The following version of this book was used to create the guide: O’Donnell, Paraic. The House on Vesper Sands. Orion, 2018.

Esther Cull shows up injured one night to the home of her employer, Lord Strythe. Esther is a seamstress. The butler Mr Carew shows her into the workroom. Once Mr Carew leaves, Esther breaks into Strythe’s strongbox. She steals two vessels containing a precious fluid. Esther jumps out the window, smashing the vessels and killing herself in the process.

Gideon Bliss shows up at his uncle’s lodgings one evening. His uncle, Reverend Neuilly, mysteriously summoned him from Cambridge to London. Gideon seeks shelter at St Anne’s Church. He finds his uncle’s ward Angie Tatton lying there in a white dress. Angie tells Gideon that Neuilly has been taken. Someone covers Gideon’s mouth with a rag. He passes out.

Octavia Hillingdon’s boss instructs her to write an article about the Spiriters: a cult held responsible for kidnapping young women across Europe. Octavia is more interested in Lord Strythe. He is a shady philanthropist who recently opened a charity for work girls. When Strythe flees a ball held in his honor, Octavia calls on her friend Elf for help. Elf works for the Home Office and agrees to snoop around the party. A man in a brown suit catches Olivia’s eye as he seems out of place at the luxurious ball. Octavia heads to the servants’ quarters and spots a man joining Strythe in his carriage. She has a vision of men standing over a girl in a white dress.

A drunk sexton wakes Gideon up at St Anne’s Church. Angie is gone. Gideon runs into a sergeant in the street who coincidentally asks for directions to Neuilly’s lodgings. The sergeant is to report to an inspector that lives there. Gideon gives the sergeant the wrong directions on purpose and heads to his uncle’s home himself instead. He presents himself to Inspector Cutter as Sergeant Bliss.

Cutter and Gideon head to the crime scene at Strythe House. They find Esther’s body and interrogate Mr Carew. Esther sewed the words “MY SOUL DOTH MAGNIFY THE LORD” onto her abdomen (71). They find broken pieces of crystal nearby.

Octavia asks her brother Georgie to help with her articles. They share their findings at the end of the day. Octavia learned at Strythe House that Lord Strythe is missing. Georgie learned in a bar about one girl that went missing, supposedly at the hands of the Spiriters.

At dinner with Cutter, Gideon is forced to admit he is not a real sergeant. He shows Cutter his uncle’s mysterious letter and tells him about his past with Angie. Gideon helped teach Angie to read and write the previous summer. He fell in love with her. He is determined to find out what happened to her. Cutter agrees to let him stay on the investigation.

Cutter and Gideon seek out the sister of Esther Tull. Just as they arrive at her home, someone breaks in and kills her. They head to the church where Gideon last saw Angie. They learn that the sexton was murdered. The good news is that Angie is alive. She is at a hospital.

At the hospital, Gideon is shocked to see how changed Angie is. She seems insane and keeps singing and muttering. Her hand is translucent, like that of a ghost.

Octavia attends a séance at the home of an acquaintance. The medium there summons the spirit of Angie, who vows revenge. Elf says he can help Octavia with her articles.

Strythe’s sister Lady Ada lives at Vesper Sands in Deal. Cutter, Gideon, and Angie take the train there. Lady Ada welcomes them to stay the night. She is certain Strythe will turn up.

Elf takes Octavia to Strythe House. A man of Lord Strythe’s age committed suicide there. It will take a few days to identify the body. Octavia recognizes the man in the brown suit there. Elf introduces him as Mr Brown.

Gideon wakes from a nightmare to find Angie standing at the top of the stairs. She jumps to the bottom just as lighting strikes, frightening Gideon and making him scream.

Octavia, Elf, and Mr Brown take the train to Deal. When a reverend enters their compartment, Mr Brown rudely tells him to leave. The reverend does so but leaves a bottle of medicine behind. Mr Brown leaves the compartment to return the medicine. Suddenly, the train stops. Someone pushed Mr Brown out the train, killing him.

Gideon and Cutter search for Angie in the woods surrounding Lady Ada’s home. They find her gazing peacefully up at a dead man hanging from a noose. Cutter and Gideon quickly cut the rope, but the man is dead. Cutter suspects that Angie ordered the man, Lord Strythe, to kill himself.

Octavia and Elf stop at a hotel on their way to Vesper Sands. Octavia wakes from a nightmare to find a letter slipped under her door. It is from Reverend Neuilly and contains evidence of Elf’s involvement with the Spiriters and Lord Strythe. These men kidnap young women for a quality referred to as “brightness” (245). Octavia sneaks out of her room but Elf catches her on the stairs. Luckily for her, Georgie arrives at the hotel just then. Octavia makes an excuse to Elf and leaves with her brother for Vesper Sands.

Cutter delivers the news of Strythe’s death to Lady Ada, who appears unperturbed. Gideon finds his uncle Neuilly in Lady Ada’s study. Neuilly’s arrival puts Lady Ada in a bad mood, as she is unused to having so many guests. She confesses to sharing Neuilly’s skill for spotting brightness. She recalls being a young girl when Strythe killed the first woman he realized had brightness. Neuilly explains that he escaped from the Spiriters by breaking through the wooden crate they held him in.

Angie is the first person Octavia and Georgie see when they arrive at Vesper Sands. When Angie runs off, Octavia follows her. She ends up cornered in a summerhouse with Elf, who holds her at gunpoint. Elf explains the attraction of brightness to her; it keeps men feeling young and alive. Georgie comes, and shoots Elf in the arm. Elf runs off.

Lady Ada welcomes Octavia and Georgie. Octavia warns them that Elf is somewhere roaming the grounds. Everyone decides to head out and follow Angie towards the beach.

The group finds Elf crawling in the sand on the beach. Elf aims his gun at Gideon while Cutter aims his gun at Elf. Elf shoots Gideon and Cutter shoots Elf. Angie fades away.

Three months later, Octavia turns up at New Scotland Yard and asks Cutter to go on a walk with her. She has some questions about his experience on the investigation for a book she is writing. He leads her to London Bridge, where he meets with Gideon. Gideon is still recovering from his bullet wound but he is officially a sergeant. Octavia promises to meet with them both soon.