The River Ghost
1883. Catherine Danaher, a postulate with the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, receives disturbing news. Her sister Brigid, whom she hasn’t seen in over ten years, has died and Brigid’s wealthy husband wants her to come to New Mexico Territory to act as governess for his two children. Catherine doesn’t want to leave her young charges at St. Paul’s Orphanage. Her Mother Superior tells her that her sister’s children need her more. Catherine boards a train and travels to a town called Santa Fe. Things there are strange to her, the Spanish language, the customs. She discovers her sister died under peculiar circumstances, and her disagreeable brother-in-law seems oddly unperturbed. The Mexican housekeeper may know more than she’s saying. And Catherine’s young nephew and niece, are reserved, distant. But there’s something else, something terrifying, something that cries out in the night. And Catherine must face it alone.
A gripping supernatural tale of greed, murder, and justiceJane Little Botkin, multiple award-winning author"Southwest history and oral legend merge into a gripping supernatural tale of greed, murder, and justice in this fresh rendition of an infamous apparition.”
- It will haunt you long after the flame goes outC. Courtney Joyner, award-wining author, screenwriter and film historian
"Thomas Clagett weaves a spell of atmosphere and language that brings the reader to the dark shadows of imagination. By combining period adventure with the supernatural, Clagett’s haunting imagery evokes the best of Henry James and Nathaniel Hawthorne, while creating characters and a world that is completely, and distinctly, his own. ‘The River Ghost’ is a work to be read by candlelight - and it will haunt you long after the flame goes out.”
Tom has always had a love of the West, of film and of writing. Born and raised in San Diego, California, he attended the University of Southern California. He spent more than twenty years in Hollywood working as an assistant film editor, as well as freelance writing. Devoting himself to writing historical fiction full-time, he and his wife Marilyn moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they adopted their cat, Cody, whom they are home schooling with great success.
