I can’t even put into words how excited I was for this to show up on my doorstep. From out of the box, this is a quality product. The cover design on this, and it’s sequel demonstrate careful craftsmanship, and the books have a heft to them, a showcase of the quality you’re about to spend some major league time with. The whole effort is a solid testimony to what an author can accomplish through self publishing.

Oh, and Michael Clark knows what he’s doing with the inside as well. What struck me most was the meticulous planning that was apparent throughout the story. I don’t know for sure, but it certainly reads as though Clark is a fastidious outliner.

As soon as you open up The Patience of a Dead Man, you’re treated to a map of the property and the house where the majority of the story takes place.

I. Love. Maps. Well, as part of a story anyway, not in general. I’m a very visual person and having a place to reference when action is taking place in different parts of the house made for a more enjoyable experience for me. It’s safe to say that Michael Clark had this reader won over by page 4, and I was his to lose.

No worries there, though. This book hooked me. On the surface, the plot is relatively simple. Tim, who is recently divorced, buys a house in New Hampshire with the intention of fixing it up. The only problem is the house has ghosts. Where this novel separates itself is in the scenes of the supernatural. They are creepy and unsettling, they are incredibly tense, and when you’re reading them, you get the sense that Clark was made for this. I haven’t had a book raise the goosebumps on my arm like this since Laurel Hightower’s Whispers in the Dark last year. Especially of note are the scenes with the traveling footsteps toward the beginning and the sleepover with Tim’s daughters.

If I had one complaint, it’s the relative speed with which the story’s romantic relationship unfolds. It serves the plot well as Holly buying into everything and investing in Tim’s wellbeing brings her in to help solve the mystery, but it feels a bit forced. That being said, both these characters are compelling and well-developed making for a duo we want to root for.

Overall, the chapters are short and the pages fly by. Michael Clark presents a supernatural Murder mystery/haunted house book with a horrifying antagonist in Mildred. Knowing that Dead Woman Scorned is sitting on my shelf waiting to go is a comfort. I’m very onboard with spending some more time in the world Michael Clark has created.