The House on Widows Hill is the ninth Ishmael Jones mystery. The introduction, as usual, tells readers about Ishmael being an alien whose spaceship crashed in a field in England in 1963. The machines in the ship made Ishmael look human, but also took away his memories. He hasn't aged a day, so he keeps having to move around. He's worked for plenty of secret organizations over the decades. His current employer is called 'The Organization'. This time we get a new fact: that field was in Wiltshire.

It's the morning after the end of book eight, Night Train to Murder. Ismael and his partner/lover Penny Belcourt had to spend the night in a hotel. They're eating breakfast (Ishmael's is black coffee. Penny's made my mouth water.), when they're approached by Mr. Whisper, who also works for the Organization. Normally, the Colonel is Ishmael's contact with his employers, but he's still busy dealing with the fallout from that last case. Good thing that Mr. Nemo of the British Psychic Weapons Division, whom we met during that case, can vouch for Mr. Whisper.

There's a new case to be investigated. Ishmael's complaint about getting proper downtime after a case reminds me of another Simon R. Green book, Ghost of a Chance. This case is a personal favor. In return, Ishmael will get a personal favor -- one which will lead to book ten, Buried Memories. The case involves a house for sale: Harrow House on Widows Hill in Bath. Is it haunted or not? Ishmael accepts.

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. When they are told that the favor is to find out if Harrow House on Bath's Widows Hill is haunted, Ishmael and Penny respond with jokes that allude to the original "Scooby-Doo" mysteries.

b. One secret organization that specializes in dealing with hauntings is the Carnacki Institute. Simon Green has written six books about his ghost finders: Ghost of a Chance, Ghost of a Smile, Ghost of a Dream, Spirits from Beyond, Voices from beyond, and Forces from Beyond. (They're named for William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder, a short story collection that I think also inspired this series.)

c. Ishmael explains his thoughts about the existence of ghosts.

d. Ishmael quotes from a 1927 report about Harrow House from the file they were given.

e. We learn about Team Ghost, the amateurs they'll be saddled with during the investigation, from that file. Lynn Barrett is a celebrity psychic. Tom Shaw is an amateur ghost-chaser who uses special scientific equipment (he says he's a part-time ghost hunter). Arthur Welles is a reporter for the 'Bath Herold'. His family owns Harrow House. Winifred Stratton is a local historian, author, and white witch.
Mention: Rorschach inkblot

Chapter 2:

a. Ishmael and Penny get a firsthand report of an encounter from their taxi driver, Dennis. He was part of Kevin's gang when we was 12, but Harrow House broke even brave Kevin.

b. Spearmint Rhino is a real chain of strip clubs, but there doesn't seem to be one in Bath. Burlesque Babes seems to be a fictional club.

c. Harrow House's exterior and grounds are described. Search for 1960s gothic romance covers and you'll see examples. Mom and I read them when I was young. It has electricity, but no heating.

d. Ishmael and Penny dealt with Brassknocker Hill in book six, Murder in the Dark.
Mentions: Guy Fawkes Night, Black Sabbath (the band), and Charles Fort (after whom the "Fortean Times' was named)

Chapter 3:

b. Malcolm Welles, Arthur's ancestor who had Harrow House built, and his family, ran screaming from the house on September 14, 1889. Malcolm was not a particularly nice businessman. His portrait, over the fireplace in the single ground floor (first floor for Americans), that has a window, does not smile.

b. Weird things happen and the seance goes wrong. This chapter's title is not kidding. By the way, cell phones don't work in this house.

c. Freddie Stratton's description of Harrow House being a mystery, etc., is a parody of what Winston Churchill said about Russia in 1939.

d. It was Pliny the Younger who wrote about a haunted house in Athens. You may read a translation of his letter at historyofyesterday.com.

e. By 'Roman ritual,' Lynn means a Catholic Church-approved exorcism.

f. Team ghost members tell a personal spooky experience story. Arthur interrupts Lynn.
Mentions: 'Psycho' (film), 'Mrs. Robinson' (Simon & Garfunkel song), Norman churches, and Wiltshire

Chapter 4:

a. Ishmael meets a ghost. He's the only one who can see and hear the ghost, which is inconvenient. The ghost is trapped in the room.

b. See book one, The dark side of the road for a case in which Ishmael faced a vampire. Werewolves come up in book three, Very important corpses. Psychic assassins were a topic in Night Train to Murder.

c. Something strange happens with all of those poorly-stuffed [real] animals in that one cabinet. There's an incident with a mirror too.
Mention: the invisible man

Chapter 6:

a. The first floor (second for Americans) is supposed to have rotting floor boards and there are no bathrooms where they are.

b. 'I eat my spinach' is a reference to comic strip, cartoon, and movie hero, Popeye the Sailor Man.

c. What's in the cellar?

Chapter 7: Ishmael solves the mystery of the ghost.

Chapter 8: Freddie's sister, Flossie, is coming to pick her up. Freddie has made a big decision. We meet the buyer of the house. Penny makes a suggestion about the ghost.

After the disappointment I had when reading Night Train to Murder, I'm happy to say that this book shows the series is back on track. It's funny. Harrow House lives up to some of its reputation (in some respects, being in there at its worst is about as safe as being in Hill House or Hell House at their worst). I was spoiled for two of the revelations because I had to read book ten, Buried Memories, first. (I found out that books eight through ten had come out since the last time I'd read one, so I checked them all out at once. Brand-new books have to be returned much sooner.) The one mystery not mentioned in book ten was extremely easy to solve -- but I didn't care. I was having too much fun! ( )

Ismael Johnes lands on Earth in 1965. He lives forever and has few friends except Penny Belcourt - his partner in crime. They work together on investigations. The latest is assigned by Mr. Whisper of The Organization. It consists of Team Ghost and they are on a mission to check out a house on Willows Hill in Bath to see if it's haunted for a real estate client. It was last occupied in 1889.

An interesting part of the book was when one of the team members, Lynn Barrett, a spiritual cleanser, encouraged a seance. She said, "Every haunted house is really about death. Loss and grief, heightened emotions and broken hearts. A need to know what comes after along with an understandable fear of what the answers might be. Strong emotional states allow the human mind to experience far more than it is normally capable of.

The book isn't long and it's easy to read but didn't put me on the edge of my seat. ( )

Here's a little twist to the series with an actual ghost. What do you get when you've just finished one case but get thrown onto another. You get a ghost story in a haunted house. I enjoyed this one because it expanded on the lore of the universe just a bit. The little step in solving the bigger mystery was done very well. The fun in this story is enjoying how the main character has to question what he thought he knew. All to solve what only he or someone like him could solve.

I read this book via NetGalley. I thank them for this book. ( )

I'm going to just come right out and say it at the very beginning.....get it out in the open....

I am a HUGE Simon R. Green fan! I loved his Nightside series and I have been a dedicated reader of the Ishmael Jones books since the first one. Green could write blurbs for toilet paper wrappers and I would buy megapacks just to read what he had to say.....

That being said....

I knew the minute this book popped up on my available-to-review list that I would love this book. I always do. Ishmael Jones. His sidekick Penny. The Organization. And......a haunted, creepy house. What's not to love?

And I was right, as usual. Green never lets me down. Great suspense, creepy and a fun, engaging read! The Ishmael Jones books are short -- about 120-150 pages each. The House on Widows Hill is the 9th book in the series. Jones is an alien. He's not exactly sure what type....or where he came from. He only vaguely remembers a crash...his ship going down. Then the onboard AI repaired him and wiped his memory so he could live as a human and survive until rescue. But no rescue ever came. Since he doesn't age -- he's been the same age since 1963 -- he trades protection and safety offered by a covert organization in return for handling strange cases for them. He and Penny have investigated some really really strange stuff.....and now, they are spending the night in an infamous supposedly haunted house. Their mission? Join a group of ghost hunters and determine if the house is really haunted. When one of the group mysteriously drops dead, Ishmael realizes this is going to be so much more than traipsing around with an EVP recorder and a body cam. This isn't reality tv.....Harrow House is real...and dangerous.

This story is a quick read as usual. Green expertly weaves a creepy story of suspense. He packs a lot into 150 pages! Lots of twisty-turny creepiness!

Great read!! Can't wait for the next adventure of Ishmael and Penny! ( )