Book Review: “The Haunting of Ashburn House” by Darcy Coates

Nov 24

Håfa adai and welcome to spooky season, my favorite month of the year! Throughout October 2025, I will publish reviews for works of horror, suspense, and the supernatural. My fifth spooky pick for the month is The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates.

This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Horror bookshelf.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary

The death of Adrienne’s mother has completely derailed her life. She is literally clinging to her last dollars when she receives notice that she has inherited Ashburn House from a deceased distant aunt; a relative her mother swore up and down did not exist. But beggars cannot be choosers. So, with her cat Wolfgang in tow, she decides to start her life over in the now uninhabited mansion. And after she arrives, she learns that she is not the only one the village is whispering about.

The elderly Edith was a mysterious and complex figure. One that the village only saw from the distant windows of Ashburn House. Neither welcoming nor cruel, the events and figures of Edith’s life were the talk of the village for decades. Whispers from children to adults made strange claims about the tragic mass murder that occurred in Ashburn House when Edith was only a child, that the killer was never found, and that the house was filled with ghosts. And after only a few nights alone in Ashburn House, the words of villagers are not the only whispers Adrienne can hear.

My Thoughts on The Haunting of Ashburn House: 3.5 stars

The Haunting of Ashburn House is a ghostly undead story set somewhere in modern-day Australia. The story is told by a third-person narrator closely following the experiences and thoughts of Adrienne, with letters and notes from Edith added later. At Adrienne’s side throughout the story is her loyal and brave cat, Wolfgang. Together, the woman and her cat restart their lives in a new village after the tragic loss of Adrienne’s mother.

I do wish Adrienne took more action throughout the story, or that Darcy Coates gave the reader more to know about Adrienne, but I still like her as a character. She is going through a lot and trying to make the best of a stranger than life situation. She is humble yet guarded without being overly judgmental or proud. When she makes a new set of friends with four women in the village, she is initially untrusting but welcomes them in out of a deep desire to no longer be alone.

Unbeknownst to Adrienne, the house she inherited was not exactly empty. The way the horror unfolds throughout The Haunting of Ashburn House led me to a singular major takeaway from the story: being alone is safer than longing for the wrong kind of company. Without giving away too much detail, it becomes clear in the sleuthing conducted by Adrienne and her new friends that the entities haunting her new home were victims in more ways than one.

My overall rating for The Haunting of Ashburn House is 3.5 out of 5 stars. I first listened to the audiobook of The Haunting of Ashburn House sometime in 2023. Darcy Coates storytelling in this book is not fast paced, but it is pleasant and easy to follow, which I say as a compliment. There were many scenes where I wanted more complexity and emotion, and there are different directions that I would have taken events, but it was not a bad story all in all and I appreciate the way it ended. The Haunting of Ashburn House is one of Darcy Coates earliest publications, so it would interesting to see how her writing has evolved in recent years. I consider this story to be low-intensity horror, which makes it a great selection for those who are new to the genre or who generally do not appreciate higher levels of horror intensity.

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates.

Rating Cheat Sheet

4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.

Post Date: 30 October 2025