Andrew James

First draft

The House at Saltmarsh Quay

When Mara Ellwood returns to an inherited house on the edge of Southampton Water, she finds that the place has been quietly kept alive by habits no one admits to noticing. The rooms are ordinary enough at first glance, but the details begin to change: damp footprints that stop at closed doors, a bell that rings only when no one is in the corridor, and a family record that seems to edit itself overnight. Mara has to work out whether the house is haunted, maintained, or simply waiting for someone to make the wrong decision.