Madge and Ella are two young ladies who have taken up residence at Clover Cottage, the former home of Tom Ossington, a house that has long stood empty with a bad reputation for being haunted. Not believing in such things, Madge and Ella rented it and lived there for about six weeks, when a strange woman showed up claiming that the house belongs to her, and that her husband, the landlord, is a ghost.

Richard Marsh was the best-selling author, prolific in many genres including horror, crime, thriller, but also romance and humor. Marsh is best known now for his supernatural thriller novel The Beetle, which was published the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula, and was initially even more popular.