The House — Hilda Lawrence

The House, first published in 1947 (along with A Composition for Four Hands in the two-novel compendium Duet of Death), is a gothic mystery narrated by Isobel Stone, a young woman just shy of her 21st birthday. Isobel returns to her family home, a rambling, grotesque mansion, after spending 15 of her 21 years living away in boarding schools. Her father, mentally and physically ill, is found burned to death in his car soon after her return, and Isobel is alone in the house with only her mother and a handful of servants. But a sinister mood infects the household -- the servants are terrified, her mother wanders the house late at night, and strange lights are seen in the upper windows when the house is thought to be empty. Hilda Lawrence (1906-1976) was an American author of several Crime Fictions, including Death of a Doll and The Pavilion.