An antiquarian treasure hunt ends in terror and madness in James’s tale of curiosity and greed. A disgraced late medieval abbot leaves a series of ecclesiastical clues which lures the unwitting but determined Reverend Justin Somerton to his treasure’s hiding place. Unfortunately he’s left it guarded by something very unpleasant indeed, (obviously - when will these scholars ever learn??). Abbot Thomas is one of James’ characters like Rant in the Tractate Middoth or Nicolas Francken in No 13 who torment the living from beyond the grave with deliberate unearthly glee, here revealing the diabolical cruelty of a mind that sets a puzzle so elegantly complex and witty with the apparent sole intention of sending the ‘successful’ treasure hunter out of his wits with horror. This illustration is based on the BBCs A Ghost Story for Christmas adaptation broadcast first in 1974, and logically it doesn’t make much sense as far as the story is concerned. But I loved the image of the seance plate so I imagined an alternative version where a vision of the twisted Abbot Thomas appears, summoned by the fraudulent medium.