Just in case someone is not aware of this: T. Kingfisher is the 'nym used by cartoonist/children's author Ursula Vernon (Digger, Hamster Princess) when she writes YA or adult fiction. Until now, most of her output as Kingfisher has been fairytale spinoffs and fantasy adventures with a romance spin written from the viewpoint of characters who'd be in the background in a classic heroic fantasy. This is her first foray into horror fiction.

Melissa, known as "Mouse," has been landed with the unenviable task of cleaning out her late grandmother's house in rural North Carolina after her step-grandfather dies. Grandmother had been horrible to her second husband, Cotgrave, but then Grandma was horrible to everyone, as even Mouse's sweet Aunt Kate agrees. Mouse is eking out a living as a freelance editor, and her father is no spring chicken at 81, so Mouse agrees to deal with getting the house ready for resale. Off she goes in her pickup truck with her faithful rescue coonhound Bongo, who's named for the antelope, not the percussion instrument.

The house is solid enough, but Grandma was a hoarder. Mouse is stuck with picking through the jam-packed mess, which includes a room full of spooky dolls that Mouse had almost managed to forget. The only room that is not filled with junk turns out to be Cotgrave's bedroom/study. When Mouse is idly poking around in it, she opens a book that turns out to be Cotgrave's journal. And the stuff he recorded in it isn't normal at all.

As Mouse attempts to carry out her task, interspersed with disturbing sessions of reading the journal, unpleasant things start to happen. Some are mundane and seemingly not unreasonable, like the fact that her cellphone keeps draining its battery very quickly. On the other hand, when Bongo drags her off for a walk in the woods, she ends up atop a small mountain that can't possibly exist. And that's not to mention the weird rock carvings and the effect they seem to have on her. Or the dead, eviscerated deer that she finds hanging from some branches. Or the other book with which Cotgrave was obsessed. Or what comes knocking at the windows of the house, late at night.

Kingfisher's trademark wry humor and quirky supporting characters are oddly at home in this spooky story. In particular, Foxy, the eccentric old hippie chick who accompanies Mouse on the climactic journey into darkness, is a gem. In the end, a lot depends on Bongo.

I'm not 100% sure what I thought of this one. I like Kingfisher a lot, and I don't usually like horror ... although spooky fantasy can move me: The Owl Servce by Alan Garner comes to mind. But I'm reasonably satisfied with having read The Twisted Ones.