I have a fondness for paranormal romance-like mysteries. I say romance-like, because, despite the overall feeling, there’s no physical romance. The man in these books is dead, a ghost. Despite the attraction, there’s nothing to be done about it. There’s The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by Josephine Leslie who wrote under R.A. Dick. Cleo Coyle’s Haunted Bookshop series is being reprinted as The Haunted Bookshop Detective Mysteries. I loved the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade by J.J. Cook (Joyce and Jim Lavene). Elswyth Thane preceded all of them with Tryst, written in 1939.

Thane’s background is as interesting as her novels. She was born Helen Ricker in Iowa. She moved to New York City in 1918, changed her name to Elswyth Thane, and started working as a freelance writer, according to the “About the Author” in Tryst. In 1927, she married naturalist and explorer William Beebe, curator of ornithology for the New York Zoological Society, and one of the developers of the bathysphere diving vessel. “Their New York apartment featured his-and-hers libraries.” Thane’s best-known books are the Williamsburg series, seven historical novels that follow several generations of an American family from the American revolution to World War II. I remember that series fondly. I read them in the early seventies, at the same time my mother and grandmother read them.

Tryst is set in England and India in 1939, prior to the Second World War. Sabrina Archer moves to the Mendip Hills along with her father and aunt who have leased a large house from the Shenstone family. Hilary Shenstone, the younger son, is in India, serving as a special agent for the British Home Office. He’s killed there. His last thoughts were of home in England, and he slowly makes his way there. He’s in London at his club, and no one seems to feel his presence. That’s how he learns that he’s dead.

At Shenstone’s home, Sabrina has broken into Hilary’s locked room, and discovers his extensive library. She falls for this unknown man, and falls sick when she learns he is dead. By the time Hilary gets home, he’s learned a little about his new life as a ghost. The housekeeper, Mrs. Pilton, senses his presence, and talks with him. “I’ve felt you homing ever since nightfall.” The stern Mrs. Pilton finds a way to give Sabrina and Hilary time alone. Although Hilary can’t talk to Sabrina, he feels as if he was alive, he was meant to meet her and fall in love.

Although I love these types of books, I found Tryst a little disappointing. I loved Hilary and his methods for learning his new state of being as he tries to communicate. Sabrina was a milquetoast. At seventeen, she was too naive, immature, and bowed down to the whims of her aunt. She was a mess at school, and I really didn’t see what Hilary saw in her. Frankly, he was too good for her.

I’m still glad I read Tryst. It’s called “A ghost story for all time.” I don’t think so, but it’s a catchy phrase.

Tryst by Elwyth Thane. PBL Limited, 1939/2023. 191p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I bought a copy of the paperback.