Eltonsbrody

by Edgar Mittelholzer, John Thieme (Introduction)

When Woodsley, a young English painter, arrives in Barbados and finds no lodging available, he thinks himself fortunate to be invited to stay at Eltonsbrody, a mansion belonging to the eccentric widow Mrs Scaife. But behind the locked doors of the house’s disused rooms lurk terrible secrets, and soon strange and blood-curdling events begin to unfold. The tension builds towards a shocking and unforgettable conclusion, when the full horror of Eltonsbrody will be revealed.
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One of the most prolific and important of 20th-century Caribbean writers, Edgar Mittelholzer (1909-1965) was at his best in Gothic novels like My Bones and My Flute (1955) and Eltonsbrody (1960). This first-ever reissue of Mittelholzer’s weird and chilling tale reproduces the original dust jacket art and includes a new introduction by John Thieme.

‘One of the modern giants of Caribbean writing.’ - Caribbean Writers

‘A sanguinary essay in the macabre.’ - The Crisis
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‘An original writer with a great command of language and atmosphere . . . true imaginative power.’ - John O’London’s Weekly

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Gothic, Literature, Mystery, Audiobook

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Edgar Mittelholzer is considered the first West Indian novelist, i.e. even though there were writers who wrote about Caribbean themes before him, he was the first to make a successful professional life out of it. Born in Guyana (then British Guiana) of Afro-European heritage, he began writing in 1929 and self-published his first book, Creole Chips, in 1937.

Mittelholzer left Guyana for Trinidad in 1941, eventually migrating to England in 1948, living the rest of his life there except for three years in Barbados, and a shorter period in Canada. Between 1951 and 1965, he published twenty-one novels, and two works of non-fiction, including his autobiographical, A Swarthy Boy.

"Mittelholzer's novels include characters and situations from a variety of places within the Caribbean. They range in time from the earliest period of European settlement to the present day and deal with a cross section of ethnic groups and social classes, not to mention subjects of historical, political, psychological, and moral interest. In addition, eight of Mittelholzer's novels are non-Caribbean in subject and setting. For all these reasons he deserves the title of "father" of the novel in the English-speaking Caribbean" - Encyclopedia of World Biography.

Among Edgar Mittelholzer's many honours was to have been the first West Indian to be awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Writing (1952). He died by his own hand in 1965, a suicide by fire predicted in several of his novels.

He published The Mad MacMullochs, written in 1953 and first published in 1959, under the pseudonym H. Austin Woodsley.

Excerpts from:

Peepal Tree Press
http://www.peepaltreepress.com/

Fifty Caribbean Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook by Daryl Cumber Dance.

Reviews

[Vicki Herbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm Not a Bad Woman
I'm Strange In in a Strange Way...

ELTONSBRODY by Edgar Mittelholzer, John Thieme

No spoilers: 4 stars. This is a weird story that takes place in 1958. Artist Woodsley was vacationing in Barbados, intending to paint the countryside while he's there...

Finding himself without accommodations with the only two hotels booked solid, someone suggests that he try Eltonsbrody, a big house on a hill overlooking the sea...

At Eltonsbrody...

Mrs. Dahlia Scaife, mistress of the manor, gives Woodsley a room with meals because she wants his company and...

... she has some interesting things she wants to tell him about herself, which she proceeds to do immediately upon his settling in...

But...

Almost immediately, Woodsley discovered that the woman is mentally disturbed...

Among other things...

Dahlia claims to know when someone will die and gleefully relishes the impending doom of the individual, including that of her own family...

She told her new houseguest, Woodsley, that she's not a bad woman. She's just strange in a strange way, which he will soon discover...

This is an old novel, but surprisingly, the prose reads somewhat modern. The story is very atmospheric in the style of THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE by Ethel Lina White and BENIGHTED by J.B. Priestley.

So, the next time you find yourself without electricity on a stormy, windy night, light a fire and get comfy in your favorite chair and settle into reading this novel by Candlelight.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 raised to 4

And now for something a little different. It’s Gothic alright. Southern Gothic—Barbados style, although it doesn’t always seem to be set there. It’s a piece of its time, 1960. I’m reminded of a Hammer film or maybe Shirley Jackson. The author was born in Guyana and spent his early years in the Caribbean. England was where he spent a lot of his writing life. He was also of mixed heritage. Maybe some of those things account for the feel of this book. At times you would swear it was an old Gothic English story, even its setting, a spooky old house on a hilltop with strange characters, cemeteries, evil smells and a crackpot owner. Always the wind and the creaking! You do have Caribbean trees and foliage and servants speaking local dialect. The story is told by a crabby and impatient houseguest and as other reviewers have said “why don’t you just leave before things get really bad?”

It would have been a better book if it had been shortened, but it’s still a good story for Halloween and a good 20th century Gothic.

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's not like she didn't warn his stupid ass:

"I warned you I was a strange person, didn't I? Death fascinates me as nothing else does. As a girl, I used to follow my father and brother at night because I hoped to see them accidentally drowned or trapped in the reef. My throat would go dry with a desperate hunger to watch things die -"

and that comment is not even halfway through the book! much earlier, she exults orgasmically when envisioning a child's awful death, dreamily wishing that she had been there to witness his adorable little last gasps. exulting right there in front of the servants too. anyway: dude get a clue, she's literally laying them out right in front of you. for instance, a lock of hair with some scalp still attached, dropped on the stairs for chrissakes.

synopsis: dum-dum stays at a really creepy house full of locked doors and strange sounds in the night and the smells of blood and formaldehyde and freshly-dug earth, the servants scared shitless over their mistress's bizarre new behavior patterns, the senile owner herself casually mentioning how much she gets off on watching people slowly, painfully die and hey sometimes she likes to get in on that action, and brainiac somehow manages to still be surprised when things get gruesome. d'uh!

this was enjoyable because it's impossible for me not to have fun reading about a little old lady nonchalantly admitting a tendency towards incredibly sadistic bloodthirstiness, dropping these bombs with a charming twinkle in her eye and a sweet tone in her voice and an affectionate pat on the cheek. it was also genuinely unnerving at times, in particular the old dear's division of people in the world into normie human beings who she really can't stand to associate with and would love to see slaughtered, and the rest of humanity ("3 out of 10 people") who are just like her in their longing to witness or cause the deaths of others, but unlike her are all uptight about it. those scenes where she hints to our narrator that she is fond of him because she is sure they have certain interests in common... LOL!

this was also enjoyable because Edgar Mittelholzer was a very interesting person and it comes out in his writing. he was a mixed-race Guyanese author of "Caribbean fiction." he writes with ease about a mixed-race couple in a way that is both relaxed and feels lived-in, authentic. the book isn't about race - or colorism, or the effects of colonialism on the psyches of the colonized - but my understanding is that he addresses those topics with sensitivity and realism in the microscopic A Morning at the Office, which I literally just ordered last night after finishing this. Mittelholzer's evocative way of setting a scene is also very impressive. the wind, the colors, the stretches of grass, the sea! the sounds and smells in the night, the creepy brain coral on display right there on the mantle! it was all there for me. I won't read this one again, but I'm very intrigued by this author.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

ELTONSBRODY, by Edgar Mittelholzer, is--in my humble opinion--an example of the perfect execution of a "gothic horror" story in both setting and prose. Set in Barbados, an English painter named Woodsley is unable to find an available room in the more popular areas. He is conveniently directed to the widow, Mrs. Scaife, who is the mistress of Eltonsbrody mansion. Apparently, she has been known to take in lodgers on occasion.

Right from the beginning, the character of Woodsley conveys that this is a "true" horror story, and his matter of fact narration adds significantly to the overall atmosphere. Even on the best of days, the looming mansion of Eltonsbrody is buffeted by fierce, relentless winds and eerie noises from every corridor and room. Though Woodsley feels his creativity is best shown in his dark paintings, his thoughts show that his mind is equally artistic when it comes to how he perceives his surroundings.

". . . casuarinas . . . looked unreal and not of the earth . . . They might not have been trees at all, but mere segments of the deep twilight congealed into wisps of greater density: shapeless shadows--nuclei out of which the night would grow and send out tentacles to envelope the rocks and the cane fields and the tiny shingled cottages . . ."

Then we have the extraordinarily complex character of Mrs. Scaife. One moment charming and "normal", and the next, proudly boasting about having an unusually strong "mark of death" upon her, that she is able to discern on the relatively few others that also appear--to her--to have this distinction upon their features.

". . . Many of us, deep within, have the urge to kill and glory in the death-agony of our victims. We may be unconscious of this urge, but it exists . . . "

Even after an extended stay with the widow of Dr. Michael Scaife, it is difficult for the reader to pin down if she is merely eccentric, crazy, or a completely ordinary person merely having "a joke" at another's expense.

". . . I had to admit that while her actual words sounded utterly loony, her manner was normal. The gleam in her eyes was that of a rational person . . . "

While the atmosphere is one of the utmost importance in a gothic style book--and there is never any doubt on that aspect here--Mittelholzer includes many minute, every-day activities, to give some break to the otherwise stark bleakness. There are many comedic moments between Woodsley, the staff, and the Mistress, herself. Necessities such as eating, washing, cleaning, walking the dogs, and even shopping are interspersed throughout the novel to give the reader a feeling of viewing the complete lifestyle of the characters. This tactic serves to really intensify and bring into the limelight even the smallest of suspicious incidents, that otherwise might have gone unnoted.

"Just shows how contradictory human nature can be . . . When things are happening to bother you you grumble, and the moment everything grows quiet you yawn and feel bored."

In addition to the environment, Eltonsbrody is an astonishing novel of the study of human character. In the case of Mrs. Scaife, many of her staff consider her merely "odd", yet to Woodsley she presents a frustrating enigma. He is constantly questioning whether she is serious with some of her comments, or merely "poking fun" at him: "There are many strange people in this world, you know. Some are laughed at, and some are treated as mental cases -- simply because the normal run of people don't understand their strangeness."

By the conclusion of this novel, I was virtually holding my breath. Events that had beforehand been almost subtly introduced, were then coming at a much faster pace. While the story never felt as though it faltered, I was surprisingly unprepared for those final scenes and visuals. In my opinion, ELTONSBRODY is an absolutely flawless novel when it comes to showcasing the gothic horror style. I was left with the same sentiment that Mr. Woodsley professed at the end: ". . . The very name of Eltonsbrody seems like a ragged, sticky piece of cobweb that will cling for all time round the nerve-cells of my brain."

Highest recommendation!

*I chose to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions are uniquely my own.*

[Nancy Oakes]

4.5/5

Mittelholzer throws out a warning to potential readers of this book on the very first page, saying that the tale we are about to read is a

"shocking story -- a story of real horror -- and anyone who feels that he can't stomach real horror had better go no further than here."

After reading that introduction, in my head I figured things could go one of two ways here: either I'm going to be happily surprised with what's coming next, or I'm going to be really disappointed and never trust Mittelholzer (or at least Woodsley, his narrator) again. Well, I'm happy to report that Eltonsbrody turned out to be just as the author had promised: "a story of real horror". Unlike the other Mittelholzer novel in which I first met Woodsley, My Bones and My Flute, Eltonsbrody is not an outright tale of the supernatural, but it is extremely frightening exploring the horrors that dwell within the human mind.

Set in Barbados, this book begins with the arrival of our narrator Woodsley (a commercial artist), arriving at Eltonsbrody, the old house owned by the eccentric Mrs. Scaife. Woodsley had been "stranded" in the area after travelling from Bridgetown, and the bus driver had suggested he try the old house, since according to him, Mrs. Scaife is "a koindly lady," who would be "sure to help you out for the night." He has been invited to stay on, an invitation he accepts, since he's decided that the house will become the subject of his next painting. So the one night turns into a few more, and over the course of his time there, Woodsley becomes witness to several bizarre and horrific events. But really, nothing is stranger than Mrs. Scaife herself, who has a particular affinity with those people upon whom she sees the mark of death; woe be unto he or she who comes to Eltonsbrody without it.

The wind moans and howls throughout this novel, which like most books I end up absolutely loving, is immersed in atmosphere, and as in My Bones and My Flute and his Shadows Move Among Them, the Caribbean landscape also figures importantly here. Furthermore, as in both of these books, there is much here regarding race and class integrated into the story as well as art. But as Woodsley notes, it is a sort of horror story, albeit one that doesn't rely on standard horror/supernatural tropes in favor of the horrors at work in a dark, twisted and downright warped psyche. To me, that makes this novel all the more frightening, and even scarier is the question of how someone's insanity can seem so normal in the mind of the person who is afflicted. As Mrs. Scaife says,

"There are many strange people in this world, you know. Some are laughed at, and some are treated as mental cases -- simply because the normal run of people don't understand their strangeness."

Trust me -- by the time the last page is turned, the "strangeness" in this book will have left its mark.

I am a sucker for gothic-toned stories that take place in old, isolated houses, especially those near the sea, and I was not at all disappointed with this one. It does take a while for the scary stuff to get rolling, but once it starts, it just doesn't let up until the novel is over, and I guarantee that things will play out in your head as you search for a rational explanation. Each new creepy occurrence is more tense than the last until finally, all is made known at the end. I will say that for some modern readers, the things that happen in this novel may seem a little tame, perhaps a bit laughable, but for me, it was a page turner. I just love this old stuff, and I'm also starting to really appreciate Mitteholzer's writing and even better, his storytelling abilities.

Recommended, mainly for those who've read Mittelholzer in the past and for people who enjoy older books with lots and lots of atmosphere.

Thanks, Ryan -- I loved it.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Macabre yet delightful.

[Marie Helene]

Finished!!! Will rate and review soon.

[Orlando Fato · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Alfred Hitchcock had known about this novel, he would have made a great film adaptation of it. The whole time I spent enjoying this novel, Hitchcock films kept popping into my mind.

"Eltonsbrody" is the story of Mrs. Scaife, an eccentric, middle-aged woman fascinated with death. She lives in Eltonsbrody, a mansion which easily can be found in Europe, as well as its surroundings. In fact, had it not been for the West Indian characters present in the story, you would think it is set in Scotland or Ireland. The weather, as in other Mittelholzer's novels, plays an important role in setting the atmosphere, specially the wind.

Mr. Woodsley, who may or may not be the same narrator of Mittelholzer's ghost story "My Bones and My Flute", has arrived at Eltonsbrody looking for lodging. He is a British painter born in Antigua, whose desire to paint the mansion is interrupted by Mrs. Scaife's dark humour, odd behavior and strange doings.

This is one of the reasons why I think Alfred Hitchcock would have made a great film adaptation of this novel. Reading "Eltonsbrody" feels like watching a Hitchcock film nowadays: the horror walks a thin line between dated and old-fashioned, and, at times, it even comes off as humorours. However, this is where Mr. Mittelholzer's talent comes alive. The beautiful language and engaging style he uses to tell a horror story in a darkly humorous way is what makes it, specially if you're a fan of his books, worth reading.

Something I really enjoy about Mr. Mittelholzer's books is how he references his other works of fiction in them. In "Eltonsbrody" we read about "The Well Pit", a dangerous crevasse in the sea also mentioned in "Shadows Move Among Them". We also read briefly about "The MacMullochs", a family which stars in the novel "The Mad Macmullochs". However, while Mr. Woodsley is the narrator of "My Bones and My Flute", they, somehow, seem to be different characters, whose only common trait is their name and that they're both painters.

"Eltonsbrody" can be gory and explicit, but it never falls into the disgusting or cheap kind of horror. There's an interesting idea developed in the novel about "the mark of death" being present on some people, which made me think and question my fascination with death throughout my life.

This novel had been out of print for decades, but thanks to Valancourt Books is back in print. The Peepal Tree Press has reissued the also atmospheric and spooky "My Bones and My Flute", which is one of Edgar Mittelholzer's best novels.

[Kelly B · Rating 5 out of 5]

While vacationing in Barbados, artist Woodsley decides to visit the other side of the island and is dismayed when lodging is all booked up. He's relieved when the kind and grand Mrs. Scaife generously invites him to stay with her at Eltsonbrody, her estate. Mrs. Scaife is the widow of a man who was a well renowned doctor on the island, yet strangely enough Mrs. Scaife has no friends and lives very isolated, other than her servants and sporadic visits from her son and grandson. Woodsley is soon dismayed as this nice old woman begins to make strange and gruesome comments, and is seen wandering around the estate all hours of the night. He begins to wonder if there is more to Mrs. Scaife and Eltonsbrody than meets the eye.

A very atmospheric novel, Eltonsbrody keeps the tension coming until the end. The question isn't so much what is happening, but why. I immensely enjoyed the setting of Barbados: I think this is the first gothic/horror novel I've read set there!

[Ctgt · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moody, atmospheric, creepy, and perfectly gothic. Island gothic. Is that a thing? I say yes. It's a short little book, which works well for the story. It's well paced and clues to the mystery are doled out in tantalizing little chapter-ending bursts. I loved this one.

[TraceyL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am I the only person who thinks the main characters in the classic haunted/creepy house books deserve what's coming to them? I mean, they get lost, they go up to a spooky house where the owner welcomes them in with open arms and offers them a meal and a place to stay for the night. Instead of just chilling, they always end up snooping through the house, opening doors that they shouldn't, and asking invasive questions that they have no business asking. Then they're shocked to find out a grisly secret.

This book is good. It takes place in Barbados which is a new setting for me. Creepy house, creepy homeowner, nosey guest who overstays his welcome, mysteriously old lady - it's everything you'd want in a classic gothic horror book.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really weird little novel from 1960 that Valancourt has thankfully preserved for us. It has the feel of an "old dark house"/who-dun-it mystery film from the 30's for most of it's length, but later a much grislier theme emerges. Yet we're kept in the dark until the very end.

There's a ton of gothic tropes here. A creepy old house, a constant barrage of wind, a macabre and possibly insane host, damsels in distress, locked secret rooms, peeking through keyholes, a number of quirky, often humorous characters, and plenty of chapters that ended with my brain saying, "Dun! - Dun! - DUN!"

As with the "old dark house" mystery subgenre, there's a lot of rushing around from room to room investigating, mysterious sounds in the night, a convoluted plot, and obvious clues can be a bit much. "But I swear there was a coffin right here just a minute ago!" (Not a literal quote, but almost.)

Typically in these sorts of stories you'd expect the creepy host to be elusive, secretive. But the strange old Mrs. Scaife is teasing, genial. She wants the narrator to stick around and be a part of it all:

"She held up her hand. ‘Never use the word “inquisitive” to me. You must consider it your right to ask me anything you like.’ She gave me a teasing glance and added: ‘Not, of course, that you must always expect to get satisfactory answers to every question you ask."

I have little else to say about this novel, it's an enjoyable read, I was mostly looking for a fun, "summer read" and it delivers. It has a rather slow first half, but a shocking ending.

[Schausette · Rating 4 out of 5]

J’ai plus faim 😭

[Rob Twinem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eltonsbrody an eerie Gothic mansion in the Caribbean under the patronage and possible  madness of Mrs Scaife. Into this tropical paradise enters Mr Woodsley seeking accommodation close to Bridgetown in Barbados.
 
The story written in 1960 is typical of the horror writing of that period. The author does a wonderful job of portraying Mrs Scaife as a kindly yet possible dotty keeper of the inn! As the story gathers momentum the fear element increases and the reader begins to understand that all is not well in the house of Eltonsbrody and in particular its owner Mrs Scaife. There is some beautiful and elegant prose that greatly adds to the overall atmosphere in this Gothic tale of intrigue and growing uneasiness...."The soft swishing rustle of the casuarinas might have been a spirit-voice warning me of danger."......."And it was human hair. Human hair which must have been forcibly uprooted from the head which had once borne it."...."The wind. Just the wind whooping now, moaning now, whining in under the eaves, shaking the windows downstairs."....
 
My thanks to the good people at Valancourt Books for supplying me with a gratis copy of this spooky little tale, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Sully Holt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sur l'île de la Barbade, dans les années 50, le narrateur est accueilli par la vieille Mrs. Scaif dans le manoir d'Eltonsbrody. Commence alors pour lui un étrange séjour sous le signe de l'angoisse et de l'irrationnel. Pourquoi son hôtesse tient-elle des propos aussi lunaires ? Que cache son apparente bonhomie... ?

Après "Muncaster", j'ai enchaîné avec "Eltonsbrody". J'avais envie de rester encore un peu au cœur d'une atmosphère gothique. Je n'ai pas été déçue parce que ce bouquin glauque et surprenant est un condensé de tout ce qui fait un bon roman gothique : une maison isolée, des bruits inquiétants, une nature déchaînée, des personnages mystérieux qui finissent par vous faire froid dans le dos avec leurs insinuations tordues.... Bref, un grand moment de joie pour moi !

J'ai cru comprendre qu'Edgar Mittelholzer, écrivain caribéen né en Guyane Britannique, avait subi le rejet et le manque de reconnaissance toute sa vie. Il s'est suicidé en 1965. Quel gâchis quand on découvre sa plume et son imaginaire sombre nourri par les influences de Poe et Lovecraft – mais aussi par la haine de soi et le rejet lié à ses origines qu'il projette dans son récit.

Eux-mêmes en proie aux questions identitaires, ses personnages portent en eux une ambivalence et une complexité psychologique qui font souffler un vent de fraîcheur sur le genre, plutôt réputé pour ses héros manichéens et ses héroïnes éthérées.

La nature prend évidemment une place de choix dans ce roman ténébreux et sauvage où chaque élément (que ce soit l'océan, les arbres, le climat) est utilisé à bon escient, de manière à renforcer l'atmosphère. Le vent omniprésent qui agite les murs de la bâtisse autant que les âmes s'enveloppe de menace et monte en puissance au rythme des agissements de Mrs. Scaif. Les paysages exotiques révèlent à la fois leur beauté paradisiaque et, à travers de subtils détails, l'envers d'une île restée longtemps sous le joug de l'esclavage.

À petites touches diaboliques, Mittelholzer parvient à entraîner le lecteur au bord de la folie, à cet instant où on doute de tout, entouré par les mensonges et la violence.

Encore une fois, c'est une belle lecture grâce aux Éditions du Typhon et à leur collection mettant en avant "ces voix qui portent en elles l'orage" issues de tous les pays. Hâte de me procurer "Un matin au bureau" et "Le temps qu'il fait à Middenshot" du même auteur.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

With nowhere else to stay in the village, Mr Woodsley, an artist, rooms at an elderly, eccentric lady' grand home. He finds her mildly odd but by no means eccentric or mad. This quickly changes as he sees her tempers turn on a dime and the strict rules she has for all but the maid may enter the second story where two rooms have been locked up for-seeming-ly ever. After the maid has an accident a nurse is brought in to and Mr. Woodsley must figure out what the sinister deeds are that the landlady is involved. A slow burn with a rapid fire culmination of reveals. I figured out the end by the halfway mark but that didn't spoil the tale for me at all. Reminiscent of a Shirley Jackson.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 5 out of 5]

like 'My bones and my flute' also by Mittelholzer, this Caribbean gothic tale was excellent...

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had all my favorite problematic horror tropes in one package lol

[Romane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un peu fofolle la vieille

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

As billed, this gothic novel was redolent with atmosphere. A quick and wonderful read. Thanks to Valancourt Books for reprinting books like this for readers like me.

[Addy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book

A lot of atmosphere and surprises will keep you reading til the end! Can’t recommend this enough! Can’t wait to read more from this author. I was quite surprised at the end when everything was revealed. What peculiar characters await your discovery!

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

High creep factor, a whole lot of bosom and gore. Reminded me of a 1970s Hammer Horror movie.

[Pascal Malosse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A partir d'un schéma classique du courant gothique, le narrateur qui débarque dans une étrange maison, Edgar Mittelholzer livre une oeuvre originale, angoissante, et profondément morbide. le décor idyllique des caraïbes devient rapidement étouffant, vénéneux, avec ses vents qui transpercent sans cesse la maison. Mais la plus grande réussite du roman tient à un personnage démoniaque ; la maîtresse des lieux, Mrs Scaif. Une dame excentrique, dont on pardonne les frasques et le comportement étrange en raison de son grand âge. La norme sociale, le respect dû à l'hôte, la peur d'offenser, empêchent de voir une réalité qui se fissure au fil des événements de plus en plus bizarres. La construction de l'atmosphère, la nature hostile, les domestiques dépassés, trop loyaux, sont autant d'éléments essentiels qui charrient le lecteur jusqu'au bout de l'horreur. L'humour noir n'est pas en reste, ses nombreuses piques sont les armes d'un duel au sommet. Bref, avis aux amateurs du genre !

[Irina Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Profoundly bizarre, delightfully atmospheric, and deeply morally ambiguous.

The narrator's voice makes for an enjoyable lens through which to experience the story - from the delicious ghoulishness of the mysterious old lady to the extremely colorful side characters. However, our main guy did seem a little emotionally stunted, and I struggled to connect with some of his actions and reactions in the latter half of the novel. I'm just now realizing who he reminded me of, with his bumbling investigations and reluctance to believe the worst: a less likable version of my beloved Hastings.

A quick but pleasurably unsettling read that will stick with me just like Eltonsbrody will stick with Milton.

[Ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book because I wanted to read a book set in Barbados before I visited and this sounded spooky. A travelling painter is in need of accommodation and ends up lodging at a strange old mansion owned by a friendly but eccentric old lady. Things take a dark and morbid turn… Many of the flavours of a classic British gothic novel are here, but it’s also set within the class and racial context of 1950s Barbados, echoing the plantation history of the island. At times the book is a bit silly and fantastical and I got a little tired of descriptions of the landscape wanting to get on with action.

[Alex Budris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mysterious goings on at the Eltonbrody estate. Locked rooms and the smell of formaldehyde and blood in the upstairs hallway. The servants are becoming nervous, the dogs won't stop howling. The ever-gusting wind - "a thing of unalterable purpose" - issues warnings and decrees as the situation at the manor goes from eccentric to disturbing to outright deadly...

A really good read. The guys at Valancourt know what's what.

[GB Noriega · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good story. I found myself getting impatient with Mrs. Scaife and her vague, flippant responses. Mittelholzer does create an ambiguously moral character in her.

He also succeeds in creating the creepy atmosphere of Eltonsbrody. The wind and the rain and the creaky furniture all help make the house a phantom.

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ingredients include an old mansion, an eccentric old lady owning the mansion and a meddling guest - however, this doesn't turn out into a nice read, in my opinion. I found it dated, and I didn't like nor understood the main character, Mr. Woodsley.
I read a lot of positive reviews, so I guess it just wasn't my kind of story.

[Mickaël A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une enquête un peu farfelue dans une maison isolée au milieu de la Barbade. Un polar original, qui se veut toujours réaliste et casse un peu les codes avec un héros qui n'a pas vraiment peur et des événements moins surnaturel qu'ils auraient pu être présentés.
La prose manque un peu de corps et on est finalement rarement happé dans le flot de l'action.