Why Ghosts Often Appear in My Novels by Marilyn Levinson

 Though I’ve never met a ghost, I’ve read enough about ghost sightings and hauntings to believe they exist. Experts in the field say some spirits remain earthbound because they’ve experienced a brutal or sudden death and don’t realize they’re dead. Others remain here because they have unfinished business or issues they need to resolve before passing on.

Ghosts, whether you believe in them or not, have a permanent place in our literary lore. Readers find their manifestations unnerving, thrilling and intriguing. George and Marion Kerby in Topper and the sea captain in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir are three of my favorite literary spirits.

Ghosts appear in my Haunted Library mystery series; my mystery, Giving Up the Ghost; and in my juvenile novel, Getting Back to Normal. They are fully-developed characters who have remained on the Earthly plane to be of assistance or to settle accounts. In Death Overdue, the first book in my Haunted Library series, Evelyn Havers is the sixty-something ghost that haunts the Clover Ridge Library, where she worked as an aide for many years. While invisible, she urges my sleuth Carrie Singleton not to turn down the position of Head of Programs and Events she is being offered. Carrie takes Evelyn’s advice and soon discovers she has made the right decision. When her first program presenter dies before her eyes and those of a roomful of library patrons, Carrie goes on to investigate his murder and that of the cold case he claimed to have solved. Evelyn helps Carrie in her investigation, but also holds back information for personal reasons. It isn’t until Buried in the Stacks, the third book in the series, that Carrie discovers Evelyn’s death was no accident. 

Cameron Leeds, the ghost in Giving Up the Ghost, is a charismatic scoundrel. In life he was a good-looking man with a generous heart, except when he was wheeling and dealing, often at his friends’ expense; a Romeo who flirted with every woman who crossed his path. Though his best friend, the town’s police chief, has declared his death an accident, Cam knows he was murdered. Trouble is, he doesn’t know who did it, and he can’t move on until he does. When Gabbie Meyerson rents his family’s cottage—the only place where he can manifest—Cam nags and cajoles until she agrees to investigate. Gabbie starts asking questions, and to her dismay discovers that several of Cam’s so-called friends and neighbors are glad he’s dead and are possible suspects. 

Twelve-year-old Vannie Taylor, the protagonist in Getting Back to Normal, has just lost her mother and her father is a basket case without her. Vannie meets Archie the ghost, hours after her father has moved her and her brother to live in a dingy cottage on the estate where he manages events. Archie appears to be carefree and funny. Dressed in a tuxedo, he performs cartwheels and handstands. He has overheard Vannie wondering aloud what to give her brother for dinner, and provides her with a simple recipe. He even tells her she can find the necessary ingredients in the mansion’s kitchen.

But Archie is far from carefree, as Vannie and her best friend discover when they research his life. He was twenty-five when he died chasing the thief who stole his wife’s necklace. Archie tells Vannie that before he can go to his rest, he must atone for having left his wife and their one-year-old son. She is astonished to learn that Mayda, her parents’ close friend and the last of the family athat once owned the estate, is Archie’s granddaughter. Archie implores Vannie to encourage the budding relationship between her father and Mayda—the one thing Vannie doesn’t want to happen. But it may be the only way her life can get back to normal.

Is it any wonder that I've included a ghost in my new Dickens Island series? Helena is my sleuth's grandmother. Like Evelyn Havers, she reappears to offer information about past events and to help restore peace and order in the town where she used to live.

Ghosts, real or imagined, always add a dimension to a novel.

 

Send in the Ghost by Susan Van Kirk

 

Many well-known novels have a common element: a ghost or ghosts. The list is extensive, but here are a few that come easily to mind: Toni Morrison’s Beloved, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, or the short story, The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde.

I suppose famous authors could throw in a ghost or two just for fun, but it is more likely their ghosts have specific roles to play in the elements of their novels. Sometimes they remind characters of certain feelings like guilt. Other times ghosts play a major part in the theme, as in A Christmas Carol. In Macbeth, a ghost is a prodigious player in moving the plot forward. In other words, ghosts are generally used for a specific literary purpose. When The Lovely Bones came out, readers were delighted that the ghost was actually the story’s unique narrator.

Back in 2017 when I was writing A Death at Tippitt Pond, I created a ghostly presence, but not actually a ghost. The protagonist, Beth Russell, discovered far too late that her birth mother was Melanie Tippitt, now a cold case murder victim who died shortly after Beth was born. As she struggles to discover what happened to this mother she never knew, Beth feels Melanie’s presence in Tippitt House. The scent of Chantilly perfume, Melanie’s favorite fragrance, permeates the room when Melanie needs to warn her daughter that danger is near. It also embraces Beth, surrounding her with her mother’s love. And when the ghost accomplishes her mission, the fragrance vanishes.

All right, so I was toying around with possibilities in that story. It was certainly an early preview of my next project.

Now it’s 2024, and my upcoming book, Death in a Ghostly Hue, has a real, bonafide, 100% ghost. His name is Daniel Lowry, and he built the 1870 Lowry Building, which now houses the Adele Marsden Center for the Arts. The executive director, Jill Madison, first sees this ghost in her art center one night when she stops to pick up a book. The ghost is dressed like a gentleman from the 1800s, and when Jill says this is impossible, that he’s been dead for a hundred and twenty-five years or more, he replies, “Alas, I am despondent about that unfortunate occurrence. But I try to make the best of it.” Yes, he’s handsome, funny, and also charming and clever.

I didn’t throw in a ghost just to have fun, although he is pretty funny before all is said and done. This swashbuckling ghost plays a vital role in the plot, theme, and character revelations. But why has this spirit returned to this place and time? I can’t reveal that [the author typed, chuckling with glee and anticipation] but this is definitely a ghost to remember. Death in a Ghostly Hue is the third of the Art Center Mysteries coming out this June from Level Best Books.

Why Ghosts Often Appear in My Novels by Marilyn Levinson

Though I’ve never met a ghost, I’ve read enough about ghost sightings and hauntings to believe they exist. Experts in the field say some spirits remain earthbound because they’ve experienced a brutal or sudden death and don’t realize they’re dead. Others remain here because they have unfinished business or issues they need to resolve before passing on. Ghosts, whether you believe in them or not, have a permanent place in our literary lore. Readers find their manifestations unnerving, thrilling and intriguing. George and Marion Kirby in Topper and the sea captain in The Ghost And Mrs. Muir are three of my favorite literary spirits.

There's a ghost in my Haunted Library series, my mystery Giving Up the Ghost, and in my YA Getting Back to Normal. They are fully-developed characters who have remained on the Earthly plane to settle accounts. In the Haunted Library series, Evelyn Havers is the sixty-something ghost that haunts the Clover Ridge Library where she used to work. In Death Overdue, she urges my sleuth Carrie Singleton not to turn down the position of Head of Programs and Events she is being offered. Carrie takes Evelyn’s advice, and when her first program presenter dies before her eyes and those of a roomful of library patrons, Carrie goes on to investigate his murder and that of the cold case he claimed to have finally solved. Though Evelyn insists she's meant to help Carrie in her investigations, she often holds back information that she fears might incriminate her relatives. It isn’t until Buried in the Stacks, the third book in the series that Carrie discovers that Evelyn’s death was no accident.

Cameron Leeds, the ghost in Giving Up the Ghost, is a charismatic scoundrel. In life he was a good-looking man with a generous heart, except when wheeling and dealing—often at his friends’ expense. A Romeo who flirted with every woman who crossed his path. Though his best friend, the town’s police chief, has declared his death to have been an accident, Cam knows he was murdered. Trouble is, he doesn’t know who did it, and he can’t move on until he does. When Gabbie Meyerson rents his family’s cottage—the only place where he can manifest—Cam nags and cajoles until she agrees to investigate. Gabbie starts asking questions, and to her dismay discovers that several of Cam’s so-called friends and neighbors are glad he’s dead and are possible suspects.

Twelve-year-old Vannie Taylor, the protagonist in Getting Back to Normal, has just lost her mother, and her father is a basket case without her. Vannie meets Archie the ghost, hours after her father has moved her and her brother to live in a dingy cottage on the large estate where he manages events. Archie appears to be carefree and funny. Dressed in a tuxedo, he performs cartwheels and handstands. He’s overheard Vannie wondering aloud what to give her brother for dinner, and provides her with a simple recipe. He even tells her she can find the necessary ingredients in the mansion’s kitchen.

But Archie is far from carefree, as Vannie and her best friend discover when they research his life. He was twenty-five when he died, foolishly chasing after the thief who stole his wife’s necklace. Archie tells Vannie that before he can go to his rest, he must atone for having abandoned his wife and their one-year-old son. She is astonished to learn that Mayda, her parents’ close friend and the last of the family that once owned the estate, is Archie’s granddaughter. Archie implores Vannie to encourage the budding relationship between her father and Mayda—the one thing Vannie doesn’t want. But it may be the only way that her life will get back to normal.

Real or imagined, ghosts, I believe, add a dimension to a novel. How do you feel about reading or writing books with paranormal elements?