Haunted

``My advice to you is to leave this house. No good will come of your investigation,'' says Nanny Tess to David Ash, paranormal investigator, in this disappointing horror tale. An associate of the Psychical Research Institute, Ash visits Edbrook, a lonely mansion in the British countryside, at the behest of the Mariell siblings--Christina, Robert and Simon--playful, immature children in grown-up bodies, and their aunt, Nanny Tess, all of whom have seen ghosts and strange sights aplenty in their ancestral home. Ash, who has a reputation as a skeptic and debunker, wonders if a deliberate attempt to discredit him is taking place (or is his incipient alcoholism catching up with him?) when he follows a ghostly figure through the grounds to a small garden pond. He is pushed, held underwater--and sees a pale figure with open arms. . . . What are the ghastly secrets of Edbrook's history? Of Ash's? Only slightly buoyed by Ash's fond remembrances of seances past, Herbert's ( Sepulchre ) plot creaks under the weight of its padding, his dialogue as lifeless as his cliched characters. Troll Book Club alternate. (Oct.)