The Shadow Guest

Hillary Waugh was a successful author that wrote numerous novels including a police procedural series starring a Connecticut Police Chief named Fred Fellows. His stories were published in mystery magazines like Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen and the slicks like Cosmopolitan. Like so many accomplished authors like Gil Brewer, Jon Messmann , and Dean Koontz, Waugh delved into the gothic-romance and suspense marketplace in the 1970s. His novel The Shadow Guest was originally published in 1971 by Victor Gollancz in the U.K. and Doubleday in the U.S. However, Dell capitalized on the book by marketing it as a gothic paperback in 1972.

Waugh introduces readers to a prosperous 34 year-old New York architect named Howard. He meets a 20 year-old actress, Angela, and the two develop a relationship and eventually marry. However, Angela develops a mental condition that spirals into paranoia and depression. After working through the debilitating condition, Angela begins to get well and Howard moves the couple to London to work on a large building contract. But, it is Howard's turn to become ill after suffering a heart attack.

Angela finds a seaside cottage on the western shore of England and convinces Howard, who's now in a rest and recovery mode, that the two should move there. Hesitantly, Howard agrees and the couple move in to a previously abandoned home titled Heather Cottage. But, the house has a haunting history.

According to various townsfolk, Heather Cottage is haunted by an “angry man”. Three years prior a young couple had died in a horrendous car wreck on the winding road leading to the house. Howard is quick to dismiss the claims, but the two have a housekeeper named Beverly that is a rumored psychic. She has an incident upon first entering the home. But, the bulk of Waugh's narrative concerns sinister events that haunt the couple.

Howard typically is awakened each night by the sounds of macabre laughter downstairs. There's also a mystery surrounding the home's attic with a light that consistently turns itself on. Angela is haunted by nightmares and visions of a bloody man wearing an Army coat. Howard eventually sees the same man on the couple's front lawn. What is happening at Heather Cottage?

It is debatable on whether The Shadow Guest is a genuine gothic. It has the familiar tropes – vulnerable people moving into a rural dwelling and experiencing supernatural or mysterious events that are difficult to explain to side characters that aren't eye witnesses to these events. That's the mainframe of gothic-suspense paperbacks. However, Waugh mixes it up by having two main characters instead of one. There's also the structure with Heather Cottage being a much smaller house than the typical vast estate or mansion. Additionally, instead of just having one character experiencing strange events, there are two. These make the book a little bit different and unique compared to the standard gothic fluff. 

Whether it is gothic or not doesn't influence the quality – The Shadow Guest is a wonderful reading experience with a prevalent mystery that left me guessing until the very end. The book's finale and afterthought left me fully satisfied. The narrative breezes by with Waugh's easily readable prose and each detail in the novel ultimately pays dividends in the book's finale. 

You can watch a video of me and Nick Anderson of The Book Graveyard reviewing the book in great detail HERE. Also, you can purchase the book HERE.