The Ordeal of the Haunted Room

About this story

The Ordeal of the Haunted Room sends Max, Markham and an injured Peterson into a Victorian Christmas with an alarming family tradition.

A storm drives them to Harewood Hall in 1895, just as Henry Harewood must spend the night in a room reputed to kill anyone who has no right to inherit. The test lasts from midnight to dawn; the historians have chosen a particularly awkward evening to visit.

In the site's view, that inheritance ritual gives this Christmas story an appealingly sharp hook. The danger is contained within one house and one night, making it a different prospect from a sprawling historical expedition.

Readers drawn to haunted houses can choose it for that premise without needing the mystery's answer in advance.

Read it after Plan for the Worst in the St Mary's sequence. It is available as a separate ebook and audiobook, and appears in The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Zara Ramm's individual recording lasts 2 hours 35 minutes, a useful choice for a longer winter evening.