Weeckies: The Trial for Murder by Charles Dickens

Hello, everyone! Today is Charles Dickens' birthday and this gives us the perfect opportunity to read one of the numerous short stories the much-beloved author has written. The Trial for Murder was written in 1865 and it's a ghost story. It's a quick read of just 4,603 words, so if you want to honour the great author today, I can't recommend it enough. 

The Trial for Murder is just what the title suggests. The main character is a banker, who is summoned as a jury member to a trial. But this banker has something extraordinary: he can see the ghost of the murdered man. The ghost is present all the days the trial took place but is never menacing. Therefore, I can't say that this short story is particularly scary. But keep in mind that it was written in mid 19th century and readers then would surely be creeped out.                                                                                                                                                                                   Nevertheless, the atmosphere that was created was eerie. Although I could tell why the ghost appeared, I felt anxious whenever it decided to take action. The introductory scene to the incident was one of the best I've encountered, in order to put me in the right mood for a ghost tale. But the ghost doesn't add something ground-breaking to the plot apart from the certainty of the guilt of the murderer. Although The Trial for Murder isn't a scary story, it's certainly a well-written one.

Which is your favourite short story written by Charles Dickens?