I had originally requested this book due to my love of Golden Age detective stories but this turned out to be slightly different. It therefore took me a short while to adjust to the more gothic approach although in many ways the author plays with your expectations for a group of people in a lonely, isolated house!

The reader follows along as Helen rushes back down a treelined lane to the safety of the house, knowing there is a crazed murdered in the neighbourhood. The subsequent chapters follow the minutiae of the evening and slowly ratchet up the tension as every event and person comes under suspicion for their motives or behaviour.

This would be a great book to read on a winter's evening to give you the creeps. At times it can be a bit too histrionic but this may just be my opinion since I don't tend to read much gothic/horror so was less attuned to it.

This was very good! Although it took me a little to get through the first half of the novel, I ended up finding the second impossible to put down. It is a classical mystery to its core, but the psychological elements in its plot, twists, atmosphere and cast of characters make up such a unique, fascinating read. I would love to eventually watch the movie and re-read the novel, as I think it could really elevate the experience I had during this first read. Overall, I think, it is a really solid mystery with a brilliant execution.

All opinions are my own, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!

Despite being published during the golden era of whodunits, this is not your typical mystery. Yes, it has a cast of suspects and potential victims isolated in a lonely mansion during a storm, but it works by creating an unbearable feeling of dread. The action mainly follows Helen, the self-described help at a remote Welsh mansion. There is a murderer on the loose, so the family shuts everything down to spend the night. The way the characters are taken off the board is original, but it is the creepiness brought about by the highly atmospheric writing that makes it such a great novel. The darkness, the noises and the manor itself read like you feel when you have a nightmare. Helen doesn’t know who to trust, since it is known that the killer is getting near and may even already be inside the house. She is spunky and goofy and resourceful. The rest of the cast is over-the-top, but everything works. A classic for a reason.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Pushkin Vertigo.

I picked up The Spiral Staircase on a whim, thinking I was in for a classic suspense story—and I was, but I wasn’t prepared for just how tense, atmospheric, and absorbing it would be. Ethel Lina White masterfully crafts a slow-burning thriller that pulls you in with quiet dread and refuses to let go until the final page.

The setting—a remote, darkened mansion tucked away from the outside world—could have easily felt cliché, but White breathes eerie, palpable life into it. From the creaking floors to the shadows on the stairs, every detail builds this sense of creeping paranoia. I found myself listening for noises in my own house while I read, which is always a good sign when it comes to thrillers.

What surprised me most was the protagonist, Helen. She’s not your typical damsel-in-distress. She’s vulnerable—yes—but also intelligent and perceptive, and her internal monologue added real emotional depth. Watching her piece together the danger around her, all while being underestimated by almost everyone in the house, made for a compelling and surprisingly modern-feeling read.

The suspense here is psychological rather than violent, and it’s all the more effective for it. White knows how to stretch a moment—to make a hand on a doorknob feel like a heartbeat too long, or a missed footstep echo with menace. The tension doesn’t just come from the threat of the killer, but from the isolation, the uncertainty, and the way fear starts to twist perception.

If you're a fan of gothic thrillers, classic suspense, or stories where dread slowly builds until it feels like it's sitting in the room with you, The Spiral Staircase is a must-read. It's elegant, chilling, and proof that sometimes the quietest stories are the ones that linger the longest.

It is a masterfully crafted suspense novel that keeps you on edge from start to finish. this classic thriller expertly builds tension through atmosphere, pacing, and a strong sense of isolation. Set in a lonely countryside mansion with a murderer on the loose, the story follows a young woman who begins to suspect that danger is much closer than anyone realizes. White’s writing is elegant and chilling, with just the right balance of psychological suspense and traditional mystery. Fans of vintage thrillers and gothic novels will find this a gripping and satisfying read.

I do love murder mysteries from the 30s and was expecting big things.
I didn't hate the book but I didn't love it either.
I couldn't really follow the writing style very well and so it spoiled my enjoyment of the book.
Some of the characters were also rather horrible which also made it rather a chore to finish.

Tense, melodramatic, and rather fantastical, The Spiral Staircase gives off Hitchcockian vibes from the opening pages.

It starts off with a gothic bang as naive - yet plucky - ginger-haired housemaid Helen Capel rushes home in the semi-dark with the creepy feeling she’s being followed. ‘Home’ is her current position at the rambling Welsh country house The Summit, and her feelings of fear are well-founded, as a murderer is stalking young women in the isolated countryside. Taking place over the course of one night, and growing more tense as the night (and book) progresses, it builds to an appropriately ghastly conclusion.

Supporting characters were all rather horrid for the most part, with lots of sneering, cold glances, and heavy familial tension. Overall I liked Helen, and her Dr Parry, but her frantic rushing about through the dark corridors of the house as the story reached its climax was a bit maddening.

A fast-paced read from the golden era of mysteries, which I love, but more of a sensational thriller than whodunnit. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this classic novel.

Well, I don’t know how to describe the book in one word, except that it is “okay”.

The premise is actually intriguing: a serial murderer is around the town, and a family and its helpers are in crisis to save themselves from that threat. I love the characters and their diverse characteristics, differentiating them from each other. It looks promising as a start for a classic thriller!

However, I feel like the plot is a bit stretched by the second half of the book. I don’t mind reading a very slow-paced story, but the abundant back-and-forth story plot doesn’t help the case in my favor. The supposed reveal is not as satisfying as I expected at that point.

Overall, I’ll give this book 3 out of 5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the e-ARC!

Wow, just wow. What a rush of a book. The tension begins to build right from the off and never stops growing. Fully fleshed characters, with The Summit, the landscape surrounding it and the weather all featuring as players to ramp up the growing dread.

Plenty of red herrings and false clues to keep any reader guessing, and as desperate as Helen to find out the truth. Really good book, very glad to have read it

Tense mystery thriller from the 1930s that sets off at pace with a new maid settling in at an old house in the country, finding out about a series of recent murders as well as historical crimes, and a bunch of (perhaps rather cliched to modern eyes) characters on both below and above stairs. Whilst there are lot of stereotypes, the heroine is rather pluckier than she initially appears, and faces the the threat of a killer on the loose with some confidence despite a series of coincidences leaving her increasingly exposed in the house on a dark and stormy night.

Really good fun, some eyebrow raisers from a 90 year perspective but that’s to be expected. Good tense thrills.

Golden Age mysteries are incredibly special and no matter how hard contemporary authors try, most just cannot attain the same atmosphere and gorgeous writing. Whenever I see anything by Ethel Lina White at used book sales, I scoop it up without even reading the synopsis. She is definitely in the same class as Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Josephine Tey, E. C. R. Lorac, Anthony Berkeley, and so on. Originally written in 1933, it is the epitome of the perfect gothic mystery and is drenched in atmosphere and suspense. I could not possibly enjoy this more than I did.

The Summit is a deliciously creepy manor complete with an eccentric family, (dis)loyal household staff, medical professionals, suspicious glances, and secrets galore. Murder happens, of course, and red herrings are part of this perfect package. I happily got tangled up in the story and didn't want it to end. The pace of the first half is slower than the second but it set things up beautifully. And the ending was as fabulous as expected. The female main character, Helen, was young, impressionable and naive but I quite liked her because of it. I could practically hear creaking stairs, doors and swishing skirts. I was right there.

Whether you are new to this genre or a fan of many years, this novel is unmissable. I loved, loved, loved it!

Creepy and mysteries. It reads like a Hitchcock psychological thriller and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I would recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery and suspense.

(4.5 rounded up) Ooooh, I had fun with this one. This is a reprint of a book from the 1930’s about a young woman working at an isolated manor who is being stalked. There have been murders happening near the estate Helen, our main character, is working at, and slowly, Helen realizes she is in danger. Her boss locks Helen, himself, and the other members of the household in the house as a means of protecting them from this outside menace. But of course, people start dying. God, I love gothic fiction. I love stories set at isolated manors, with some type of danger present. The writing is eerie and dripping with dread and I liked the main character. I will say, this is a slow starter! I’m chill with that because I feel like it’s scene-setting and really adds to the overall ambience, and then the second half is much more intense. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but I was fine with the pacing. Very into this! I really love the mysteries that Pushkin vertigo has been reprinting/translating.

definitely a bit of a classic. cool writing, although it begins a bit weakly, it becomes much better. thanks for the ARC, netgalley and pushkin. 4 stars.

This was a very pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting much from this book, and really just thought it was going to be a pretty basic, early 20th century murder mystery a la Agatha Christie. And while that's exactly what this was, I think it was much more enjoyable than others of the genre. The tension and suspense was very well done. There were moments that I honestly felt a little scared. The raging storm, the slow disappearance of characters, and the main character's own imagination all added to an incredibly spooky atmosphere. It was also great that the entire story took place over one evening. I think it created a sense of urgency--that the later it got in the night, the closer the characters were to their end, if only they could just make it to daybreak.

However, I do have to say that the characters were unbearable. They were all very weird caricatures of what real people would be like. The main character, Helen, was so stupid and naive that it <spoiler>was really a miracle that she survived. Although I guess it wasn't really her doing, it was all thanks to old Lady Warren</spoiler>. Old Lady Warren was a crazy almost inhuman crotchety old woman, which did add to the tension, but got a bit ridiculous at times. And then Nurse Barker, while definitely a product of the times, was just a bitter woman-hating woman. I would almost rather she wasn't in the story at all.

I think towards the end, the characters got a bit too grating and the story was dragging out a bit much, but I did eventually really liking the ending. It was a great resolution and a very interesting full-circle moment.

A masterful display of suspense and red herrings, The Spiral Staircase—originally published in 1933—reminds me that sometimes the classics just know how things should be done.

Soaked in dreary atmosphere and tantalizing macabre, the story follows its female protagonist’s increasingly dire situation, as everyone around her is either inadvertently incapacitated or highly untrustworthy. Even though the setup reads as a "cozy mystery" by today’s standards (one night in a household of archetypal characters), the writing keeps the mood ghoulish. Its omnipresent narrator foreshadows small, mundane actions along the way, all laddering up to the ultimate climax—providing an extra layer of fated doom.

Reading The Spiral Staircase is surprisingly refreshing, as stylistically it’s so different from what’s being published today. Personally, I found the antiquated writing style actually elevates the overall off-kilter vibe (aside from a few hiccups with confusing phrasing and outdated references). If you're in the mood for a solid closed-room mystery with a side of dark British humor, this one is well worth picking up!

Originally published in 1933 as “Some Must Watch”, The Spiral Staircase is a slow burn psychological thriller set in a remote country house. Full of tension and gothic writing, The Spiral Staircase follows Helen, a domestic staff member at a remote Victorian country house. She is greatly concerned by the recent murders of other young women, gradually coming closer to her.

While The Spiral Staircase was not to my liking - the language used is very old-fashioned to the modern reader and it is occasionally difficult to follow - it’s a perfectly serviceable read for someone looking for historical spookiness

Thanks to Pushkin Vertigo and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ethel Lina White was a contemporary of Agatha Christie and this book definitely has that feel about it. The story takes place in a country estate where Helen, a servant at the estate, becomes increasingly concerned about murders that have occurred nearby. And she has good reason for being concerned.

The book was written in 1933, and the language and writing reflect that. However, the mystery is very good and will keep you in suspense until the end. It’s easy to see why it was made into a movie three times. Recommended.

An English country manor with a dysfunctional family, including an acerbic old matriarch, a staunch professor, a disgraced university student and young Helen Capel, a live-in helper girl. When a series of murders of young women reaches ever closer to the house, all the residents are set on edge. A raging storm, a surly new nurse and the fear of a killer stalking the property leaves the house locked up tight. But as the number of occupants dwindle, Helen fears the worst, that the murderer is after her, and there's no escape.
A genuine mystery taking place on "a dark and stormy night," it has the interesting plot device of characters leaving one by one, yet for reasons other than being murdered. As it chugs along the narrative definitely becomes more intense and exciting. However, it starts to become a bit ridiculous in just how much back and forth Helen goes through during the story, and the climactic night felt like it was drawn out way too much. Generally entertaining but a bid absurd.

I wasn’t sure about this book but I loved it. This is a british mystery. It was a little predictable and unputdownable. The book is well written, and insightful. Loved the character development in it and the mystery that engulfed everyone. Expect the unthinkable, murders, secrets, mystery, and twists. The ending was shocking. The book will keep you guessing till the end. It will give you an eerie and suspenseful vibe. As soon as you will read it, you will find yourself in a country house with strange family and being surrounded by strange happenings. Get yourself ready for murder, mystery and mayhem. While the pace is medium and the book has flowery details of characters, place and unexpected happenings. Thanks to the Publisher