‘The House Of A Hundred Whispers’
by Graham Masterton
Blog Tour Extract

Thanks for the Blog Tour invitation to Vicky, representing publisher Head of Zeus and the team at NetGalley for the one click download of the book!

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‘THE HOUSE OF A HUNDRED WHISPERS‘

Dartmoor, with its mists, bleak winter weather and overwhelming sense of isolation, is the perfect place to build a prison. It’s not a place many would choose to live – yet the Governor of Dartmoor Prison did just that.

When Herbert Russell retired, he bought All Hallow’s Hall – a rambling Tudor mansion on the edge of the moor, and lived there all his life. Now he’s dead, and his estranged family are set to inherit his estate.

But when the dead man’s family come to stay, the atmosphere of the moors seems to drift into every room. Floorboards creak, secret passageways echo, and wind whistles in the house’s famous priest hole. And then, on the morning the family decide to leave All Hallow’s Hall once and for all, their young son Timmy goes missing…

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GRAHAM MASTERTON

Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless.

After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men’s magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs’ novel The Wild Boys.

At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Woman, Woman’s Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.

Graham has published more than thirty-five horror novels and four short story collections, although altogether he has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers to disaster novels, from historical sagas to horror novels for children. He is an Edgar Award and Bram Stoker Award-winner and a World Fantasy Award-nominee. In 2019 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Horror Writers’ Association. Graham’s novels often contain visceral sex and horror.

In addition to his novels Graham has also written a number of sex instruction books, including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed and Wild Sex for New Lovers

Following the death of his late wife, Graham has relocated from their Gothic mansion in Cork, Ireland and is currently living in Surrey.

Keep up to date with Graham’s latest news on his website

Follow Graham on Twitter

Connect with Graham on Facebook

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BLOG TOUR EXTRACT – (As supplied by the publisher)

“Rob was sitting in front of his computer, frowning in concentration, when the phone started to warble.

‘Vicky!’ he called out. ‘Can you answer that?’

‘I’m right in the middle of grilling Timmy’s sausages!’

‘And I’m right in the middle of a whiteboard animation! I can’t leave it, even for a second!’

Vicky didn’t answer, but the phone went on warbling and warbling, and eventually Rob heard her leave the kitchen and walk through to the hallway. She picked up the phone and he could just about make out her saying, ‘Really? I see.’ After that there was a long pause, and then she said, ‘Yes. All right. I’ll tell him.’

‘Mummy!’ wailed Timmy. ‘I’m hungry!’

‘I won’t be a moment, Timmy,’ said Vicky. She came into the dining room, which Rob was using as his studio. Rob didn’t look at her because he was drawing a woman walking a dog down a tree-lined street.

‘Who was that?’ he asked her. Then, ‘Damn.’ He had lost his concentration and smudged the dog’s tail.

‘Margaret Walsh, from Makepeace and Trott.’

‘That’s my dad’s solicitors. What did she want? Damn!’

‘Your dad’s dead.’

Rob kept on staring at the screen for a few moments. Then he sat back and turned around and said, ‘He’s dead?’

‘He was booked into the Marine Hotel in Paignton, that’s what she said, but he didn’t show up. The hotel rang him but he didn’t answer, neither his landline nor his mobile. In the end they called the prison, but the prison couldn’t get in touch with him either, so they sent two officers round to his house. His car was still outside in the driveway and his front door was open. They found him lying at the bottom of the stairs.’

Rob turned back to his computer and switched it off. He would have to go back to the beginning with that animation, but he felt too numb to continue.

He had often wondered how he would react when his father died. Sometimes he thought that he would be relieved, even elated. Herbert Russell had been selfish and short-tempered, and a harsh disciplinarian. To give him his due, he had occasionally been capable of unexpected acts of generosity–giving out hampers to his wardens at Christmas or donating money to local charities. But Rob had always suspected that he had been trying to convince both his family and his prison staff that his bullying was beneficial for them, and  that one day they would thank him for it. Either that, or he  had been trying to make sure he didn’t compromise his chances of being admitted to heaven.

‘Where is he now, did she tell you?’

‘They took him to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth for a post-mortem–what with his death being unexplained and everything. And the police are looking into it. They think he might have been attacked by somebody breaking into the house.

‘Really? He had more than his fair share of enemies, too. Well, you would do, wouldn’t you, if you were a prisoner governor. Especially a prison governor like him”

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