Ahoy there me mateys!  This novel is supposed to be a gothic horror.  While it does contain a haunted house, I found it to be more fantasy in feel.  It does contain Kingfisher's humor elements though.  This was a good read but was not one of me favorites.  I loved the main character Sam, the vultures, and the bug references.  I did think the house itself felt quite creepy.  The major problem for me was that Sam took forever to figure things out and that both her mother or the neighbor should have tried to explain sooner.  I also didn't particularly care for the reason of the haunting or how that is handled.  Personal taste, I think.  I did like the resolution of the situation overall though and how Sam's family moves forward.  No regrets reading this, as I will read anything the author writes.  Arrrr!