THE STRANGER HOUSE is located in the village of Illthwaite in Cumbria, England has seen a lot of visitors throughout the years. Now a couple of strangers will unearth the mysteries that have remained hidden for hundreds of years, and cause a village to give up their secrets.

Samantha Flood, a mathematician from Australia who is better known as Sam, has come to Illthwaite to search out the history of her family. She learned upon the death of her grandmother that her father was adopted. She was able to piece the details together to learn that her father's mother was one of the orphaned children that had been shipped from England to Australia during the 1960's. The only clue she had was that the girl carried a piece of paper that had the name Sam Flood and the village of Illthwaite written upon it.

Miguel Madero has also come to Illthwaite to research his family. He was studying to be a priest, but now he is more of a scholar doing research for his thesis. He is writing about Catholic families during the reign of Elizabeth I, and his focus is on the commoners instead of the highly publicized cases. On a more personal level, he is looking into the history of a local family and their possible connection to his lost ancestor.

Together their missions will collide and wreak havoc on a village that has a habit of keeping secrets. They encounter a few friendly faces and through them they are able to gather the truth about each of their heritages, but it is not without a price. Will they be able to live with what they find out? Was the truth really what they wanted?

Reginald Hill has put together an incredible tale using historic details that relate to the current situation. The characters are a very entertaining part of the story. Each individual is relevant in some way to both Sam and Miguel. THE STRANGER HOUSE is a wonderful combination of mystery, paranormal, historical, and even romance.