Melanie Middleton is put in a bind when she is forced to move out of her historic house on Tradd Street for yet more renovations. As if traveling with the occasional earthbound spirit isn't bad enough, Melanie is talked into letting her friend Jack's teenage daughter, Nola, move in with her. Nola just moved to Charleston from Los Angeles, California and didn't forget to pack her attitude. When Melanie moves in with her mother while her home is being restored, a reluctant Nola accompanies her. But Melanie has more than a rebellious teenager to deal with. Nola turns out to be a package deal: She comes complete with the ghost of her mother and a Victorian doll house full of restless spirits.

Jack Trenholm learns that he fathered a child when Nola suddenly arrives in Charleston after her mother committed suicide in Los Angeles. To make up for lost time, Nola's grandparents buy her a Victorian doll house Nola was admiring in an antique store. Not only does the intricately detailed house resemble a real home, but it comes with an eerie looking doll family. Melanie immediately realizes the doll house was modeled after a real house and its doll family was probably once its occupants. But when strange things begin happening, it's obvious the former residents are not resting in peace. Nola begins to blame Melanie when the dolls are repeated moved around the doll house. No matter where Nola leaves the toy family, they always return to the same location -- father, mother, and daughter crowded around a turret window watching the son who is outside the house with a broken neck -- the family dog by his side.

When the angry spirits begin to threaten Nola, Melanie decides to find the real house and is astonished to learn that a member of the Manigault family lives. Melanie easily finds Julia Manigault, who has been living as a recluse at her house on Montagu Street all her life. But when Melanie attempts to question her about the doll house which once belonged to her a child, Julia throws Melanie out of her house and warns her never to return. When Melanie makes contact with Julia's deceased brother, William, he warns her that Julia knows more about what happened at the house on Montagu Street than she is letting on. But as Melanie gets closer to discovering what haunts the strangers on Montagu Street, vengeful spirits warn her leave the secrets of the Manigault family dead and buried.

Karen White's books keep getting better and better! I found myself totally immersed in Julia's suspicious silence about her Victorian doll house. Melanie's irresistible attraction to Jack Trenholm provides great comic relief when Melanie isn't fighting the dearly departed. Readers who enjoy a good read about houses with things that go bump in the night need look no further than Karen White. Ms. White first charmed readers her creation of Melanie Middleton in The House on Tradd Street. Fans will be thrilled with Melanie's new ghostly adventure. THE STRANGERS ON MONTAGU STREET is unquestionably Karen White's best work yet.