
As to the ‘My Secret Gay Husband’ aspect of the narrative, it’s not great, especially if this something that really upsets you. This book certainly won’t be winning any GLAAD awards for positive representation, but at the same time Miss Chance handles it better and with more historical sensibility than most other authors I’ve read who use this trope.
And honestly, the less said about Benjamin the better.
Overall, it’s not great, but it’s also not terrible and might be worth reading once, although certainly not twice.

[Patrick Solomon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Spiritualist by Megan Chance was not my favorite book that I have read this year. I found it confusing and it didn't seem like it made sense in some places. I did find it interesting how Megan Chance could incorporate murder, the supernatural, and love all in one short book, however.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the end, I was disappointed in this book. I was excited about it early on and spent every available moment reading it but by around the middle, it kind of lost its power. At that point, I kept reading because it wasn't so bad that I wanted to give up on it but rather I wanted to just get the reading of it over so that I could go on to something I might like more. The main character, Evelyn Atherton (Evie to her friends) was a middle class young woman, the only child of an investigator and a woman who saw spirits who wound up in New York's high society when she married Peter Atherton. After only three years, it was clear her husband wasn't attracted to her but she was trying hard to make her marraige work even though he spent as little time with her as possible. He had been going alone to a spiritualist circle but one fateful day he asked Evie to accompany him. She had no interest in such things, especially since she felt the whole idea of spirits speaking had driven her mother mad. However, she agreed to go since it was one of those rare occasions when her husband had chosen to spend time with her. It was at that spirit circle, held at the mansion of Dorothy Bennett, that she first met the spiritualist, Michel Jourdain. She immediately saw him for the charlaton he was but also saw how in thrall the others were, including her husband who was desperate to reach his recently departed mother. When Evie and Peter returned to their mansion, Peter insisted on going back out, which disappointed Evie greatly. It turned out to be a fateful night because that was the night Peter was murdered. In short time, Evie was accused, Peter's family were determined to destroy her, and those whom she's counted on as friends had turned against her. Two things then went in her favor, Peter's law partner, Benjamin took on her case and Dorothy Bennett made bail for Evie, which allowed her to be released from prison. Shortly thereafter, Evie was living in the Bennett mansion and getting to know Michel Jourdain. It was during this pre-trial period that I began to lose interest in Evie and not particularly care whether she was exonerated. This supposedly intelligent woman began to fall for Michel while clearly suspecting him of murdering Peter. I do like books with women lead characters but I want those women to be strong, resourceful, and independent. On that score, this book really did not adequately deliver for me. I would give no more than a luke warm recommendation for this book.

[⭐️ (inkwitchery) · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE SPIRITUALIST by Megan Chance

1850s New York is the setting for this Victorian gothic story of murder, supernatural spirit circles and snobby high society folks.

Evelyn “Evie” Atherton’s working class investigator father provided her with a pretty liberal education and raised her to be smart, logical and realistic. After “marrying up” wealthy lawyer, Peter Atherton, Evie should be happy to live among NY’s high society. Unfortunately, after just three years of marriage, Evie is frustrated and lonely because Peter is always working on an important case or attending spirit circles in hopes to contact his deceased mother.

One evening, Peter convinces Evie to attend a seance. There he introduces her to his eccentric friends and the charismatic medium, Michel Jourdain. Evie suspects right away that Michel is not the talented spiritualist he claims to be.

That night Peter goes missing and eventually his body is found floating in a river. The powerful Atherton family naturally tries to pin his murder on Evie.

There was a lot going on here. The first half of the book had me intrigued and reading well into the night. Toward the middle was when I started to become frustrated at how dense the main character was for not figuring out one of the main (read: obvious) secrets until the very last moments. Also, the romance felt unnatural and awkward.

Regardless, I did enjoy the story. It had enough mystery (even though it was easy to solve) to keep me interested and I liked the morally ambiguous characters.


Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️
#TheSpiritualist #MeganChance

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to think about this book......is it a mystery? Well, if it is, I had it figured out about half-way through. Is it an expose of the table rapping spiritualism so popular in the late 19th century?......at first I thought it was but that also changed about half-way through. It really doesn't fit into any genre except general fiction with a bit of mystery thrown in for good measure.

A young woman marries "above her station" into a wealthy and powerful family but her husband is strangely distant and is seldom at home during the evenings. Then he is found murdered and she is the main suspect. Her husband's family scrambles to ensure that she is found guilty. Is there a family secret they are trying to hide? You will also figure that out very quickly as well. I loved the ending which isn't telegraphed quite as clearly as some of the other main issues in the story. It is a fun read but nothing more.

[Tamara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book took me forever to read, and not because it was overtly long or a hard read, I just couldn't get into it. The whole book seemed so haphazard and slapdash that I had a hard time trying to care about any of it. The characters weren't that appealing and neither was the plot. It was very easy to figure out who the culprit of the murder was, yet hard to figure out why the heroine chose the 'lover' she did. We were told that there must be chemistry, but when your romantic male lead makes his living by lying and taking advantage of emotionally vulnerable people, it's rather hard to see him as anything but smarmy and dishonest. Not the best way to endear a character when the author tries so hard to make him repulsive so that he keeps his murder suspect credibility. The ending was terrible. It left too many plot points unfinished and left me with more questions than when I started the book.

[Chelsea Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book you read in your college English class; the kind that is chock full of potential analysis worthy of essay papers. “Spiritualist” was brilliantly written with its plot and characters and captivates you from the beginning.

Throughout each chapter, it had me bouncing between different theories (which I was ecstatic to know a few of them were spot on!) and wondering more about 19th century New York City.

The overarching themes are honesty versus lies and the many faces that people wear. As an English major, I loved the subtlety in which the author wove her tale and gave a really good mystery to chew on... and had her readers constantly playing mental tug-of-war with ourselves as Evie tries to wade through her own personal challenges and “whodunit.”

If you love mysteries, the intrigue of paranormal, and historical fiction, this one is a keeper. I look forward to reading more from Chance!

[Diane D · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not read many historical novels, but a few years ago a friend raved about An Inconvenient Wife by Megan Chance. I read the book and just loved it! Soon after I read Susannah Morrow, also by Megan Chance, (Salem Witchcraft) and was also pleased.

Her latest book The Spiritualist was released in May 2008, and it was excellent. Set in 1857 in New York City, I could not put it down. From the paranormal fun of séances, spiritualists, murders, and dangerous secrets galore, this was a great read. Megan Chance has successfully recreated the time and feel of old New York by accurately depicting the societal norms and beliefs, and the desperation of the living to maintain contact with loved ones who have passed. This novel has many twists and turns to keep readers enthralled to the very surprising and satisfying end.

[Elizabeth K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, this was goofy. It was almost goofy enough to turn the corner and be enjoyable in a fun way (like The Alienist) but sadly, not quite. Set in 19th century New York, a young society widow accused of her husband's murder gets involved with a spiritualist group -- at first she is determined to debunk them, but eventually starts to doubt herself. The kookiest thing is that the medium leader of the group is supposed to be a French Creole, so he starts every sentence with "Oui" or "Non" and as a result, in my head I couldn't help but think of him as Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, making it difficult to even try to take the book seriously. The whole thing was dripping with high drama.

Grade: D+
Recommended: Oh dear no. I should confess I read this by mistake, because I confused it with another title that someone had recommended so I'm not its target audience by any means.
(2009/28)

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a bit of trouble trying to decide just how to rate this book. Ideally, I'd like to give it 3 1/2 stars, but since that wasn't possible, I went with 4...a rating of 3 didn't quite seem high enough, even if a 4 seemed a bit high.

Overall, I found this book to be a very entertaining read. I have to admit that I'd worked out who the actual murderer was and the true motive for the crime well before I was 'supposed to', but that didn't make the rest of the book any less enjoyable. The mix of suspense, supernatural and romantic elements worked well for me, and I found the ending to be quite satisfactory.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had good things going for it: it combined two of my favorite genres (historical fiction and mystery) in one of my favorite settings (nineteeth-century New York City society). It was pretty good until the last third of the book, when the plot descended into lewdness, lasciviousness, and predictability. I also didn't like how the main characters became greedy, manipulative, amoral, and power-hungry. That's how the book ended and I think that was supposed to be a happy, triumphant ending. Instead it was just disappointing.

[Mir]

I don't know why this book didn't work for me. The historical setting seems reasonably authentic. The character development is all right. The heroine seems awfully naive for someone who is supposed to be not only intelligent and educated but trained as a private investigator, but she's not TSTL or unbearably hysterical. The plot developments so far do seem pretty obvious. The prose is nothing special, innocuous. I dunno. Just not interested.

[Susana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gostei bastante deste livro. É um livro diferente em que não se pode avaliar as personagens somente em tons de branco e preto. O cinzento é-lhes mais conveniente. Romance repleto de mistérios e de ambiguidades morais, prendeu-me completamente.

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very slow, badly developed protagonist, villain spectacularly obvious from the beginning.

[tinalouisereadsbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a cold January morning in 1856, Evelyn Atherton's husband is found murdered after attending an exclusive séance. Having “married up” into New York society, Evie herself is the immediate suspect. Ostracized and vulnerable, she knows that to clear her name she must retrace her husband's last steps. And so, joining forces with her husband's best friend - and the only Manhattan lawyer who will accept her case - Evie dives into the mysterious underworld of the occult.

Before long, the trail brings them to a charismatic medium, Michel Jourdain. Evie's instincts tell her the smooth-talking Jourdain is a charlatan - and her only hope for exoneration. But getting close to Jourdain means embracing a seductive and hypnotic world where clues to murder come through the voices of the dead.

My Thoughts:

This book is brilliant. I had been waiting for ages to find a copy and then I asked my local library who hadn’t got it but requested it to buy for the system and I am so glad they did. If you like spiritulism and mediumship then this book is for you. There is also a murder mystery with a twist which I didn’t see coming till the very end. The story has a steady flow to it and there is enough going on to keep the reader interested till the very end.

I just cannot say how good this book is and I am glad my local library put innthe request to buy the book so other can enjoy it like I did.