{"id":128736,"date":"2023-05-26T07:27:05","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T06:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=128736"},"modified":"2023-05-26T07:28:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T06:28:46","slug":"five-ghost-stories-where-the-victim-solves-their-own-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/top-tens\/five-ghost-stories-where-the-victim-solves-their-own-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Five ghost stories where the victim solves their own murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m certainly not the first author to create an amateur sleuth who raises the dead. But in the Lavington Windsor<\/em><\/strong> series, our jobbing necromancer Toni gets to ask the murder victims who killed them, and I had so much fun creating situations where the poor old shambling corpses didn\u2019t have a clue who had bumped them off or why. Toni always gets her man, or woman, but often her ravenous moldering zombies are more trouble than help on the way.<\/p>\n

In a lot of ghostly tales, though, the murder victims know exactly who wiped them off this mortal coil and they are keen to right wrongs and reap revenge. I\u2019ve picked out some of my favourites, so here are five ghostly tales where a dead person solves their own murder\u2026<\/p>\n

Hamlet<\/em> by William Shakespeare<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We sometimes forget just how much fantasy good old Will Shakespeare wrote. A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em><\/strong> is full of fairies and spells, while The Tempest<\/em><\/strong> features wizards, monsters and spirits.<\/p>\n

But Hamlet<\/em><\/strong> is not merely a ghost story with added witches; it\u2019s also a whodunit that only gets solved because the murder victim\u2019s phantom reveals all to his son on the spooky gothic ramparts\u2026 Oh yes, and everyone dies.<\/p>\n

Ghost Story<\/em> by Jim Butcher<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Very suitably, this is the 13th book in The Dresden Files<\/em><\/strong>, which catalogue the (mis)adventures of Chicago wizard Harry Dresden.<\/p>\n

In this volume, poor old Harry is dead as a doornail after being murdered, but returns as a spirit to solve the case.<\/p>\n

Many magical Chicago shenanigans ensue. If you are an audiobook afficionado, this series is an absolute treat because they are all narrated by the silver-tongued James Marsters, formerly Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em><\/strong>. Swoon.<\/p>\n

Twenties Girl<\/em> by Sophie Kinsella<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is an unexpected gem. It\u2019s so light and fluffy that the poignancy of the end will catch you unawares.<\/p>\n

Great Aunt Sophie is dead, but once upon a time she was a gin-swilling, pearl-twirling lass who liked boys, pretty dresses, parties and dancing. And now she has to persuade her hapless niece to work out what happened so that her spirit can move on.<\/p>\n

If you only know Sophie Kinsella from her Shopaholic<\/em><\/strong> books, this will come as a delight.<\/p>\n

Lost Boys<\/em> by Orson Scott Card<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Warning \u2013 this book is very, very dark, and the ending is far from happy.<\/p>\n

Who are Stevie\u2019s imaginary friends, and why do they share the same names as children who have mysteriously \u201cvanished\u201d? The answer is Not Good and no one lives happily ever after.<\/p>\n

Scott Card has claimed that many elements of M. Night Shyamalan’s film The Sixth Sense<\/em><\/strong> were plagiarised from this book, and it\u2019s easy to see why. Creepy as hell and definitely not holiday reading.<\/p>\n

Wyrd Sisters<\/em> by Terry Pratchett<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit of a cheat to also include this wonderful book by the late great Terry Pratchett, because it\u2019s very much a spoof of Hamlet<\/em><\/strong>, but I also couldn\u2019t miss it out because it\u2019s completely adorable.<\/p>\n

Poor old King Verence has been slain by his own cousin, and it\u2019s up to the three least-wicked witches the Discworld has ever scene to sort out the ensuing mess\u2026 Cue cauldrons, black crepe, Greebo the cat and a wonderfully unlikely romance.<\/p>\n

Grave Danger by Alice James is out now. Order your copy here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On publication of Grave Danger, the second book in the Lavington Windsor series, author Alice James runs down five ghost stories where the victim solves their own murder… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":128738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Entertainment","MSN_Publish_Option":true,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[1624,12],"tags":[7665,7666,1078,1878],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Grave-Danger.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128736"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128736"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128746,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128736\/revisions\/128746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}