It Was Her House First

By Cherie Priest

Ronnie doesn't know it yet, but her fate rests in the hands of the dead.

Silent film star Venita Rost's malevolent spirit lurks spider-like in her cliffside mansion, a once-beautiful home that's claimed countless unlucky souls. And she's not alone. Snared in her terrible web, Inspector Bartholomew Sloan--her eternal nemesis--watches her wreak havoc in helpless horror, shackled by his own guilt and Venita's unrelenting wrath.

Now the house has yet another new owner. This time it's Ronnie Mitchell, a grieving woman who buys the run-down place sight unseen. She arrives armed with an unexpected inheritance, a strong background in renovation, and a blissful ignorance regarding the house's blood-soaked history. But her arrival has stirred up more than just dust and decay. In the shadows, unseen eyes watch. Then, a man comes knocking. He brings wild stories and a thinly veiled jealousy, as well as a secret connection to the house that can only lead to violence.

Venita's fury awakens, and a deadly game unfolds.

Caught between a vengeful ghost and a ruthless living threat, Ronnie's skepticism crumbles. The line between living and dead isn't as sharp as it seems, and she realizes too late that in Venita's house, survival might be just an illusion.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1728292859
• ISBN13: 9781728292854
• Release Date: July 2025
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Light horror

I really liked this haunted house story! It had your ghosts, a very derelict house, a new homeowner with her own secrets and plans to bring the house back to life, a villain looking to profit off the death in that house, a mysterious diary that may hold the truths of the house, and an ending that I did not expect but I enjoyed it immensely. I would not call this a very dark horror, more light with viewpoints of the ghost stuck in the house (which were fun to read and possibly get you to pity him, even though this was kind of all his fault!) and via Venita's diary entries which popped the story back and forth in time to slowly reveal the truth of all the tragedy, and why people keep dying in that house. It was also easy to like Ronnie, the new homeowner, as she faces her own monsters (what happened with her brother) as well as the extreme anxiety she has. And despite all that she is surprisingly chill about ghosts, plus all the gross stuff in the house that has moldered for about a century. I admire her willpower in fixing up the place and I would love to see it when the house is fully renovated back to it's glory days. So, yeah, more of a light horror story but fun to read and hard to put down. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this good ghost story!