I’m delighted to announce that Regal House Publishing plans to release my modern-gothic novel, The Inhabitants, in fall 2024. Here’s a description of the book:

Downhearted after a breakup and struggling to pay her big-city rent, Nilda Ricci could use a stroke of luck. She seems to get just that when she inherits a shadowy Victorian in the Vermont countryside. Built in the late-nineteenth century, the house was designed by an architect whose works were said to influence the mind—supposedly, in beneficial ways.

At first, Nilda’s new home delivers multiple gifts: ample studio space for her drawing and painting; plenty of romping room for her six-year-old daughter; and the unexpected appearance of a housekeeper who’d helped maintain the home years before, and who seems to know how to take care of everything—including Nilda, who’s still grieving the recent loss of her mother. Most significantly, Nilda feels an instant attraction to her neighbor, Graham Emmerly, a chemist with a knack for invention, and they soon become involved. As an expression of affection, he brews her herbal tonics that seem to boost her creativity to new heights.

Before long, though, things begin to take a disturbing turn. Nilda learns that the subject of her latest portrait commission, the headmaster of a noted prep school, had abused Nilda’s dear friend, Toni, when Toni attended the school. Graham seems to be growing ever more needy. And most troubling, strange occurrences in the house and dark turns in her moods have Nilda wondering whether the place is haunted or whether its architect’s intentions were less benevolent than she’d been told.

Nilda must figure out whether she can exact revenge against the portrait subject without sinking her career, whether she can make sense of the house’s mysteries without losing herself to them, and whether she should share Toni’s growing suspicions about Graham and his tonics. All along, the housekeeper remains a steadfast ally of Nilda’s. But in time she reveals needs of her own, which may prove more powerful than anything in the house … or beyond it.”

For more information about what inspired the book, check out this blog post and my author page on Regal House’s website.

In the coming months, I’ll be posting more information about The Inhabitants, including ordering information, to BethCastrodale.com. Thanks for your interest in my books!

–Beth