A Strange Christmas Game by J.H. Riddell (1863)
Tuesday’s Tale of Terror December 20, 2016
There’s nothing more satisfying than reading ghost stories at Christmastime. Even when we read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol over and over again, we are still delighted. A Strange Christmas Game by J.H. Riddell is a mysterious little ghost story that you’ve probably not read at all, since Charlotte Riddell is one of those forgotten authors, but a popular one in her day.
John Lester and his sister Clare inherit a gloomy old estate in Bedfordshire. Family history here is not a long one, except for the fact that former owners of the estate Jeremy Lester went missing on Christmas Eve and was never found for 41 years. Until John and Clare stay at the dark castle on Christmas Eve. Do you like to visit haunted chambers? Try this 30-minute read for an old fashioned Christmas Eve tale.
J.H. Riddell (Charlotte Riddell) was born in England in 1832. Her spouse was Joseph Hadley Riddell. She wrote over 50 novels and short stories, and was well known as a prominent ghost story author. Charlotte was part owner and editor of the St. James’s Magazine, one of the most prestigious literary magazines of the 1860s.
Read this ghost story A Strange Christmas Game at Vault of Ghastly Tales.
Listen to the audio, narrated by Michael Whitehouse at Vault of Ghastly Tales via YouTube
Wishing you all a merry merry season!
On a personal note, as I’ve been recovering from hip replacement surgery (doing well). I have been MIA with much of my writing and blog posting. Book sales for my supernatural novels Greylock, Night Sea Journey, and The Dazzling Darkness are climbing. Right now The Dazzling Darkness is #10 on Amazon Kindle Best Seller List for occult/supernatural genre since Dec. 6. Here’s hoping the novel will finish out the year as a Kindle Best Seller.
Hope to be back at full activity very soon to work on my next novel and continue to discover and post more supernatural mystery short stories by the famous authors we love to read.
Don’t forget to view the INDEX above of more free Tales of Terror. This is a compendium of over 180 short stories by over 100 master storytellers of mystery, supernatural, horror, and ghost stories. Join me in reading one short story every other week! Comments are welcome.
Other Reading Web Sites to Visit
Slattery’s Art of Horror Magazine
Books & Such Bibliophilica Lovecraft Ezine Parlor of Horror
HorrorAddicts.net Horror Novel Reviews HorrorSociety.com
Monster Librarian HorrorNews.net HorrorTalk.com
Rob Around Books The Story Reading Ape Blog
Kirkus Mystery & Thrillers Reviews
For Authors/Writers: The Writer Unboxed
Thriller Author Mark Dawson http://markjdawson.com/
Dawson’s Book Marketing site: http://www.selfpublishingformula.com/
Paula Cappa 
Pingback: A Ghost for Christmas | Paula Cappa
Hope you’re on the mend and congrats on the sales! And I seriously love that Christmas tree.
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Nice to see a recommended list of blogs in a similar vein. Thanks.
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Congratulations on recovering from your surgery, and on surging book sales.
Now a nitpick: its Mrs. J. H. Riddell or Charlotte Riddell; J.H. Riddell is her husband’s name, as you in fact note. Yes, I know the book cover you posted has her listed as J. H. Riddell, but that’s sloppiness on their part.
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Brian, my information is that Charlotte used a number of pseudonyms, Rainey Hawthorne and F.G. Trafford among others. Because her husband was successful in business she also used his name. Those were the days when women writers were shunned, especially in fiction.
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My apology. I’d assumed, and it did make an ass of me! Thanks for the correction.
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Reblogged this on Slattery's Horror Weblog and commented:
Another great blast from the past from Paula Cappa!
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