I heard about John A. McDermott's novel The Last Spirits of Manhattan (#1,342) from another member of my book club, so I decided to give it a shot. It's lightly based on a true event, an extravagant party given by Alfred Hitchcock in a supposedly haunted mansion in Manhattan in the 1950s. The family who owned that townhouse are equally real, and relatives of the author. The 50s era niece Carolyn who attends the party is fiction, as are the host of "spirits" who also attend. It makes for a story unlike anything I've read before.
It's not a scary story (well, except for some of the guests attending the party who encounter the "spirits"!). I can remember as a young girl reading some of Alfred Hitchcock's short story anthologies and being scared silly by them! It's actually more of a love story for a time and a place which will never be again. The spirits are given their own voices, and the editors have made clever use of a decorative element to distinguish their tales from the ordinary characters. Who knew the afterlife could be quite so busy?
If you're in the mood for something a bit different, The Last Spirits of Manhattan could be your invitation to a beguiling evening.
