The novel “A Very Private Haunting” by Sharon Bidwell was published for the first time in 2018.
Arthur Penrose has returned to the village of Glencross many years after leaving it following his grandfather’s death. He’s now the last of his family and the heir to the mansion inhabited for various Penrose generations. Arthur doesn’t intend to live there, also because the chills he feels are not only due to the cold but also to strange events. In the village, he’s seen as a foreigner, a situation that adds to the strange atmosphere that troubles some local teenagers who are prevented from leaving. Arthur ends up calling his father’s old colleague in the army, Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart.
The search for a strange creature seems to have taken Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart’s last energies, and it’s time for him to take a vacation. That’s a situation he struggles to deal with and Arthur Penrose’s call seems like the right opportunity to go somewhere else for a while without falling into boredom. When Anne Travers finds out about his plans, she says she’s interested in participating in that investigation.
The Lethbridge-Stewart series tells the adventures of the character who became famous in the “Doctor Who” TV show when he works without the Doctor. The stories start from the period immediately following the debut of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in the TV show and then extend the period covered. These stories include some characters that appeared in the TV show, some invented for other productions connected to it, and others that were created specifically for these novels.
“A Very Private Haunting” is the kind of story where it seems like trouble is looking for the protagonists. Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and Anne Travers have gone through a series of difficulties with personal losses of various kinds. The story told by Arthur Penrose seems to be that of someone who has been influenced by old legends and the atmosphere of the old family mansion but there could be something more.
The plot seems to come out of a horror story with the setting in an isolated village as was normal until a few decades ago in which the adults seem determined to prevent their children from leaving at all costs. The situation on the Penrose family mansion also contributes to that creepy vibe with the last heir wondering if he’s going mad when he believes the strange doll he found there is talking to him. These are all classic elements of the horror genre, even beyond the limit of the cliché, as they make at least some parts of the novel predictable.
The other major problem with “A Very Private Haunting” is, in my opinion, in the plot’s division, as it follows several different points of view. Arthur Penrose’s is a great way to immerse the reader in the atmosphere of Glencross and especially his old family mansion. The views of some of the village teenagers help develop the mystery around the village but fragment the narrative a lot. Even within each chapter, different points of view are presented, breaking up the various subplots. The novel is too short to effectively develop so many points of view.
The best part of “A Very Private Haunting” is, in my opinion, in its protagonists. It fits perfectly into this series of novels at a time when Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and Anne Travers have seen a lot paying a high price. Despite this, they seem to be unable to stay away from out-of-the-ordinary cases.
Overall, “A Very Private Haunting” has a central story that gave me too much a been-there-done-that impression to fully appreciate it. If you appreciate a certain type of horror atmosphere, you might like it. The book also includes an extended version of Sharon Bidwell’s short story “The Wishing Bazaar,” previously published by Candy Jar Books.
