Please welcome Phyllis A Newman to describe the impetus behind her new gothic novel, The Vanished Bride of Northfield Hall:

There’s nothing like a good haunting!

Case in point, several years ago I re-read my favorite gothic novel from my youth (I will refrain from revealing the title.) As a teenager, I was entranced with the mystery, the romance, and the shocking climax. What a delicious read.

When someone commenting on a blog mentioned that it was her favorite book as well, I decided to read it again. I went on Amazon and found a copy available at a Catholic church library in California for $1.67. What a deal! It cost more to mail it across the country. I waited with great anticipation until it arrived.

That night, I propped myself up in bed with a cup of cocoa, a scented candle, and began reading. What a disappointment. It was over-written, pedestrian, and totally boring. (I guess my tastes had changed.)

Then I went on a great hunt for an honest to goodness creepy ghost story that recreated the suspense and wonder that the book from my youth had elicited. When I was unable to locate one that really grabbed me (so to speak), I decided to write one. (I didn’t just ‘lick this off the ground’, as the English say. I had written 3 books by that time.)

Enter The Vanished Bride of Northfield House. It is a creepy supernatural gothic tale with a spirited heroine, intriguing mystery, engaging romance, and a ghost to make it lively.

The story is a mix of mystery and romance with touches of otherworldly spookiness and gothic horror. I poured every ounce of imagination into realizing characters that are haunted, either by disappointment, the unresolved past, unmet desire, or guilt. I am pleased to have written a thriller that unfolds bit by bit, death by death.


Phyllis M. Newman is a native southerner. Born in New Orleans, she spent formative years in Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, and a dairy farm in Ross Country, Ohio. After a career at The Ohio State University, she turned her attention to writing fiction. Phyllis published a noir mystery, Kat’s Eye, in 2015. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and three perpetually unimpressed cats, ghostwatchers all.

You can find her at http://www.readphyllismnewman.com, or https://facebook.com/ReadPhyllisMNewman/