AMY CROSS

On a damp winter morning, 84-year-old Absalom Crayne is found dead outside his home in the town of Sarum. For years, Absalom has been a recluse, barely leaving the house that his family built over many decades. Now, as the locals try to work out what killed Absalom, the time has come for someone to venture inside.

Absalom has been busy. Once the rest of his family left, he began to build more and more new parts. Crayne House is now a strange, disorganised mess of seemingly random rooms. Many people in the town think it should be pulled down, but his estranged son Andrew Crayne soon arrives and insists on taking charge.

For Andrew and his wife Ingrid, Crayne House marks a chance to start their lives again. With the colonies starting to resent British rule and rumours growing of a possible revolution, Andrew is determined to make sure that his family is protected. But what dark secrets are lurking in Crayne House? What was Absalom trying to protect? And if the truth is ever discovered, should it be set free – or buried even deeper?

1749 is the fourth book in the Haunting of Crayne House series, about the haunting of a single house over many centuries. Readers are advised to start with the first book in the series.