Category: Gothic mystery
+ family, fiction, ghosts, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, haunting, revenge, review, secrets, supernatural, Victorian Britain
The Shroud by Ava Monegan The Making of Madame Theda #1
A fraudulent medium. A house full of secrets. And a killer who can’t let either of them leave. Madame Theda is a fraud. She wears mourning clothes without having lost anyone. She owns a past that isn’t hers. And she claims to speak to the dead, but can’t. When she is hired to investigate a haunting at the isolated Blackheath House on the English … Read More The Shroud by Ava Monegan The Making of Madame Theda #1
+ crime fiction, folklore, gothic, Gothic mystery, grief, Historical fiction, humour fiction, Iceland, Iceland noir, Ireland, List, murder mystery, mystery, political thriller, politics, Scandi noir, superstition, thriller, witchcraft
My Top 10 Books of 2026 – Part Three
Here are ten of my favourite books of 2026 Part Three, excluding audiobooks, of which there are loads so far. As usual a disparate selection, with a fair bit of superstition thrown in, and my usual Gothic, plus Iceland, Ireland and politics. Where Are The Kings by Donal Ryan What a remarkable book this is. Ryan deals with suicide and mental health in such … Read More My Top 10 Books of 2026 – Part Three
+ family, family drama, fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, grief, lies, mental illness, review, secrets, siblings, sisters
The Hollow Garden by Natalie Grace Lewis
Seventeen years ago, Kyra Masters fled the Hollow Garden and never looked back. Haunted by fragmented memories of her friend Eleanor’s death and the events that followed, she has spent years trying to build a life far from the estate that shattered her family and left her questioning her own mind. Following her aunt’s death, Kyra unexpectedly inherits the Hollow Garden. A sprawling Victorian … Read More The Hollow Garden by Natalie Grace Lewis
My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2026 – Part Three
2026 has been a good year for audiobooks, so once again I am giving them their own post. I could have chosen all of them to be honest, but I only pick four each time. The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster I’m a huge fan of Victorian Gothic mysteries so my first Kate Foster read The Repentants was a little early for me, set in Scotland … Read More My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2026 – Part Three
+ adventure, austria, fiction, gothic, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, murder, review, supernatural, Victorian Britain
The Thief and the Labyrinth by Alys Clare A World’s End Bureau Victorian Mystery #6
A missing girl. A charming thief. And a case that doesn’t add up. November, 1882. American agents Henry and Johanna McClellan arrive in London on an urgent mission: track down Bruno Schmidt, a silver-tongued lecturer and suspected thief who has eloped with a young woman called Ava. Ava’s powerful father wants her home — as discreetly and quickly as possible. But the McClellans are … Read More The Thief and the Labyrinth by Alys Clare A World’s End Bureau Victorian Mystery #6
The Beholders by Hester Musson
SOME HOUSES ARE HAUNTED BY THE LIVING June, 1878. The body of a boy is pulled from the depths of the River Thames, suspected to be the beloved missing child of the widely admired Liberal MP Ralph Gethin. Four months earlier. Harriet is a young maid newly employed at Finton Hall. Fleeing the drudgery of an unwanted engagement in the small village where she … Read More The Beholders by Hester Musson
My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2026 – Part Two
2026 is turning out to be a good year for audiobooks, so once again I am giving them their own post. We have one Jess Kidd (always, and always as an audiobook as the narration is one of my favourite parts), a modern Gothic mystery and two Will Carvers (who also made it to my Top Ten favourite books of 2026 Part Two). Here … Read More My 4 Favourite Audiobooks of 2026 – Part Two
The House of Dust and Shadows by Tabitha Potts
We are but dust and shadows is the motto on the sundial in the garden at Blackthorn Manor. The past haunts the family living there. When Robert Landimor, a famous painter, dies suddenly, he leaves his estate, including Blackthorn Manor, to his housekeeper, Mary, disinheriting his three daughters, Lucia, Izzy, and Sara in the process. No one understands why. Sara attempts to find answers, … Read More The House of Dust and Shadows by Tabitha Potts
Winterbourne by Elisabeth Wolf
Within the walls of Winterbourne dwells a secret room, with an unspeakable collection of books. Librarian Anne Adams has found the perfect a job cataloguing the library of Winterbourne, an architectural masterpiece on a remote island off the west coast of Scotland. Surrounded by an awe-inspiring landscape, the library is magnificent, with priceless first editions, a librarian’s dream. However, Anne’s early weeks in her … Read More Winterbourne by Elisabeth Wolf
A Bad Deal in Mormon Land by T.I.M. Wirkus
Sometimes things are not as they appear, especially when religion, magic, and shady dealings mix. It’s 1908, and itinerant spirit medium Madame Ilsa von Hoffmann is at the end of her professional rope, facing down two unappealing options: join an ill-conceived commune founded by some fellow trans ex-vaudevillians, or take on a high-paying but mysterious job offered by a religious extremist in Salt Lake … Read More A Bad Deal in Mormon Land by T.I.M. Wirkus
+ fiction, gothic, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, history, Italy, murder, revenge, review, Venice
Dangerous by Essie Fox out now in paperback
Fiction can be fatal… Living in exile in Venice, the disgraced Lord Byron revels in the freedoms of the city. But when he is associated with the deaths of local women, found with wounds to their throats, and then a novel called The Vampyre is published under his name, rumours begin to spread that Byron may be the murderer… Genre: Gothic Historical Crime Thriller … Read More Dangerous by Essie Fox out now in paperback
The Blind Woman of Sorrento by Francesco Mastriani extract translated from the Italian by Idara Crespi
A Gothic mystery set in the labyrinthine alleys of 1840s Naples — the first modern English translation of Mastriani’s masterwork. Naples, 1840. In the anatomy hall of the Hospital for the Incurables, a young medical student stands over his dead sister’s body and makes a vow. What follows is one of the most gripping novels of the Italian Romantic era: a story of hidden … Read More The Blind Woman of Sorrento by Francesco Mastriani extract translated from the Italian by Idara Crespi
