Creator / Lettice Galbraith

One of the more mysterious prominent late Victorian horror writers; mysterious in the sense that there is no information available as to her birth name (assuming that "Lettice Galbraith" is a marital or pen name), or vital dates (other than the fact that she obviously flourished in the 1890's). According to Goodreads:

She appeared on the literary scene in 1893, published a novel and two collections of stories in that year, a further story ("The Blue Room") in 1897, and then nothing more.

This is frustrating, because she was a skilled writer who dealt with interesting supernatural themes.

Among her mysterious tales are:

"In the Seance Room" (1893)

Set in London. The wicked Dr. Valentine Burke uses hypnosis to drive away his discarded lover Katharine Greaves, the better leave his path open to marry the wealthy Elma Lang. But in 1889 his crime catches up with him, when information is revealed by a witness from the Other Side!

• Despair Event Horizon: Two characters in the tale are pushed over this edge.
  • Dr. Burke does this to Katherine, hypnotizing her to commit suicide.
  • Katherine's spirit does this to Dr. Burke when her revelation of his crimes against her spoils all his plans and drives him to suicide.
• Driven to Suicide: Poor Katherine's fate, at the hands of her evil former lover.
• Gold Digger: Dr. Burke is the male example of this, which was historically more common in Victorian England than it is today.
• Karmic Death: Dr. Burke dies by suicide, just as did his victim Katherine.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Dr. Burke participates in a seance as part of his plan to seduce Elma Lang, for whom he discarded (and arguably murdered) Katherine Greaves. But in doing so, he opened himself to the influence of Katherine's ghost.
• Meal Ticket: Elma Lang, to Dr. Burke. There is no evidence in-story that he even much likes her as anything but a bank account.
• Meaningful Name: The villain's first name is "Valentine," and he murders a lover; his family name is "Burke," which is a refrence to two infamous serial killers of the 1820's who sold the corpses of their victims to surgeons for anatomical dissection.
• Murder by Suicide: Dr. Burke hypnotizes Katherine to leave him alone, leading to her suicide (marginally murder). This is justified by the fact that she was semi-suicidal to begin with, and Burke knows her only too well — including her weaknesses.
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Burke is a highly-skilled hypnotist, and uses this skill to drive Katherine to despair — and, though he does not realize it for years, to suicide.
• Seven Deadly Sins: The villain has two of these character flaws:
  • Greed: Dr. Burke murders Katherine because he wants a clear path to marry Elma Lang.
  • Lust: Burke is a hedonist, who revels in luxury and ruins an innocent girl for sheer amusement.
• The Sociopath: Dr. Burke is willing to not only seduce and cast aside an innocent woman for his sexual amusement, he is willing to murder her when she runs to him for help at an inconvenient moment. He feels neither guilt nor shame for this, merely annoyance at effort required, and the possible legal difficulties.
  Dr. Burke: It would save so much trouble, and I hate trouble.
• Spooky Séance: This is the method by which the spirit of Katherine Greaves tells the tale of her murder.
• Unfinished Business: Katherine clearly wants revenge on Dr. Burke for her own murder by him.