T. Kingfisher "moves the dead." (With mushrooms)

            What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher’s retelling of Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher,” is a short, mostly satisfying throwback to Victorian horror, a fun, spooky tale and first book in a trilogy.

            Alex Easton, a retired soldier and veteran of war, is contacted by childhood friend Roderick Usher, who pleads with Alex to come visit, as Usher’s sister Madeline, also a friend of Alex’s, is gravely ill. Upon arriving at the Usher estate, Alex finds the house in utter disrepair, an air of darkness hanging over the place like fog. When he sees Madeline, he is shocked to see that Madeline is corpse-like in appearance, the house inside falling apart, infested by mold, and devoid of servants as the family is in dire straits financially. Roderick himself seems very ill, the causes of the maladies unknown. Beyond the woeful condition of his friend, the property is infested by strange, unearthly, zombie-like hares and a glowing lake.

            The story is slow, but still ushers (pun intended …) the reader along nicely with Victorian ghost story tropes: phantom white figures walking through the halls, strange noises in the night, and yes, the glowing lake and demonic hares that are, at times, bullet-resistant.  Rounding out the cast of characters is Denton, an American friend of Usher’s who served as a physician in the American Civil War, Angus, a gruff Scotsman companion of Alex’s, and Eugenia Potter, an upper-class Englishwoman and amateur mycologist whose passion for mushrooms might be their only hope for finding out the true cause of Madeline’s and the estate's mysterious maladies.

            Kingfisher does well with the Victoria vibe and lingo, and after a slow start, the novella builds on the horror as it goes, culminating in surprising and somewhat original twists. The plot varies widely from Poe’s original tale, but the quasi-scientific source of the Usher’s malaise perhaps works better for a modern audience. Fungi seem to be the monster du jour, thanks mostly to HBO’s The Last of Us, and Kingfisher weaves science and horror together well to craft her tale.

            A short fun read that should get you curious about the sequels.