Mellified

The honey at Gorse Hall doesnt taste like flowers. It tastes like memory. And meat.

Hollis Cade is a "gastronomic archaeologist," a man who hunts ghosts in the form of extinct flavors. He has spent his life excavating the culinary past, but nothing prepares him for the summons to Gorse Hall. Located in the sinking salt marshes of Norfolk, the estate is home to the reclusive apiarist Audley and a legend that Hollis cannot resist: "Sarcophagus Honey," a jar rumored to have been harvested from a sealed crypt in 1890.

But Gorse Hall is not a place of peace. The floorboards vibrate with a constant, low thrum. The air is thick, cloying, and smells of overripe sugar masking the scent of wet rot. And the bees that inhabit the estate are wrong. Large, pale, and silent, they do not forage in the grey marshlands. They descend into the family crypts beneath the house.

As Hollis delves deeper into Audleys operation, he discovers the horrific truth behind the honeys unique viscosity. The bees are not collecting nectar; they are processing the "sweet meats" of the interred. And the colony is hungry for fresh stock.

Trapped in a house that is slowly becoming a hive, Hollis realizes he was not invited to taste the history. He was invited to become part of the preserve.