The House by the Churchyard is a novel by

Sheridan Le Fanu published in 1863 that combines

elements of the mystery novel and the historical

novel. Set in the village of Chapelizod, near Dublin,

in the 1760s the story opens with the accidental

disinterment of an old skull in the churchyard,

and an eerie late-night funeral. This discovery relates

to murders, both recent and historical whose

repercussions disrupt the complacent pace of village

affairs and change the lives of many of its notable

characters forever. Charm and chilling darkness

abound in equal measure in one of the greatest

novels of a Victorian master of mystery.