Line #50 Literature/ASpecterTale


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/specter_tale_front_cover_a_3.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:...but hopefully not read]]
3
4	->"''So... should we wait for [[Film/Ghostbusters1984 Dan Aykroyd]] to get here?''"
5	-->--'''Brian'''
6
7	''A Specter Tale'' is a 2018 horror novella written by Constantine Furman.
8
9	The people of a small Nebraska town are being mysteriously murdered. When information about these murders gets to Moira Sanders, the host of an {{Series/Unsolved Mysteries}}-type show, she takes off to investigate. Despite the police arresting a suspect, Moira's digging uncovers an unassuming woman thought long dead named Natali Stretesky who may be responsible for the town's recent unexplained deaths.
10
11	Followed in 2019 by a sequel, ''Another Specter Tale'' and in 2020 by ''A Specter Tale Continues.''
12	----
13	!!Tropes found in ''A Specter Tale''
14	* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: Set in 2006.
15	* AdultsAreUseless: No one that could possibly be helpful is helpful.
16	* AssholeVictim: Natali infiltrates the bathroom of the jerkass mayor [[spoiler:who was partially responsible for her death.]]
17	* BadassBoast: "Taste some a' mama's home cookin'!" Moira chortles as she beats the hell out of Natali.
18	* CassandraTruth: No one believes Moira when she says there's a dead person doing all the murdering. It turns out they are fully aware of who Natali Strestesky was and [[spoiler:that most of them killed her and hid her body after she murdered forty people. They just refuse to believe she's come back from the dead.]]
19	* CatapultNightmare: Moira does this when she has a nightmare of being attacked in her motel room.
20	* ChairmanoftheBrawl: Moira when she shows up to Natali's home with rubys on hand. It does not go well for Natali.
21	* DistractedbytheSexy: Eric, when Natali visits him in one of her bedrooms in the middle of the night.
22	* DownerEnding: Moira and her boyfriend [[spoiler:manage to destroy Natali and survive, but after they leave, Natali uses one of their murdered friend's bodies to reconstitute herself.]]
23	* FauxAffablyEvil: Natali.
24	* GhostButler: When Natali leaves a room after murdering Eric, the door slams shut on its own.
25	* OldDarkHouse: The "Lake House" Natali dwells in outside of town. When she wants it to seem presentable, it is, even to outsiders. [[spoiler: But in reality, the house is in an irreparable state of decay.]]
26	* OnlyOneName: Brian goes devoid of a surname the entire book.
27	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: [[spoiler: Natali Stretesky seems like a fully formed human being, though she is ultimately a ghost. She's truthfully a flesh-and-blood ghost.]]
28	* OverlyLongTongue: When Natali assaults the mayor's mistress, she yanks off Natali's face and a long, wet tongue flops out of her skull's mouth and lands on her face.
29	* PoliceAreUseless: Moira's attempts to get the help of the police go nowhere. While they all know who Natali Stretesky is [[spoiler:(mostly because they murdered her),]] they refuse to believe Moira's claims that Natali's ghost is still there. This is despite the fact their town even has an urban legend about her as a ghost.
30	* RedEyesTakeWarning: The whites of Natali's eyes glow orange when she becomes really angry.
31	* ShoutOut: The book is dedicated to several names associated with the horror genre who inspired it: Creator/MarioBava, [[Film/BlackSunday Barbara Steele,]] [[Film/JohnDiesAtTheEnd Don Coscarelli,]] [[Film/HammerHorror Terence Fisher]], Creator/WesCraven, Creator/JohnCarpenter, [[Film/TheBeyond Veronica Lazar,]] Michio Yamamoto, and [[Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark Alvin Schwartz]].
32	* SinsoftheFather: [[spoiler:The people of Layford, Nebraska ganged up on Natali one night when she was drunk in a bar and murdered her. After she'd already been apprehended and escaped from a mental hospital, they thought they were protecting their town, but had no idea they were just making things much, much worse.]]
33	* TearOffYourFace: Natali's face slides off when the mayor's mistress grabs it while they are fighting.

Context Literature / ASpecterTale