George Grantley has fond memories of his boyhood days spent at Anglesey House with his childhood playmate Charles Scarlet, happy times that came to an end with the Scarlet boy's tragic death in an accident. Now Anglesey House stands empty, and George thinks it might be just the property his old friend Kit Everness is looking for. Scoffing at rumors that the house is haunted, Kit and his family buy the place and move in. But Charles Scarlet's death might not have been so accidental after all, and an evil presence that lingers in the house may now have set its sights on Kit's young daughter Rosa....
Arthur Calder-Marshall's unusual haunted house story The Scarlet Boy (1961) is a rediscovered supernatural classic whose slow-building dread mounts inexorably until the chilling finale.
"A variation on the theme of Turn of the Screw in the manner of Graham Greene with an olive from The Cocktail Party and a dash of Dashiell Hammett." - Cyril Connolly, The Sunday Times
"A fine, moody novel ... filled with surprises and much excitement . . It has an intellectual quality that is quite reminiscent of The Turn of the Screw." - Nashville Banner
"Entirely worth the reading. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, Calder-Marshall has concocted so convincing a one you will willingly suspend your disbelief." - Boston Globe