Any chance that he's expanding on to the flagstones/cobblestones of an old courtyard? That would work for me. Stone remembers.

A relative of mine had his wood flooring shipped in from an old house in the South. If you told me that wood remembered, I'd believe you. It's soft enough to sleep on -- it's obviously already magicked.

If you have a haunted house, and the house is torn down, what do you suppose happens to the ghosts?

Quite often, the ghosts remain bound to the land. Take "Poltergeist" or any number of "Indian grave yard" stories, for example.

If I understand the alleged metaphysics, it's not the physical place that holds a spirirt, it's the spirit's own sense of being unable to leave, or being bound by some unfinished task, or something like that. All in the ghost's mind.

Okay, I've heard that song, or a version thereof, but it wasn't called that. What... oh, The Wind and the Rain.

Katie, mine's the one covered by Martin Carthy and (I think) Pentangle as well. The premise - betrayal by one's sibling for love or greed - is a nice old one, but my series is tied to specifically UK-collected songs.

Stone and wood both; I like the concept of Ringan tracking down where some of the original stones went, probably from the hearth floor. The other thing is that there could be a little outdoor storage shed covering some of the original stones.

The hearth. Absolutely the hearth. That's a powerful, powerful symbol.

Betsy, I think I cross those: the hearthstones are the ones covered by the delapidated storage box in the yard. Down by the river, covered with 150 years or so of London grime....

OK. Filing that one in mental notes.

But, what did the sister who died care about? It could be bits of the old stable if she loved horses; or the fireplace mantel if she were a homebody; the hearth, as Betsy said; or, perhaps the grand piano or a harp or something in or around the music room if she were musical. A stone gargoyle if she were fanciful. I would think it would be effective to have whatever she's tied to be at least a little illustrative of her personality or interests.

Deena, thing is, the backstory can be set around a) the surface of the song lyric, b) the characters as they develop, and c) the location itself.

Some of the magic elements in the song are going byebye, obviously; talking harps are purely metaphorical in detective fiction.

But the ghost, in this instance, is unlikely to be the drowned sister. She died in the river. The ghost in this instance would likely be the murderess, the younger sister. And what I have to write as the basis of the novel's discovery - the actual story - is what Ringan and Penny find out that the song doesn't tell the world. (edit: including how she died, and how she came to be haunting the house. Was she struck down by the wussy fiance? By her father? Was she a suicide, unable to face arrest and trial? How did the truth come out? I won't know this until I write it.)

But this is several months down the road. Need to finish the third book and there's another one, non-series, that's already three chapters in and on which I'm collaborating, so Matty and that one take precedence.

Loreena McKennit does a version of that song as well.

"Sister, dear sister, pray lend me your hand
And I will give you house and land..."