History Literature / TheNecromanticMysteriesOfKyleMurchisonBooth

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: What strikes Elazar Siddons in the backstory to ''The Green Paperweight''.

* WhamLine: At the end of ''The Green Paperweight'', Booth [[spoiler: refutes Henry's assertion that the death of Mr. Siddons was an accident. He knew what he was doing, and given what an AssholeVictim Siddons was, it's hard to blame him.]]

* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: Helena]], although Booth isn't certain whether she's a DamagedSoul or really a MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil. In addition, and while Booth is obviously biased, going by his memories she wasn't very nice even when she was alive.

* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: Helena]], although Booth isn't certain whether she's a DamagedSoul or really a MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil. Plus, while Booth is obviously biased, based on his memories she wasn't very nice even when she was alive.

* LongTitle: ''The Necromantic Mysteries Of Kyle Murchison Booth''.

* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: [[spoiler: Booth's parents were apparently nice and loving people until they kicked it, and left him with a pair of abusive caretakers.]]
** [[spoiler: Booth's father was likely a kind, loving man, but Booth believes that his mother, Thekla, loved him only as a reminder of his father, as in ''The Bone Key.'' However, compared with his guardians, the Siddonses, Thekla is an angel.]]

* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: Helena]], although Booth isn't certain whether she's a DamagedSoul or really a MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil. Plus, while Booth is obviously biased, based on his memories she didn't appear to be particularly nice even when she was alive.

* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: Helena]], although Booth isn't certain whether she's a DamagedSoul or really a MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil. Plus, while Booth is obviously biased, she doesn't seem to have been a very pleasant person even when she was alive.

* HornyDevils: Ivo is an incubus. If you've read the story's title-- "Elegy for a Demon Lover"-- you have a pretty good idea where this is going, but it's made more heartbreaking by the fact that [[spoiler: Ivo isn't coldly and deliberately stealing Booth's life force. In fact, part of his demonic instinct is an all-consuming love, and the only way to end his immortal parasitism is by essentially inflicting [[DeathByDespair fatal heartbreak]]]].

* DarkSkinnedRedhead: Miss Coburn. Playing to the trope, she's probably the most adventuresome person in the Parrington.

* InTheBlood: Family curses ''suck''.

* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: Helena]], although Booth isn't certain whether she's a DamagedSoul or really a MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The new introduction to the second edition of 'The Bone Key' includes a lengthy discussion covering each short story, written by the current senior archivist of Rare Books at the Parrington Museum, now that 'Dr Monette' has released the 'Kyle Murchison Booth Papers' to the public.

* CelibateHero: Light on the hero. Heavy on the celibate.

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: ''The Green Paperweight''.

* NonMaliciousMonster: Ivo. [[spoiler: The child in Listening to Bone. White Charles. The vampires in The World Without Sleep.]]

* NoHuggingNoKissing: No touching at all, if Booth can help it. Notable exception in ''Elegy To A Demon Lover''.

* NonMaliciousMonster: Ivo.

* AbusiveParents: Guardians, in this case, but it's a given. This story is written by SarahMonette, after all. Compared to her [[Literature/DoctrineofLabyrinths other works]], Booth gets off light.

Mix Creator/MRJames, Creator/HPLovecraft, psycho-sexual themes, a heavy dose of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Statement_of_Randolph_Carter The Statement of Randolph Carter]], and what do you get? A series of short stories [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin chronicling the necromantic mysteries]] of one Kyle Murchison Booth. Taking place in an ambiguous [[WordOfGod between the wars]] setting in an equally ambiguous American city, this series by SarahMonette follows the adventures of Booth (just Booth. No one calls him ''Kyle''), as he relates his supernatural mishaps in anxious first person. Read along and watch the world fall apart all around him.

Mix Creator/MRJames, Creator/HPLovecraft, psycho-sexual themes, a heavy dose of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Statement_of_Randolph_Carter The Statement of Randolph Carter]], and what do you get? A series of short stories [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin chronicling the necromantic mysteries]] of one Kyle Murchison Booth. Taking place in an ambiguous [[WordOfGod between the wars]] setting in an equally ambiguous American city, this series by SarahMonette follows the hauntingly haunted adventures of the aforementioned protagonist, who relates his supernatural mishaps in anxious first person as he watches otherworldly horrors unfold around him.

The series of shorts are all collected in ''The Bone Key'', with the exception of the most recent four, which have yet to be collected into anything (except a limited run chap-book called ''Unnatural Creatures'').

* Ivo's eyes are gorgeous, but definitely inhuman (''Elegy for a Demon Lover'').

* BlueBlood: Booth has "the sort of genealogy that passes in America for aristocratic," although he prefers not to think about his past and the Simmonses probably took all his money.

* DeadpanSnarker: Ms Coburn in spades.

* HauntedFetter: [[MacGuffinTitle The Venebretti necklace is this to Madeline Stanhope's ghost.

# ''The Yellow Dressing Gown''

* GothicHorror: Influenced by rather than straight-up ''is'', but when taking major inspiration from Creator/MRJames, it's inevitable.

* HornyDevils: Ivo is an incubus. If you've read the story's title-- "Elegy for a Demon Lover"-- you have a pretty good idea where this is going, but it's made more heartbreaking by the fact that [[spoiler: Ivo isn't coldly and deliberately stealing Booth's life force. In fact, part of his demonic instinct is an all-consuming love, and the only way to end his immortal parasitism is by essentially inflicting [[DeathByDespair fatal heartbreak]].