Lord Thomas and the Pranksters

This episode, Andrea gets cozy with The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C. M. Waggoner. Elizabeth gets another great recommendation from her friend Emily and reads The September House by Carissa Orlando.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Bookshop Bombshells. Look at us.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

We did it.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

So much better than the last time.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

That's Elizabeth.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

And that's Andrea. And this is a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Where we each tell you about a book we recently read.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

And uh try not to spoil it.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Because we want you to read too.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Yeah, just in case you want to read it. Yeah. Um. Anything new with you? Uh no, not really. I was trying to think of, yeah, what I what anything new that's happened to me. And honestly, I've just been like like doing so I've been like reading my books. I got a side book going on. Um, it's called, so it's like uh, I'm just like listening to the audiobook. It's called In the Garden of Spite.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

And uh and it took me way too long to realize this. But the um it's a what is it called when they do like historical novel about true events? It's not technically it maybe historical fiction, but it's like a fictional retelling or something.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

I don't know. Is there a name for that?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

I'm sure there is. I just don't know. We just neither one of us. Um but it's like this female serial killer from um, well, she's like originally from Norway, but uh she it's just like basically like a telling of from her perspective of like killing all these men and stuff. Um, which my favorite murderer actually did her story. Um, I don't know how much you've listened to them, but there's this uh quote from uh she puts out like a personal ad in like the paper to get like men to come to her farm. And there's this like she like does this whole ad like she's looking for Bob like a man or whatever. Yeah. And at the end she's like, Triflers need not apply. Uh and it's like I think even my favorite murder like came out with a t-shirt or something. And I think that was actually the original title of this book. I think she renamed it to In the Garden of Spite, but I think the original title was Triflers Need Not Apply.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Either one of them really.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah. Um, and it took me way too long. I was like reading this and I was like, this is really familiar, like especially when she like moves to the farm and is like starting to like get guys to like come to her farm. Oh, my favorite. Yeah, and then I'm like googling it, which I should have known because like the reason I bought the book was because um there's actually a review on the cover from Georgia and Karen from my favorite murder, and I was like, I need to get this. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

I did start today, actually, on my way over. Uh Bloodsucking Fiends on audiobook. I finally got it like the the audio. It was finally available. So, like the look what the 20 minutes it takes me to get here. I was like, oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

I love the narrator on that. Yeah, like she's really good.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

It sounds nice. Like, I'm not gonna get lost somehow. She's got a very like sultry voice, too. It's real good.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah, I'm glad you like it. So yeah, I I I l listen to or read that book like every couple years.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I like yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

That's my fate.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

She does it. I wonder if she does other audiobooks. Yeah, I don't know. Because you can always search by the narrator.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

The narrator of In the Garden of Spite is the one that did um the four winds. Ooh. Which I really like her. So that's cool. That is a I'm also making a huge assumption there. It sounds just like her. I never actually looked it up.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

I think it might be.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

So don't quote me on that. But it does sound just like her. Um I'm trying to remember, is it your turn this week? Because we changed locations.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

I think it is, but do we want to like swap again or do you want to just keep back and forth? Let's just keep going back and forth. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

We'll just have to remember the new routine.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Now it's just the opposite of what we were. Yeah. It's fine. We'll figure it out. Yeah. Uh so the book I read this week was called The Village Library Demon Hunting Society by CM Wagner. Okay. Uh I like it. I like the cover. My sister actually told me about this book, and I think she just finished it recently and was like, this would be great for your podcast. And I was like, Yeah, okay, we'll see. And then uh, and then I I got to a spot in the book that I was like, cool. I'll just I'm gonna finish it. Yeah. So uh so the story it starts and you meet Sherry, the pink whistle. Um, she lives and works in Winesap, which is a small little town, I'm assuming in New York, because they talk about like Albany and things like that. Um, she's like an older gray-haired woman woman, so like I picture this like real quaint old lady. She works at the library. She has a cat. Her cat's name is Lord Thomas Cromwell. Cool. Uh so like in the beginning of the book, she's like waking up and she's feeling really good about uh recently having helped solved another murder in the town. So um she like gets ready, she feeds her cat, uh, she walks over to the neighbor's house across the street, who's Alice Murdoch, and Alice gives Sherry a loaf of banana bread and they head to town. Um Alice works at Sherry's friend Alan's antique store, and Alice likes to walk with her to work because neither one of them have cars, and she likes to hang out in the library and read before work.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Nerd. I know.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Uh so Sherry's working at the library and then she sneaks back uh to go have uh lunch. It's like and she's like, I took one bite of my egg sandwich, and I hear, Sherry, Sherry, are you back there? And she's like, most people don't call me Sherry, I must know her. So it's a town lady, her name's Charlotte, and she's kind of in a panic, and she was like, John's dead. And uh John was Charlotte's husband, he's kind of unpleasant, he's uh they're older, he is into artwork and things, and he does not treat Charlotte like Sherry would prefer him to. Okay. So apparently John was stabbed. Somebody murdered him. So Sherry is like, well, I'll leave work for a bit. Um Charlotte's lawyer is not gonna be there for like four or five hours. So she was like, I'll go to the crime scene with you. Um isn't this like a dream, you know?

SPEAKER_00 6:43

It's like, oh I mean, and yeah, I know, not really, but it's like, oh, let's help solve a murder.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Let me work at the library and go help solve a murder. It gets better. Yeah. Don't worry. Um, so they go to Charlotte's house and it's in disarray. Um, they've got all these fancy paintings. Uh, a lot of them are on loan from the art gallery, and the only ones that are missing are from her friend Alan's antiques shop, which is weird because they're not really worth anything. Um, so she talks to Sheriff Brown, the Windsap Town Sheriff. Windsap. Uh, while they're there, and then she goes back to Charlotte, and uh Charlotte's like, Sherry, will you help us solve this case?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Like how dramatic it all is.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Uh it's like a fun little cozy book. Yeah. Um uh so she goes back to the library, she finishes her shift, and uh, she usually has uh like tea and little tiny sandwiches at a little shop in town with her friend Janine, who's a counselor, and wants all the details about what's going on in the in the crime. So they're going back and forth trying to figure out a motive and have little discussions and things. And the next day, she um she works like a whole day at the library and uh it's raining all day, so it's busy. People smell like wet dog, even though dogs aren't allowed in the library. Um, and she leaves, and on her way home, her gentleman friend Alan pulls up and he's like, Hey, do you need a lift? Um, she's like, I wouldn't consider him my boyfriend or a lover because like the most we do is kiss every now and then. Uh, but they go to dinner, they have wine, they chit-chat about the case, uh, and kind of like back and forth on that. I'm like, man, she tells a lot, she talks about cases to a lot of people in town. Yes, it's fine. Uh you get to know she's you know, she's not divulging information. She's also kind of like half-key interrogating people about it. So uh but you it's like you get to know all all of the major people in town at the beginning, and it's it's cute. Uh so at one point she tracks down one of John's models because he like did life. Oh, okay. Yeah. Uh and she's like in her early 20s, her name is Ruth. Sherry's like, hey, you should meet up with me at the library to chat, and you know, we're just like I'm just be cozy, it's fine. Uh, and and guess what? Ruth was having relations with Charlotte's husband John, and she found out that he was married and went to confront him, and he started to strangle her. So, like she had like a pocket knife or something in her, like she carried around. Yeah, she stabbed him and like took off. So, like, case closed, Sherry's figure. She did it, yeah. Good for her for getting away. But also, she like self-defense. It was self-defense. That's what the whole thing was. So uh, and like she didn't know he was married either. She was like, and like John is like an older guy, too. So I'm like, he's like getting all these young ladies. She's like calling him a perv and like, oh you're a terrible pervy old man, and da da da da da. Um, so then like after all this subsides, uh Sherry goes on a date with Alan that decides on Chinese food and a movie. Um a lot of it was because Sherry was hung over because she spent the night uh drinking with Charlotte because she solved the case. Yeah. Like we're they were like celebrating, they're celebrating and remorsing and all all the things. Uh yeah, I guess not always celebrating. It's kind of a celebration, he's kind of a jerk. Uh so they have a good little makeout session, which is like new. They usually just like little little little kisses, but they they done go full-on teenager here. These these sweet old people.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Um I guess I forgot they were old.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Yeah, they're old.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

In my head, I'm like, why are they only kissing? You know, you could do more. They're old. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

I mean, old people also do more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not saying they don't. Uh, but um, anyway, they like get done with everything. They get done with the kissing. They get done with the makeout session. And he drives her home. He's like, here, take these leftovers. You don't have to cook in the morning. Um, so she he like leaves and she's she's not gonna eat the leftovers, she's not a good leftover kind of gal. So she walks walks across the street, gives them to her neighbor Alice, and uh goes back home. So then she's like woken up around midnight to her doorbell, and it's Alice. She's like, My power went off, like I don't know what to do. Uh, do you like can you come over and help? And so Sherry like gets out of bed, walks across the street, flips the breaker, magic, the lights are back on. Um, and then she goes home and go back to bed. The next morning she gets a call from Sheriff Brown. Dun dun dun. Alan's dead.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Alan is dead? Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yeah, her sweet woman. Oh no. Boyfriend, not boyfriend.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

I thought he was the one that did it. No, she's dead. It's always the boyfriend.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Um sucks for her.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

And natural causes or no.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Sheriff Brown is like, hey, um, do you want to help with this murder? She's like, How has there been 16 deaths? She's just a sweet old lady that likes reading Angela Blainsbury or whatever. She's like, Miss what is it she wrote Miss Maple? Miss Marple. Marple. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, there's an R and I'm gonna say it wrong. But like there's a lot of little, like, cute little throws in.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Yeah. And like Agatha Christie.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

There's a lot of Agatha Christie-esque things. That's funny. I like it. Um, she's like, How has there been like 16 deaths in this quiet little town? I'm not gonna help with this murder investigation. Like, I don't want to. That was my sweet Alan. There's there is a lot here.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

I mean, you'd think she'd want to solve it though.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Um, yeah, I mean, but she's like been solving She's like, I can't do all the work for you.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Why is it like you need to do your job a little bit? Jenna Brown, listen, give me a break.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

He was near and dear to my heart. Yeah. Um, so then like Janine calls her to be like, hey, I'm so sorry. I just heard about Alan, but then she gets like this voice about her on the phone, and she's like, You have to solve it. And she's like, It wasn't her normal normal voice. This is weird. Um, and she's like, Why you gotta be so cruel about it? And like hangs up, goes back to sleep. Uh she's like, I just want to hang out with in my house with with Lord Thomas, my cat. Like, let me, let me Lord Thomas, sweet thing. Um, so then like Sheriff Brown ends up like beating on our door in the middle of the night, and she like peeks through the curtain to see who's there, and she's like, weird, and he's like yelling at her, like, I know you're in there, Sherry. You have to do this investigation, and da-da-da-da-da. Like, not in his voice either. So you're like weird. Okay, okay. And she calls it a very inhuman voice. Um he's there for a long time. Yeah. Oh, fun. Okay. So she waits for him to leave, and then she calls Father Barry, which is the young new priest at their church, which she like doesn't, she like is in frequent, like goes every so yeah. She went and met him before this. And then uh she calls him, she's like, Hey, do you think there's something weird and supernatural going on? Like, don't think I'm crazy, I'm not crazy. Like, but these these things are weird, and he's like, Well, I didn't take that seminar, she's like, What? She's like, like, I didn't do exorcism seminar. I didn't do seminary while I was in school, but I have a bishop that we can call if you want. And then like they kind of him hobble then. Her and Father Barry meet up, and they meet up with Sheriff Brown. And uh she's like, You were banging on my tour, why were you doing that? And he was like, I don't know what you're talking about. What did we do? And she was like, If we did something like that, would you think I would have brought Father Barry? Come on now, sim her down. Um, and uh do you think they slept together?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Is that true? That's what he was thinking.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

He was like, What did we do?

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Um, I would never sleep with an old lady.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

So then like they're chatting, and all of a sudden that like demon voice of his comes back and uh his head spins like 180 degrees, and he's like, Have you ever watched The Exorcist? And she's like, No, but I've read it. So like really weird. Um so like that day passes, she gets back home, she goes to sleep, and she's like woken up by somebody going, Woman, woman, and she's like, I don't want to open my eyes. This is too much.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

I don't respond to woman, is what I would say.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Well, that was also like that that also comes into play. But um, she finally opens her eyes and it's Lord Thomas Cromwell, her cat, and he's like yelling, like he's like right up in her face, be like, Woman, come on, wake up! And uh he she's like, his mouth isn't moving, but he's talking to me, and this is very weird. Um and ends up he also wants her to find the murderer because of the shape shifty demon that has tasked him into making sure Sherry complies and solved the case. What? And so then yeah, and uh he also she like threatens him because her normal cat is scared of vacuum. She was like, Don't make me get the vacuum at all. That's like kind of cute, but oh that sounds awesome. So I think I read something that was like it's like an Agatha Christie novel and like a bumpy, a buffy vampire like I have to read it now thing. So it was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

I like that it's like Agatha Christie's but supernatural because she she never really does supernatural stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

So uh, but yeah, my sister was like, This this will be and it was like it wasn't because usually like my light and fluffy are still kind of weird. And I remember texting my sister and being like, I think this is the like third book in a row that I've done with a talking.

unknown 18:00

It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

But that's kind of what got me. So uh, but it was very cozy. Like if you're reading something really like dark and stuff, that's that's your uh palette cleanser. What was it called again? It was called the uh it's a long name. Yeah, I remember I remember being long. The Village Library Demon Hunting Society by CM Wagner. Um, it got a 3.4 star on Goodreads. It was written in 2024.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

What would you rate it?

SPEAKER_01 18:32

I just did like a 3.5. Yeah, yeah. Cause like it was cutesy, it was cozy, but it kind of took me a bit to like get into it, get into it. But I think at a certain point I was like, okay, well, I want to know what happens, and uh, and it was yeah, it's good, it's cute.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

So this is like very interesting that you did this one because what did you do? I also did uh cozy horror. Oh well, okay, we talked about cozy horror last time. So I was talking to my friend Emily, um, and I think I did mention this book last time, um, and I don't think I was very far into it, but I ended up liking it so much that I paused the book I was currently reading and switched and switched to do this book. Um so it is also cozy horror, and it also uh mentions The Exorcist, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

How weird.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Yeah. So I did the September House by Carissa Orlando. Um it's a 2023 book. Um Emily had told me that because she had been reading the Rachel Harrison books. Uh she just finished Black Sheep and she really liked it. Um and she had said that uh sh like, you know, like, oh, in the vein of cozy horror, like I really like this book. I think it's like my favorite book I've read this year.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Um, and so I it was like immediately available on Libby, so I just like checked it out. Um it starts um with uh Margaret and Hal. They are a married couple, I think they're like in their 50s, okay-ish. Um they have never owned a house before, they have a daughter. Um, they've always wanted to own a house, but it's just like they both kind of work sort of odd. I would I I wouldn't say odd as in like weird jobs, but just like odd jobs as in like not a great income. Like uh the husband Hal is like a writer, um, and he only recently started getting stuff published, so like to make money, he was like writing silly articles and like doing teaching a few classes here and there. Um and Margaret's sort of the same, like they're raising their kid, and so she's just sort of doing like re retail jobs and you know administrative assistant type jobs. So they've they've never really been able to like own a house before. Oh yeah, and this is another haunted house book. Nice. Obviously, I don't I don't know the the house is in the title, but yeah, um just to warn you, but um completely different, but uh I also I actually think better. Um, so Margaret's just like uh one day just happens to be flipping through uh this newspaper that she says she barely ever reads. Um and there is a house for sale that's like literally the house that they've been like talking about since they got married, that they like wanted to live. Like, like, oh when we get married, we grow up, we're gonna like have this have this like Victorian house, and it has like it has like the wraparound porch and like I don't know what a turret is, but there's a turret apparently that was a big deal. Um and it's like super duper affordable, and it's huge, yeah. So it's like I don't remember how many rooms, but it's like three stories.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

price lower than what they were.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yeah. So they like go to, you know, they like triple check with the realtor that that's actually the price of the house. And they go and uh you know view the house and she says like as soon as she sees it, like she says she would have bought it like price or no, she would have brought it bought it sight unseen. But like as soon as she saw it, she was like, this is our house. Like we're we're gonna live here. And so they're like, you know, like looking around the house and it's you know beautiful. It actually kind of reminded me of like when we bought my house because like it's a very old house. I think it's like a hundred and I think she said 150 years old. And ours is like 102 now or something like that. But but I had a similar feeling like when I first saw the house I was like this is it. Like you can't change my mind. Yeah. Like this is my house. You can tell me that the foundation is screwed and I'll just like say I don't care. We'll fix it. Like we'll yeah we'll we'll fix it. And so they're like touring the house and the realtor's doing her thing and she's like oh you know by the way I'm legally obligated to tell you that there has been like a death in the house. And she was like well actually there's been two deaths in the house um it was like a a housemaid and like the lady of the house um but like oh that was like a hundred years ago and uh it's been so well yeah and it was like it was basically like the husband was suffering some from like psychosis or something and so like hmm um you know just like normal somebody does but they're just like not paying attention they're just like uh-huh sure look at look at this like hardwood floor look at this like beautiful kitchen like they just like don't even care um the she also mentions she's like oh there was like you know another murder but that was like so long ago like it was just like you know just very like off the cuff very casual and like this is something that I so I like I've never had a ghost experience I don't know if we've ever talked about this at least on the podcast I've never had a ghost experience but like I believe that ghosts like I believe in the possibility of ghosts um and so it's like the fear is like I live in this old house like obviously it's like someone has to have died here. Right like like like so it's like so like that was like her whole thing. She's like well it's an old house like w the probability of people tying an old house is like exponential. Yeah like of course people have died here um so they move in in May and are just like in love. So um September happens. Okay. And like chapter one like is basically like the start of September. So like oh that's like the prologue. Um chapter one is like the walls are bleeding again as the town starts just clean that yeah so it's like the walls are bleeding um this happens every September at this point in chapter one this is like their fourth September in the house. Okay. Uh there is like a really loud um like moaning that happens every night when they sleep so it's like really disruptive sleep in September. Yeah and um there is so okay so like it's hard it's kind of hard to tell the story a little bit because the way it's told in the book is you're just following Margaret's kind of like narrative yeah um and she is what I would what some would call a unreliable narrator I don't know if that's like the necessarily the best way to describe it but that's like one of the ways I would describe her. She's also a type of narrator that like doesn't tell you everything so you like kind of learn things as you go and like sort of offhanded comments. So like we start and it's September and she's like dealing with the walls bleeding and the moaning and uh she's like trying to you know she's like wakes up in the morning and um Frederica's just like there asking her if she wants tea and we're just like who's Frederica like you don't know Frederica and she's like slowly telling you who Frederica is she like came with the house um and then she like has this huge axe wound in her head and her eye is droopy and it's like hard to look at her but she's so helpful like that's so weird. Yeah but like so she like makes her tea at breakfast every morning and she's just like calls her ma'am and you know and like it's just like these weird like and it's like oh Elias is here and Elias is like this little scrawny like 10 year old boy that like if you get too close to him he bites you. Oh no and so you're like slowly learning like oh she lives in this house with ghosts right like people that have died in the house they're all interacting well together though. Yes kind of we know boundaries kind of so Frederica and Elias seem to be around year round. Okay. There are certain so only certain things happen in September. Like the walls bleeding yeah like the walls bleeding like moaning and like stuff at night and then she calls them pranksters. She never really explains why she calls them pranksters but she like instead of ghosts she calls them pranksters. Okay. Um but they there are um other pranksters that appear um just in September so one of them is named Angelica and she's like a little girl who um like also it like she has like a bastion head like it's just all like very like and she's just so she's so very casual about it all.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

You're like oh no big deal.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Yeah she's just like oh I'm used to it like you know it's just this little girl um and so like Angelica shows up and she's like you know points to the basement and uh she's like she's like I learned a long time ago that like you don't you don't pay attention to the pranksters like she's like when I first started you know I first moved into this house and it was September like I was Nancy Drew trying to solve trying to solve all the all the ghost problems and she's like you don't do that like you just ignore the pranksters like she's friends with Frederica and you just like try not to get bit by Elias. Right. Keep keep on keeping on here okay but like this sp specific uh September Angela uh Angelica shows up and she so the when they first moved into the house um the basement has this really eerie creepy vibe to it okay and they don't really tell you much about it other than that but they do keep the basement boarded up like nailed and boarded with like Bible passages. Oh like keep it yeah like okay um like taped on the on the door and so like you know Angelica's like pointing to the basement she's like he's down there and she's like I know he's down there we don't go down there though like but it was weird because I guess Angelica doesn't usually talk like the only prankster that actually talks is Frederica. Right. Um Elias doesn't talk he just kind of stares and bites um and so so yeah so um she's you know in in the kitchen which is you know the basement's you know right by the kitchen she's in the kitchen drinking tea with Frederica and Frederica basically tells her like oh by the way like your phone is going off it looks like you have like a another text from your daughter so um Catherine is Margaret's daughter um she has been calling for the past month realizing she has not talked to her dad in a while. So basically the whole like so the way that their sort of like family structure works is it's like and I don't know it seemed kind of similar to like like maybe how like my husband's family structure works where it's like you call you call and talk to your mom and the dad just sort of like chimes in chimes in in the background. So you don't ever really like connect. Yeah you don't necessarily which they do talk obviously but like you know it's like it's it's mostly like most of the communication is through the mom the dad sort of says a couple you know maybe they talk on the phone for a couple minutes and then they hang up. So the daughter starts realizing over the past month she calls like probably about weekly she uh hasn't actually heard from her dad and then she just starts calling her dad directly and her dad's not answering the phone and uh now when she's calling it going like the voicemail box is full she can't even like leave voicemails. And um Margaret keeps she she makes like offhanded comments in her narrative about like how she's I think she says like absconded huh um so you don't really know so you're like okay Hal's gone she's living in the house by herself daughter's looking for Hal. Yeah and so finally when she does like talk to her daughter like the daughter's like the daughter's pretty hilarious she's just like what the fuck mom like she's just like and and so she finally admits to her daughter that Hal left. And she's like what do you mean he left? Like when did he leave? And so she starts kind of doing this thing where she's like well did he leave when he stopped sleeping in the master bedroom with me or did he leave when she's like what do you consider leaving yeah like when when did he leave? And so you kind of are learning that like their relationship had been on the rocks for like a while. Yeah um and the house is kind of to blame for that. Yeah because she loves the house can put up with whatever it's just one month a year the rest of the the rest of the year is you know perfectly fine. She loves Frederica and and the husband is not he's he doesn't like it. And so he ends up deciding he doesn't want to live in the house anymore. She says I'm not going to this is my house she I think she even says like she puts her foot down for like the first time in their relationship and she says like no I'm not leaving um so he does leave and the daughter's concerned because um was like well why wouldn't he why would he not answer my phone calls? Like if he just left why is why is he not he should still have his phone like I'm his daughter he should still talk to me. Yeah uh and she's like well I don't know um and there's like these weird kind of side comments of like well do you think that he got in trouble like last time and it's like well she knows I don't like to talk about the past and blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

I'm intrigued.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Yeah and so and and she's like no I don't think so you know and so like the daughter's like I don't care well I think even the mom says something like well I'll don't worry like I'll call the cops and I'll file a missing person's report or whatever if that'll make you feel better. And she's like she's like I'm actually concerned that you haven't filed one already like I'm coming and here's the thing the daughter's never been to their house they've lived in this house for four years she's never been to the house she has no idea about any of the ghosts or pranksters pranksters September nonsense. Um and so uh Margaret is like trying to pull all the stops she's just like no you can't come like oh well there's just too much going on and she's trying to like say she has like a leaky roof and all this stuff and she's just like I don't give a fuck mom like on coming. She's a very abrasive um she's I she she ends up being okay though. But she has her own issues. But yeah so um there's some like a little bit of background we go into like how like when they first moved into the house um how like certain things started to just like move around on their own and they were kind of like blaming each other like why did you put this here? Why did you do that? And um they finally start to sort of put two and two together that like they're they're not alone in the house. Yeah. Um and so they um let's see sorry uh oh there's a sweet little story that she tells about um whenever she was a child there was a like outside cat that she um didn't like she knew there was a cat outside but it was like too scared of her so she started putting out food to like warm it up yeah and she ends up like basically warming up the cat enough that the cat starts like bringing her dead things and she just like took that as like I burnt you a thank you. Yeah exactly um and so she sort of does the same thing with Frederica. So like Frederica makes her tea and she like doesn't she thinks it's Hal at first and then she's starting to realize like oh this isn't like Hal's um so that's sort of like there's there's a lot of like interesting metaphors in this book. Like it's a lot deeper and I I don't want to get into it too much because there are a few like cool things little yeah like that that I don't want to spoil. But there are a lot of like interesting metaphors in this book. Okay. Um so uh Margaret um after talking to her daughter we're like back in the present or whatever um talking to her daughter uh she's like sitting on the porch her neighbor Edie comes over and they're like basically talking about like Catherine coming and Margaret's just like I'm screwed I don't know what to do. Yeah like she's gonna come she's coming in like a couple days and it's September like it's even worse. Bad timing um bad timing like how am I gonna like keep all the stuff from her there's like other things that happen too there's like birds that like fly into windows all the time so they constantly have like dead birds on their lawn. Oh no and she's like I'm gonna have to like unboard the basement because like that's like super obvious. It's weird to be like to be like oh why is this basement board with all these like Bible passages on the door so she's like I'm gonna have to unboard the basement and Edie like doesn't like that. She's like what do you mean you're gonna like unboard the like you can't do that. Master Vale is down there. Oh yeah so that's like our first like learning of who's in the basement um and so she's like well I can um call Father Cyrus and see if he'll like do his like blessing thing. So so when they first moved into the house obviously they figured out things were wrong in September. Um and over the years they've been sort of learning there's things that they can do to mitigate what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

One of them was they went to the Catholic church and tried to do like try to find like a priest that would like do an exorcism or something on their house. And um everyone's just like basically laughs at them and then this like old priest is like oh I can help you like I actually like I know exactly the house you're talking about like it's he's familiar with yeah he's like that's not a good place and so he comes and he does like all these blessings in the house when they first get there and so she calls him like every September and it I think it gives them like a little bit of a just like it nothing like lasts like it's like oh we get like a week of like comfort. Yeah there's like other things she's learned about like Elias the boy like his mother is buried in the backyard so she like if she like digs up the mother's bones and like reunites Elias with the mother's bones he like disappears for like a week so she's like okay there's things I can do to like make the house and she's like I can wake up early and clean up the blood off all the walls like so she won't planning. And she's like trying to like Edie's trying to tell her that he she needs to like drug her daughter while she's sleeping so she won't hear like the moaning at night and all this stuff. Um so uh so she calls Father Cyrus um he arrives to like perform the blessing um he so while Father Cyrus is there they're sort of talking about like the first time he was there um versus like the time he's here now and they're like doing all the you know crazy stuff and um he one of the weird things about when Father Cyrus came the first time is he he believes them. He knows the house is haunted but he actually all the pranksters are like mysteriously absent. Right. And like he doesn't see stuff like the blood on the walls. But he like still is like no I feel I feel it. I know yeah I believe you so like that was really interesting. Um let me see let me see what else I got uh so basically they decide that father cyrus needs to like bless the basement or whatever. Yeah so like they open the door to the basement and like Father Cyrus is like praying and just like up like he basically like is frozen by like an unseen like boarst and like flies start like swarming out of his mouth hold on one second and we're back technical difficulties technical difficulties um so yeah so father cyrus flies coming out of his mouth they like she like gets him out of there slams the door he leaves like as fast as he possibly can um and then Frederica helps Margaret clean up like all of the rest of the house.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Yeah um so I'm like considering how far I want to go I'm already kind of invested in this book.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

So I will say yeah Catherine arrives um oh yeah because she that's yeah so Catherine shows up uh yeah I think I'm gonna stop there so yeah so when Catherine shows up um Margaret's Margaret is just like literally trying to keep pretend like nothing is normal yeah pretend like everything is normal um and she's like really concerned with how little Margaret seems to care about how I'm missing huh so it's like a little bit of like so it's horror obviously and you got a mystery you got a mystery it's haunted house supernatural this is very cool yeah we both kind of picked yeah what was yours called uh September House by by Carissa Orlando okay and yours again mine was called I wasn't prepared for that question the Village The Village Library Demon Hunting Society CM Wagner yeah oh and mine was a 3.85 on Goodreads what would you have given it probably 4.5 okay cool because it's it's it's cozy but like surprisingly not sometimes yeah um like it gets you back into a comfort zone at a point yeah like there's there's some really interesting like I said metaphors I want to read that happen that are more they're they're not they're obvious metaphors you don't have to like interpret yeah you don't have to like interpret it for yourself but um yeah it was really good I agree with my friend Emily um one of the like better books that I've read this year so okay highly recommend uh yeah so um catch us in two weeks it will be here in two weeks thanks for listening thanks guys bye