The Mistress in Black

World-renowned cartoonist Seth returns with three new ghost stories for 2025.
Reading a ghost story on Christmas Eve was once as much a part of traditional Christmas celebrations as turkey, eggnog, and Santa Claus. World-famous cartoonist Seth selects and beautifully illustrates each book for this beloved series in his own inimitable way, bringing back these classic Christmas ghost stories for readers across North America.
From the moment Miss Anderson begins her new teaching job, she encounters ghostly figures and a strange scent of smoke. Whispers of arson and murder circulate among the staff, but Miss Anderson soon discovers there might be more to the tragic story of the woman in black.

Rosemary Timperley (1920–1988) was a British author, screenwriter, and editor of ghost stories.Seth is the cartoonist behind the comic-book series Palookaville, which started in the stone age as a pamphlet and is now a semi-annual hardcover. His comics have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Best American Comics, and McSweeney’s Quarterly. His illustrations have appeared in numerous publications including the cover of the New Yorker, The Walrus, and Canadian Notes & Queries. He is the subject of a documentary from the National Film Board of Canada, Seth’s Dominion. Seth lives in Guelph, Ontario, with his wife Tania and their two cats in an old house he has named “Inkwell’s End.”