SOLVED. Fantasy, short story, read 1993-1998. Guy enters medieval ruins and is confronted by a bunch of ghosts who won't let him leave until he solves the mystery of who murdered the lady of the castle. Spoilers ahead. [s]

[Nikolaos]

Turns out, everyone else in the castle tried to murder her, each for their own nefarious reasons. The priest, for instance, lusted after her but his oath of celibacy held him back... until he decided the rule didn't apply if the lady wasn't alive while he satisfied his lust. What a guy.

Mystery solved, main character wins his freedom and a bunch of treasure, but he only takes a bracelet belonging to the wronged lady.

I could have sworn it was by Tanith Lee, but I couldn't find anything like it in her bibliography... which is pretty vast especially when it comes to short stories, so maybe I missed something?

[Genesistrine]

I think it's one of her Cyrion stories.

ed: yep, One Night of the Year in Cyrion

[Nikolaos]

That's the one!

Thank you very much.

So this is now Solved.