The Haunting of the Lost Mansion

by Riley Amitrani

Just outside London, back in the early 1900s, was a now-defunct little village known as Bishops Fordham. Center stage was an enormous mansion, the Fordham Mansion, where the elite family of Reginald and Amanda Fordham lived with their two children, Charles and Emily. The one Achilles heel of Bishops Fordham was an aged and slowly weakening dam that provided the residents with their livelihood. When it was rumored that the dam was in imminent danger of collapsing, a major relocation effort was launched. How many people perished in the floods? Was the Fordham family victimized by the flooding, or did they manage to survive? In 2017, the Bishops Fordham Nature Conservancy hired a young woman named Clarissa Evans to oversee the facility. She had a laser-focus on making the area a prime attraction for tourists from around the world, and for a while, she did well. But as climatic changes came along, the summers in the region got hotter and drier, and to Clarissa's shock and dismay, she came to the lake one day to discover that the old Fordham Mansion, was now visible above the waterline. That situation was now becoming the draw for visitors versus the wildlife that gave Clarissa purpose and meaning in life. To add insult to injury, an up and coming young journalist, Edward Milton, with a penchant for highlighting oddities such as this got permission to come and do an investigation of the mansion for his very popular blog. What is Clarissa willing to do to keep wildlife instead of the mansion as the primary reason for visiting? Join Clarissa and Edward as they dig deeper and deeper into the exposed mansion and old village. Seemingly otherworldly phenomena come about that appeal to Edward's sense of wonder and adventure, while Clarissa remains skeptical due to her scientific background. Is Clarissa correct, and Edward is just creating more buzz for his blog, or is he onto something that just has no logical or rational basis for belief? Will they grow to trust and perhaps even love one another, or will they discover and experience every horrific meaning of the word "lost" in existence? Read "The Haunting of the Lost Mansion" now to find out...

Genres: Supernatural

71 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 10, 2020

About the author

Bestselling horror author, writes mostly haunted house horror books, loves all things in the horror genre

Reviews

[Christy Hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking for a quick, spooky read. What I got was poor characterization, less than stellar writing conventions, and a rushed and unrealistic story.

First off, I need to like characters. Or hate them. I just need to feel something extreme to want to keep reading. Clarissa was just downright confusing. It was like the author kept forgetting how she was supposed to act or think. Ed is glanced over so quickly. Even the ghosts are poorly constructed and barely in the story...and it’s a freakin ghost story!!!

As a creative writing teacher, I can be hard to please. I get that. But could someone teach these authors how to write dialogue, internal monologue and narration? Use italics and quotation marks correctly, people! There were times that the narration sounded like a documentary or a history book - no ambiance whatsoever for a ghost story. Sometimes the dialogue should have been narration or narration should have been dialogue or the dialogue repeated what the narration had just said. I felt like pulling out my hair but I don’t want to be bald so I just read through the story faster to end my pain.

The plot itself was lackluster. While this is the length of a long short story, an author could use time wisely and make sure that the imagery and world building makes sense. Character names changed as did the mystery. Earlier information about the 1919 characters changed but in a way that made it seem like Riley Amitrani forgot what the details were. The flood, which was described as a wall of water, didn’t knock down the mansion or any other house, didn’t break windows, flooded the mansion but didn’t move furniture. How is that possible? People in the area want to forget about the flood, even though everyone survived it besides the family in the mansion. Really? Why? Their ancestors survived. Why would you forget the one family who died? No one has investigated the town underwater. Not even divers? A whole town submerged and no one has put on scuba gear to check it out? They do that in the ocean all the time with shipwrecks. No one has thought to do that in a lake and a whole submerged village? Not realistic at all. The story dragged for most of the time and then when it mattered, everything moved too quickly. The whole climax was rushed and I couldn’t have cared less. It felt like the author also couldn’t have cared less.

Sadly, this is one I would not recommend to anyone.

[John Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice dialogue but lacking in atmosphere!

Considering that this was a short story it took a long time to get going. Many inconsistencies in the tale were annoying. Was Fordham a town or village? This part of North Yorkshire, in the 1800s, was described a being "a mere 2 hours from London" . Wow! Even the new high speed rail link HS2 can't compete with that and, to boot, Fordham in the 1800s didn't even have a railway line. Our heroine was described as being insular and not good at making friends, but visitors to the nature reserve were gushing in praise for her friendly and enthusiastic manner. The ghosts, when they did appear, were fleeting and insubstantial. A bit like this story.

[S. Wigget · Rating 2 out of 5]

My reaction during early bits: This was presumably written within the past few years, not 200 years ago, but you'd never guess from the writing style. I was expecting an eerie haunted house story, Darcy Coates style... and instead got Washington Irving... or a dissertation. (I mention Washington Irving because The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has 42 pages of backstory before you get to the actual story.)

Ultimately, the book feels like a rough draft, mostly notes for writing a novel, not the actual novel. It doesn't seem like a contemporary novel that's had beta readers or a developmental edit. It isn't full of typos--it just needs to be fully developed as a work of fiction.

The absence of "show, don't tell" continues through the book. For instance, 15% into the book, we get a long paragraph explaining how tourists are more interested in the legend of the lost mansion than in the wildlife. How about instead of this, show a scene in which Clarissa's a tour guide and tourists ask about the legend and show more interest in that than in the wildlife?

You don't see any facial expressions or such. The dialogue tells you too much, stuff that should be shown.

Also, the snide remark about "aging spinsters" made me hope that Ed Milton gets eaten by a demon.

[Michael Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

Many people, including myself, believe it is more difficult to write a short story or novella than it is to write a full length novel because there are fewer pages to develop the plot and the characters. In this light, Riley Arnitrani gives us a wonderful read. There is a ghost story without gore in an unusual setting that ends in delightfully respectful romance. Don't miss this one. As my dear granny used to say, "It's a good'un!"

[Amy Neale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read

Quick and entertaining story but definitely had some glitches.

Was disappointed when they got into the castle and all they did was talk. You would think a journalist would have taken some photos.
Also, thought it was odd that "she adjusted a pillow" to get comfortable... were they not in a castle that had been submerged for decades. The interior would be far from comfortable, more like damp and smelly. So where did the nice pillow come from?

[Nicole Tul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read

Lags in the beginning with the history, but quickly picks up and moves fast. Hard to put down, enjoyed this ghost story. We have couple towns around here that was flooded and one is still under water. So that got me interested into picking up this book. Love the twist at the end.

[Julie Nilles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprising little read!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. It was a little slow at first. However after the first few pages I had to keep reading to find what was next. I would definitely recommend both this story and Riley Amitrani's other works as well.

[Laurie]

I'm finding this starting out really s l o w....The initial chapter outling the history and the family that originally occupied the manor was interesting, but the current storline seems kitchy to me and our heroine just doesn't engage me. I might go back to this at some point.

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty well done

Its a short story.. a lot of lost drama build up, and the answer was a lot less than a gothic horror read would like. But ut tied up nicely, wasn't super rushed and it closed well.

[karin whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Haunting of the Lost Mansion

I picked up this story on another author's promotion for an honest review. An intriguing concept, a legend that becomes a sort of time travel for Clarissa and Ed. Well written, quick read, interesting story line. A story for today, enjoy!

[Carolyn Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

A legendary mansion is revealed by a drought, and the truth of what occurred the fateful night it was lost may finally be revealed.

[Lottie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was relaxing reading and I loved the twist in the ending!

[Kristi Krueger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Minor let down

This story has so much potential. It could have been fleshed out so much more. Great campfire story though. To short.

[Sandra Pillig · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a flood that covers a mansion with a family in it.

I liked the characters in this book but was disappointed in the litt!e bit of mystery in it. Not my favorite.

[Valerie Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't get the novel hoped for

More of a novella.
Story could have been written better.
Can't really complain considering the price.
Only my opinion of course

[Cristie Hamil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

I really liked this book! It was eerily captivating through the entire book. It was a great ghost story! Kept me staying up till 3am to finish reading it.

[Lori Flemming · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but sweet

I really didn't know what was going to happen when reading this book. The characters were believable and kept you wanting to see where they would go .