John Meade Falkner (1858–1932)

This would have been a much more famous work if it hadn't spent so much time in the crypt of the church at the beginning, and if it had actually have more first person adventure rather than narrated adventure offscreen. Still, it was fun to read a book of this ilk again.

Nice little gothic confection about the doomed John Maltravers. The author doesn't insult us by having the principals stumble about and wonder what is going on for too long; they figure things out pretty quickly but all seem paralyzed to figure out how to help the almost totally listless Maltravers out of his downward slide.

Lots of snooty music references that only those familiar with music scoring will get.

Not very creepy story about a haunted violin that is really a vampire (you gotta read it to see what I mean). The musician inevitably wastes away and dies instead of burning the damn thing and everyone about ends up wringing their hands instead of doing something about it. Gothic and Romantic at the same time, the plot, while perhaps novel for it's time, is limp and predictable today. At least it is short.

Brilliant should I give it five stars? Maybe...
Now I am female not male
I could be the lads grandma ..
I live 250 years approximately after him..
I live in England but at the opposite end..
Never sailed or explored..

So we could not be more different and if you have a description of the subject matter it would not appeal really but this grabbed me and kept me enthralled.