The Mystery of Cloomber

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

First published 1889

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3.4(1,003)

John Fothergill West and his family settle near Cloomber Hall on the remote Scottish coast and become intrigued by the increasingly fearful behaviour of its owner, Major-General Heatherstone. The retired officer is convinced that a particular date will bring disaster, and his dread deepens when three mysterious visitors from India arrive in the district.
The explanation reaches back to Heatherstone’s military service in Afghanistan and to an act for which he believes vengeance is inevitable. Conan Doyle mixes family mystery, imperial memory and supernatural menace, using the isolation of the Scottish setting to turn an old crime into a Gothic story of guilt and retribution.