A Weekend at Grandfather's

Set in 1859 in a castle in the Scottish Highlands. A wealthy family travel to the castle they have recently inherited. Could the death of Rosa's grandfather. Could the mysterious manner of his death be linked to the dark history of the castle?

Cast
Bellamy Aubrey-Beecham, an industrialist, former member of parliament, and recently philanthropist, with pretentions to being a real gentleman;

Rosa Aubrey-Beecham (nee Allanshaw), granddaughter of the recently deceased and incredibly aged Ishmael Allanshaw, who visited Lickleyhead for a few weeks in her youth and never went there again;  Mildred Aubrey-Beecham, Bellamy's mother, the aged matriarch of the family;

George, the  eldest son,  the presumed heir to his fortune and ambitions;

William, the younger son, a dissipated and frivolous young man, and a disappointment to his father.

 Charles Cautley, an old friend of Aubrey-Beecham, formerly an agent of the East India Company and now an official of the new British Raj, involved in the reform of the education system;

Adelaide Cautley, his daughter, and George Audrey-Beecham’s fiancée.

 Millie Talbot,

Jasper Larkins, Bellamy’s valet.

Charity Westlock, Rosa’s lady’s maid and confidant.

Thomas Hexam, the aged retainer in charge of the Lickleyhead Estate.

Background characters
Mildred Aubrey-Beecham is Bellamy's mother. She died on the first night in the Lickleyhead Castle.

Ishmael Allanshaw is Rosa's grandfather. He died six months before the family visited his estate.

The history of the house
As the mystery progressed, the dark and terrible history of the house was unearthed. Rosa was handed an unsent letter form her dead grandfather Ishmael describing his past experiences.

Ishmael came to Lickleyhead first at the beheast of a society of learned gentlemen of which he was a member, which desired to learn of the doings of an ex-resident, Simeon Mather, a scholar and alchemist. He was accompanied on his trip by Frances Morgan, a professor of archaeology, and Charles Darney , a clergyman.

Thier investigations in the house revealed the works of Simeon Mather, which were a body of occult experiments demonstative of terrible moral and spiritual decay. He resolved to seek the victims and families of victims of these crimes, but was stopped by a gentlemen by the name of Thomas Mather who arrived to Lickleyhead and warned of terrible consequences of continuing the research. It became apparent that Goodall was involved with a group of occultists in Glasgow called the Arcane Order of Osiris, and discovering this, ishmael and his companions disregarded his advice.

At this point, terrible things began to happen in the estate. Objects moved, lamps were extinguished, and huge black dogs were seen wondering the grounds. Darney believed the house was inhabited by ghosts, but Morgan thought the Order of Osiris were trying to drive them away.

At this point, Ishmael recieved a visit from his granddaughter Rosa, a decision he later regretted, and Rosa was left with deeply troubling memories fo the house.

After Rosa's departure, Darney fled the castle in terror and the next night Morgan was discovered dead with a look of terror upon his face and a tiny wound on his finger.

Ishmael, through further study of Simeon Mather's notebooks, came to understand a terrible secret which was contained within. He burnt the notebooks, left Lickleyhead and never returned.

The jewel theft sub-plot
En route to Lickleyhead, the family stayed a night in Edinburgh. While they were there, the party met a Duchess who came across as somewhat rude. We later learned through gossip that this was likely because of the dreadful back pain she has had for years. From the same source, we discovered that the Duchess' valuable jewels had been stolen the very night we were there.

At half past five the Duchess goes to have a nap, is seen leaving the common room and the inn-keep sees her enter her room and lock the door. Her maid, who is in her room, leaves after ten minutes to speak to the inn-keep for five minutes about food. She locked the door behind her leaving and entering. In this gap, the jewels were stolen, even though the landing was busy and in public sight. The Edinburgh police believe it to be a professional job, and there is a substantial reward available for information.

There were a number of clues available for the solving of this mystery.

<p style="margin-top:6px;margin-bottom:6px;color:rgb(20,24,35);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,lucidagrande,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;line-height:19.31999969482422px;">CLUES TO FOLLOW LATER