by Cavendish
“I’m ready,” she said.
Without a word, Isobel smiled and led her deeper into the graveyard.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks, as always to Julia Kavan, for steering me in the right direction and pointing out any instances of sheer folly. Thanks to Shehanne Moore who, as a native Dundonian, gave me valuable advice on aspects of regional dialect. Any errors in that regard are entirely mine. Major thanks to horror editor par excellence, Don D’Auria. It’s great to be working with you again, Don! And big thanks to the wonderfully supportive horror writing community, with a special nod to Stuart R. West who introduced me to the quirkiness of Kansas.
Henderson Close and Farquhars Close are products of my imagination but, if you’re interested in visiting one of the actual Edinburgh Closes, take a trip to The Real Mary King’s Close – a wonderfully preserved time capsule, on the Royal Mile. It’s dark there, and spooky. Thoroughly recommended, as are Jan-Andrew Henderson’s excellent and highly entertaining books: Edinburgh: City of the Dead, The Town Below the Ground: Edinburgh’s Legendary Underground City and The Ghost That Haunted Itself: The Story of the Mackenzie Poltergeist.
Greyfriars Kirk is another must-see and, if you can, go on one of the night time graveyard tours. You might even encounter the Mackenzie Poltergeist himself. Oh, and while you’re there, have a look for a plaque on the wall. It simply reads, ‘Miss Cathcart’ – and no one knows anything more about it.
About this book
This is a FLAME TREE PRESS BOOK
Text copyright © 2019 Catherine Cavendish.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
FLAME TREE PRESS, 6 Melbray Mews, London, SW6 3NS, UK, flametreepress.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Thanks to the Flame Tree Press team, including: Taylor Bentley, Frances Bodiam, Federica Ciaravella, Don D’Auria, Chris Herbert, Matteo Middlemiss, Josie Mitchell, Mike Spender, Will Rough, Cat Taylor, Maria Tissot, Nick Wells, Gillian Whitaker. The cover is created by Flame Tree Studio with thanks to Nik Keevil and Shutterstock.com.
FLAME TREE PRESS is an imprint of Flame Tree Publishing Ltd. flametreepublishing.com. A copy of the CIP data for this book is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress.
HB ISBN: 978-1-78758-103-6, PB ISBN:978-1-78758-101-2, ebook ISBN: 978-1-78758-104-3 | Also available in FLAME TREE AUDIO | Created in London and New York
FLAME TREE PRESS
FICTION WITHOUT FRONTIERS
Award-Winning Authors & Original Voices
Flame Tree Press is the trade fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing, focusing on excellent writing in horror and the supernatural, crime and mystery, science fiction and fantasy. Our aim is to explore beyond the boundaries of the everyday, with tales from both award-winning authors and original voices.
Other titles available include:
Junction by Daniel M. Bensen, Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach by Ramsey Campbell, Think Yourself Lucky by Ramsey Campbell, The House by the Cemetery by John Everson, The Toy Thief by D.W. Gillespie, The Siren and the Specter by Jonathan Janz, The Sorrows by Jonathan Janz, Savage Species by Jonathan Janz, Kosmos by Adrian Laing, The Sky Woman by J.D. Moyer, Creature by Hunter Shea, The Bad Neighbor by David Tallerman, Ten Thousand Thunders by Brian Trent, Night Shift by Robin Triggs, The Mouth of the Dark by Tim Waggoner
Join our mailing list for free short stories, new release details, news about our authors and special promotions:
flametreepress.com