- First person perspective
- A heroine whom someone tries to kill at least once before the credits roll
- Last minute rescue by hero
- Book opens with heroine on train, carriage or car, en route to story setting
- She has a "rug" over her knees to keep warm, but it doesn't help much
- Long narrative of heroine's childhood
- An old dark house.
- Household staff/servants are usually suspicious, taciturn and territorial
- Hero is also a suspect
- Mysterious doings by either a ghost or a malevolent human. A truly great example might even have both (e.g. The Uninvited).
- A serious tale, no wisecracking
- At least one storm during the course of the narrative. There must be howling wind, sheets of rain or snow and either the power must go out or the gaslight or candles must flicker like crazy. (The Spiral Staircase is perfect in this regard.)
- Any unexplained noises during the night come from above heroine's room
- Heroine is fond of taking long walks
- Gothic heroines have a penchant for wandering out into thick fog
- Heroine is invariably attacked in the fog; she can't see but attacker apparently can
- The heroine goes out horseback riding with the hero (with a borrowed horse from his stable) and sometimes suffers a riding "accident"?
- Lots of overhearing/eavesdropping
- Finding a diary of the mysteriously deceased
- A minstrels' gallery
- No hot explicit sex scenes
Gothic Romance Forum, Common elements in gothic/suspense novels
