BENEATH THE POET’S HOUSE by Christa Carmen – Review

I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Beneath the Poet's House by Christa Carmen
Published by Thomas & Mercer on December 10 2024
Genres: Adult, Horror, Mystery
Pages: 336
Format: ARC
Source: Author
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The nitty-gritty: Mystery and horror combine with gothic literary elements in this excellent, atmospheric tale.

If you haven’t discovered Christa Carmen yet, now’s your chance. In Beneath the Poet’s House, Carmen sets her literary, gothic mystery in Providence, Rhode Island and centers it around 19th century poet Sarah Helen Whitman’s famous house at 88 Benefit Street. Whitman was briefly engaged to Edgar Allan Poe, and the story is full of references to both Whitman’s and Poe’s work and incorporates those into the contemporary literary scene of Providence’s Brown University. And while that alone would make a fascinating story, Carmen has penned a thrilling mystery revolving around a woman named Saoirse who moves to Providence after her husband dies of a heart attack. There’s a wonderfully eerie ambiance to the story, although the ghostly elements may or may not be real, so readers will have to decide for themselves.

Saoirse White is a thirty-something writer who has just rented 88 Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island. After the shocking death of her husband Jonathan several months earlier, she left New Jersey in order to escape her memories of finding Jonathan dead in his home office. 

Saoirse has had writer’s block for a while, but she hopes the gothic atmosphere of her new house will provide inspiration. Her new friends Lucretia, Mia and Roberto—writers and transcendentalists who are trying to contact the ghost of Sarah Helen Whitman—are determined to get Saoirse back on track with her writing, and drawing her into their mystical world seems to be working. One night in the basement of her house during a séance, she experiences an odd vision, and later finds herself in a frenzy to write down the lines of poetry that appear in her head. Could it be Sarah’s ghost speaking to her?

Even odder, Saoirse keeps running into a strange man in town, a man who looks very similar to both her late husband and Edgar Allan Poe. Emmitt Powell is a literature professor at Brown and a Pulitzer Prize winner as well. Saoirse is drawn to him despite a few red flags: she’s convinced he’s been stalking her, although he denies that claim. Still, she finds herself unable to resist Emmitt’s charisma and is drawn into a passionate affair. But then Emmitt confesses he needs Saoirse as his muse. The deadline for his next novel is looming and he’s convinced she is the only one who can help him out of his writer’s block. His intensity is both exciting and frightening. Just how far will Emmitt go for literary inspiration?

You can tell from my recap that there are several mysteries going on. The reader gets hints about the circumstances of Jonathan’s death early on, but we don’t learn the truth until much later in the story. Jonathan’s friend Aidan comes to Providence, trying to talk to Saoirse about the night her husband died, but she refuses to talk to him. Why is he being so pushy? And what does he know about his friend’s death?

Then there’s Emmitt, who is clearly more than he appears on the surface. Despite the immediate attraction between him and Saoirse, and the fact that Emmitt actually listens to her (as opposed to her late husband), there’s a sinister undercurrent to their relationship. Emmitt, with his professorial good looks and intense gaze, seems almost fictional, as if he were the embodiment of Edgar Allan Poe himself. This is both a turn-on and a red flag for Saoirse, although it will take her some time to come to terms with the latter.

Saoirse is a complex character with a rather upsetting backstory (trigger warnings for verbal abuse and gaslighting). When she moves into 88 Benefit Street, she starts seeing flies buzzing around her head, but it’s unclear at first whether they are real or only in her imagination. She’s eager to start a new life, but things in Providence are weird. I loved the way she’s both strong and vulnerable. She wants to trust Emmitt because he’s so different from Jonathan, but when things go south she goes into survival mode and surprises everyone. 

In addition to many thoroughly researched historical details about Edgar Allan Poe and Sarah Whitman, the author mentions aspects of publishing in her story, which was a lot of fun. Both Emmitt and Saoirse are traditionally published authors, and one of the characters even mentions Goodreads at one point, which was such a fun reference and put a smile on my face.

The story takes a very dark turn at about the halfway point, morphing from mystery into visceral horror. Carmen’s descriptions of the basements and tunnels below the houses on Benefit Street give the story a claustrophobic feel, much like being in one of Poe’s stories. The ending is thrilling and tense and very scary! There are so many elements in Beneath the Poet’s House that I haven’t even touched on in this review, so I will leave the rest for you to discover yourself. Highly recommended for lovers of gothic mysteries with well developed characters.

Big thanks to the author for providing a review copy.