The Mystery of the Semi Detached by Edith Nesbit

From Classic Ghost Stories by Tony Walker

May 24, 2026 · 9 min

About this episode

The episode explores Edith Nesbit's ghost story 'The Mystery of the Semi Detached', blending suburban life with supernatural elements.

A young man waits in a suburban lane for his sweetheart. She doesn't come. Walking home past her house, he finds the front door standing open, the windows dark. He goes in. He goes upstairs. He strikes a match. The next morning she is perfectly well, and the room he entered was locked all night, the key in her pocket. But the almanack on the mantelpiece read the 21st of October. And it was May. "The Mystery of the Semi-Detached" was first published in Edith Nesbit's collection Grim Tales in 1893. Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) is best remembered today as the author of The Railway Children and Five Children and It, but she was also a prolific and accomplished writer of supernatural fiction, whose ghost stories combine suburban ordinariness with genuine dread to unsettling effect. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-classic-ghost-stories-podcast--7002956/support . *To buy my paperback books:* https://books.by/tony-walker-books The Classic Ghost Stories Newsletter — short essays on the genre, odd discoveries, and recommendations. Free, fortnightly. Subscribe: https://www.classicghost.com/#/portal To buy my ebooks and audiobooks…

People in this episode

Host: Tony Walker

Topics covered

supernatural fiction
ghost stories
Edith Nesbit
mystery
suburban dread

Keywords

ghost stories
Edith Nesbit
supernatural
mystery
fiction

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Mystery of the Semi Detached, Grim Tales