Terri and her 10 year old daughter Dallas move into a dilapidated old manor house. This is summer vacation for Dallas and meant to be "their summer" since she does not live with her mother full time. It's a working summer for Terri who is there to restore the house. Immediately upon moving in she finds out not only that she wasn't the owner's first choice for the job, but that there have been many others before her that either quit or were fired due to their "imaginations" and that there is one former employee in particular she is to watch out for, Gertrude, who is obsessed with the house.
Cue the strange noises and the daughter who knows more than is possible to know about the house's long dead former occupants and you have the set up for a typical haunted house story that also is a bit of a whodunit.
I found the murder mystery aspect a bit too easy to solve, and the relationship between Terri and her daughter seemed odd. Dallas seemed to go back and forth between being too mature for her age and then too immature for her age. Terri made some weird choices that you would not expect a normal mother to make. That and the fact that I could not really connect with any of the characters made this just an ok read for me.

I read an e-copy from Netgalley with no obligation to write a review. ( )

I really love a good haunted house story, and when I found out this one was based off of a real place that the author stayed in I was excited to read it. And I was definitely not disappointed. The creepiness began immediately and never stopped! The characters were solid, I really liked Dallas, such a brave 10 year old! She was kind of an asshole sometimes, but as a mom of an 11 year old that was completely believable. Would for sure recommend for lovers of scary stories and haunted houses! ( )

This is a real, proper haunted house ghost story. Sometimes a contemporary setting can dilute this sort of story, but not in this case. Add in some mystery and family secrets and you have a deliciously spooky read. ( )