"A House of Ghosts" by W. C. Ryan

An audio book - ghost story and whodunnit.

The characters are meeting at an island off Devon - Blackwater Abbey. The secret service (SIS) is involved because one of the characters leaked secret plans. The hosts, Lord and Lady Highmount, have invited Madame Feder and Count Orlov (Russian) because they can contact the dead, and their son Reg died in the war (it's 1917). Lady Highmount (Elizabeth von Greesinger, Austrian) might have had an affair with Orlov, and the Lord with Feder. The Lord is a weapons industrialist - a son was killed because of his explosives. Orlov's family died in the same explosion. Kate works for the SIS, is a friend of the family, was engaged to Reg, and has seen ghosts. Her ex-fiancee, Capt Miller-White (also SIS) is going. Private Simms was in Reg's trench, and can see ghosts. Her brother Arthur died because of a sub-standard gasmask made by Lord Highmount's company. Rob Donovan (SIS) was in that trench too. He's there pretending to be Miller-White's valet. Kate brings along the Fitz-Alberry Glass - a mirror in which she can sometimes see the future. Vickers, the butler, is a Bolshevic who spies for the Lord. Kate's parents are Margaret (a Cambridge don) and Sir Edward.

During an early seance, Kate thinks Orlov can see spirits too. Feder is less convincing. Donovan has met Feder in Paris, and suspects she's a spy. He is convinced by Simms. He says that there are spirits like him in limbo waiting for a guide to show them the way. Donovan checks rooms for contraptions and finds them. He finds Lady Highmount nearly dead (Kate had seen it in her mirror). He also find an open safe, plans, and wire cutters, as well as a flare pistol loaded with cyanide. He tells the Lord his true identity.

There are secret passages. Donovan finds a flare pistol loaded with a cyanide cartridge. There's an ossuary in the cellar. The phone's sabotaged. Lord Highmount says that he's planned the event to find out which of Orlov, Feder, or Miller-White stole the torpedo plans. Donovan and Kate search the farm and lighthouse for the attacker. Kate returns to the house and finds that Dr Reed has been killed (by Simms?). Donovan finds 3 draft evaders living in the barn with Lady Highmount's permission.

There's another sceance. Feder holds them at gunpoint, offering Miller-White escape. A U-boat is waiting for her. But the UK navy is there too. Arthur appears, live but with mental war wounds. A few weeks later, Donovan and Kate meet in London.

In the end the ghost plot adds little.