The Joss — Richard Marsh

Mary Blyth is fired from her job for tardiness after being robbed and nearly murdered. But her luck seems to change for the better when a solicitor informs her that her distant uncle Benjamin Batters has died, naming her his sole heiress He bequeaths to her a dilapidated old house, where impenetrable iron doors may guard terrible secrets.

But the rats that infest the house, and the spirits that seem to haunt it, are not her only concerns. A trio of grotesque and ruthless thugs will stop at nothing to gain entrance to the house and the secrets it conceals. As the mystery deepens, a more frightening question arises: Is Benjamin Batters playing a murderous game from beyond the grave, or is he still alive? The novel's relentless action builds in a crescendo until the horrifying truth of Batters's fate is finally revealed

Richard Marsh's "The Joss" (1901) can be read as a companion volume to his most famous novel, "The Beetle" (1897), which in its time outsold even Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (1897). Like "The Beetle," "The Joss" features a thrilling tale told from multiple points of view and a hideous, subhuman monster from the East. The Valancourt Books edition reprints the rare 1901 first edition, which survives in only a handful of copies worldwide, complete with a facsimile of its cover.