Tom Ossington's Ghost

by Richard Marsh

Excerpt from Tom Ossington's Ghost
She caught up the sheets of paper, fastened them together at the corner, crammed them into an envelope, scribbled a note, crammed it in after them, addressed the envelope, closed it, jumped up to get her hat, just as there came a rat-tat-tat at the hall-door knocker.
Now, who's that? I wonder if it is that Miss Brice come for her lesson after all - three hours late. It will be like her if it is - but she sha'n't have it now. We'll see if she shall.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Horror, Classics

354 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

Richard Marsh was the pseudonym of the English author born Richard Bernard Heldmann. A best-selling and prolific author of the late 19th century and the Edwardian period, Marsh is best known now for his supernatural thriller novel The Beetle, which was published the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), and was initially even more popular, outselling Dracula six times over. The Beetle remained in print until 1960. Marsh produced nearly 80 volumes of fiction and numerous short stories, in genres including horror, crime, romance and humour. Many of these have been republished recently, beginning with The Beetle in 2004. Marsh's grandson Robert Aickman was a notable writer of short "strange stories".

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supernatural mystery concerning a hidden treasure and a vengeful ghost. The story was fast-paced and compelling, and had an interesting female protagonist. An enjoyable read that can be found at Project Gutenberg.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was quite an unexpected package. At first I thought it was a cozy little mystery, with a bit of romance, humour and ghostliness thrown in. The main characters were likable and the plot travelled at a good pace. But as the story developed darker themes emerged and I realised the author had played somewhat of a trick on me. This story and some of the characters were not what I had thought.
This book wouldn't be classed as a great mystery, or as particularly spooky, but it was an enjoyable little tale, and I hope I can find more books by this author.
I listened to the Librivox audiobook; the narration was pleasant and much appreciated.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good old fashioned ghost story...

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in the Project Gutenberg transcription, which has very few typos.

I was hoping for a ghost story; I ended up with a story of a treasure hunt that has a ghost in it. Four pleasant young people recount long anecdotes to each other and search at great descriptive length for a treasure hidden in a house. Nothing that would bring a blush to a sheltered maiden's cheek, and nothing that would frighten even the most terrifiable reader.

Marsh may have been paid by the word here; there's really very little that couldn't have been detailed in a short story. But, a harmless read, though I can't quite say I'm eager for more by Richard Marsh.

[Jeanine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book! I loved the writing style and the storyline.

[Grace Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Do any of you believe in ghosts? –in disembodied spirits assuming a corporeal shape? – in the dead returning from their graves? Or is a man who thinks he sees a ghost, who knows he sees a ghost, who knows that a ghost is a continual attendant of his waking and of his sleeping hours alike – must such a man be in labour with some horrible delusion of his senses? Is his brain of necessity unhinged? Must he of a certainty be mad?” p. 243

So asks Ballingall, the man who has been the friend of; and then betrayed Tom Ossington during his life and ended up being haunted by his ghost. The ghost himself starts out as being what must be the most affable ghost in history. "Go to my house," he tells Ballingall, "and retrieve my fortune. It's yours if you can find it." Sadly, no good results come from this promise from a ghost and Ballingall ends up a haunted man.

The story is actually told by two young ladies, Madge and Ella, who have taken up residence in the home of Tom Ossington, renting it after it has long stood empty (gaining a bad reputation for being haunted).

The story is a lovely one - in some ways I enjoyed it much more than Marsh's more famous The Beetle, but it still had all those fantastic fin-de-siecle issues and anxieties within it. I felt that there was some really fine writing in this book, and it wasn't entirely tied up in those class bound narratives that seem to be so prevalent within Victorian fiction. The vagabond and criminal, turns out to be a gent on hard times, and the initial intruder isn't what you think at all. With Marsh, a man who fell onto the wrong side of the law himself, his work is always surprising and unexpected. This is a clever, captivating book - free on kindle - you can't really go wrong.

[Angela Maher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant little tale. I classify it as more of a mystery than horror, despite there being a ghost as a character. I love the style, and the characters. Well worth the read. I don't know why this author isn't talked about more.

[H Jesseman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, entertaining and much better than The Beetle.