Concluding the “vital statistics” series on my gothic mysteries, here’s a taster of my most recent novel, Phantom Audition.

Title: Phantom Audition

Plot: He buried himself in a part, but never returned. Now she wants to know why.

Small-time actress Mia Yardley, recently widowed wife of renowned actor Steven Yardley, discovers her late husband’s secret acting diary.

The diary details appointments made with a psychic medium, who advised Steven on which roles to take. It also raises questions about his mysterious and inexplicable suicide.

Seeking answers, Mia speaks to the medium, but in doing so is drawn into an ever- deepening mystery about what happened to her husband during the final days of his life. Eventually, she is forced to ask the terrible question: was Steven Yardley murdered by a vengeful evil from beyond the grave?

Expect: A psychological mystery with empowering catharsis, and a rug-pulling finale guaranteed to mess with the mind.

Current Amazon reviews: 6 five star reviews, 1 four star review.

Current Goodreads reviews: 10 five star reviews, 3 four star reviews.

Scariness rating: 4/10. This one really isn’t that scary. My notoriously scare-averse mother could probably read it. But it is suspenseful, gripping, mind-bending, and teasingly ambiguous, with an ending that is very open to interpretation.

Read if you enjoyed: The Little Stranger (Sarah Waters), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), Don’t Look Now (Daphne Du Maurier), or the play Death and the Maiden (Ariel Dorfman), and the film A Fantastic Woman.

For your copy of Phantom Audition, click here (for the UK) and here (for the US).