The River Ghost

by Thomas D. Clagett

1883. Catherine Danaher, a postulate with the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, receives disturbing news. Her sister Brigid, whom she hasn’t seen in over ten years, has died and Brigid’s wealthy husband wants her to come to New Mexico Territory to act as governess for his two children. Catherine doesn’t want to leave her young charges at St. Paul’s Orphanage. Her Mother Superior tells her that her sister’s children need her more. Catherine boards a train and travels to a town called Santa Fe. Things there are strange to her, the Spanish language, customs. She discovers her sister died under peculiar circumstances, and her disagreeable brother-in-law seems oddly unperturbed. The Mexican housekeeper may know more than she’s saying. And Catherine’s young nephew and niece, are reserved, distant. But there’s something else, something terrifying, something that cries out in the night. And Catherine must face it alone.

“The River Ghost is a work to be read by candlelight - and it will haunt you long after the flame goes out.”
—C. Courtney Joyner, award-winning author, screenwriter, film historian

“Southwest history and oral legend merge into a gripping supernatural tale of greed, murder, and justice in this fresh rendition of an infamous apparition.”
—Jane Little Botkin, multiple award-winning author

225 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 27, 2025

About the author

Thomas D. Clagett has always had a passion for the West, for films and for writing. His historical novel, "West of Penance," was awarded the first place gold medallion for best Inspirational Fiction from the Will Rogers Medallion Award judges. It also won won the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award in 2016 for Best Historical Fiction. Clagett's first novel, "The Pursuit of Murieta," won a Will Rogers Medallion Award for Honorable Mention.

After graduating from the University of Southern California where he earned a degree in Journalism, Clagett spent nearly twenty years working as an assistant film editor in Hollywood on such projects as Jack Nicholson's "The Two Jakes" and the NBC mini-series "Blind Faith," he still found the opportunity to write. His first book, "William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession and Reality," was updated in 2003. "Classic Images" praised this study of the films of the the Academy Award-winning director of "The French Connection" and the horror masterpiece "The Exorcist" as "the definitive work on the subject."

Devoting himself to writing full time, Clagett turned to his love of the West. His first novel, "The Pursuit of Murieta," tells the story of Joaquin Murieta, California's first notorious outlaw back in 1853. Booklist wrote, "Readers will side with Murieta in this well told, disquieting story." His second novel, "West of Penance," was inspired by a true story about the wilds of New Mexico and the Colfax County War in 1875. The Historical Novel Society called it "an entertaining read...be prepared for a surprise ending." Clagett is a member of the Western Writers of America. He lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, Marilyn.