The Haunted Bookshop

The Haunted Bookshop (1919) is not a work on the supernatural. Rather, the name refers to the ghosts of the past that haunt all libraries and bookstores: “the ghosts of all great literature.” Morley, through the character of Roger Mifflin, speaks about the knowledge and wisdom that one can gain from literature. The suspenseful novel is set in Brooklyn around the end of World War I. The narrative begins with a young advertising man, Aubrey Gilbert, stopping by a bookstore named “The Haunted Bookshop” in the hopes of finding a new client. Gilbert meets the owner, Roger Mifflin. Gilbert does not sell anything, but is attracted by Mifflin and his conviction about the value books and booksellers have to the world. Additionally, Gilbert is thrilled by the fact that his firm's biggest client, Mr. Chapman, is a friend of Mifflin and has asked Mifflin to undertake the education of his daughter, Titania Chapman, by hiring her as an assistant…