Swift House symbolizes the Swift family. This mystery novel belongs to the country house murder subgenre of detective fiction, and the entire story occurs at the isolated estate. The house takes on even greater significance because Lincoln uses literary devices to portray the manor as a character: “The House looked very fine. The lawns had been swept clean of leaves, the hedge maze had been trimmed, and the statues had been scrubbed behind the ears” (3). This example of personification creates the impression that the house is another Swift striving to look their best for Aunt Schadenfreude’s funeral rehearsal. The author emphasizes that “the House is a member of the Family” by giving the home a gravestone in the cellar like all the living Swifts (288), and the two definitions carved on the stone underline the home’s meaning as a symbol of the family as a whole: “HOUSE / Noun / i. A place of abode, a dwellinge / ii. A family, royal or of noble lineage” (288). Swift House plays an essential role in the novel’s genre, structure, and characterization.

Like the family who calls it home, Swift House is ancient, eccentric, and brimming with perils and possibility.