Category: Gothic mystery
+ gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, obsession, supernatural, superstition, Victorian Britain
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
As the age of the photograph dawns in Victorian Bath, silhouette artist Agnes is struggling to keep her business afloat. Still recovering from a serious illness herself, making enough money to support her elderly mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric has never been easy, but then one of her clients is murdered shortly after sitting for Agnes, and then another, and another… Why is … Read More The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell
+ crime fiction, fiction, folklore, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, loss, murder, murder mystery, mystery, mythology, obsession, review, Scandi noir, Sweden
Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson translated by David Warriner
Art expert Emma Lindhal is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the antiques in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found. As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover … Read More Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson translated by David Warriner
+ fiction, gothic, Gothic mystery, grief, loss, love, marriage, mystery, review, secrets, supernatural, superstition, thriller
Jump Cut by Helen Grant
The Simulacrum is the most famous lost movie in film history – would you tell someone your darkest secrets, just to lay hands on a copy? 104-year-old Mary Arden is the last surviving cast member of a notorious lost film. Holed up in Garthside, an Art Deco mansion reputed to be haunted, she has always refused interviews. Twitter #JumpCut @helengrantsays @Fledglingpress @KellyALacey @lovebookstours #JumpCutTour #Ad #LBTCrew #BookTwitter Instagram @helengrantsays Now … Read More Jump Cut by Helen Grant
+ fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, superstition, thriller, twins, witchcraft, witches
The Murmurs (Annie Jackson Mysteries #1) by Michael J Malone
On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream. And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die. How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions … a rekindling of … Read More The Murmurs (Annie Jackson Mysteries #1) by Michael J Malone
+ family, fiction, Ghost story, gothic, Gothic mystery, Halloween, haunting, Ireland, lies, motherhood, relationships, review, secrets, seventies, supernatural, superstition, thriller
The Belladonna Maze by Sinéad Crowley
An old house can hold many secrets. Hollowpark in the west of Ireland certainly does. At the heart of the gardens is an intricate maze, named after a deadly poison, Belladonna. If you know the way through, it’s magical, a hiding place and playground like no other. If you don’t, it’s a place of fear and sinister riddles, where a young girl once went … Read More The Belladonna Maze by Sinéad Crowley
+ abuse, alcoholism, brothers, childhood, domestic noir, family, fantasy, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, folklore, forgiveness, friendship, Ghost story, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, grief, haunting, List, literature, loss, love, music, paranormal, piano, relationships, review, secrets, sisterhood, sisters, slavery, suffragette movement, supernatural, superstition, tradition, whimsical
My Top 4 Books of 2022
It’s approaching the very end of 2022 and it’s time to reflect on my absolute favourite books of the year. Last year it was hard but this year is even harder. There were instant standouts again – about 10 of them but I had to cut it down to four. I have tried to include a mix of genres but failed yet again. I read … Read More My Top 4 Books of 2022
+ fiction, Ghost story, Gothic mystery, haunting, paranormal, photographs, photography, review, secrets, supernatural
As The Moon Fell Down by L.B. Stimson
Photographer Ellie Spaulding thought she had found the perfect place – a quaint farmhouse in rural Virginia where time seems to stand still. There were only two rules to follow… #AsTheMoonFellDown @stimsonink @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour Once again, L.B. Stimson brings you along on a ghostly tale inspired by her own haunting experiences. Step back in time as the worlds between the living and the … Read More As The Moon Fell Down by L.B. Stimson
+ brothers, family, fiction, Ghost story, gothic horror, Gothic mystery, grief, haunting, loss, love, paranormal, review, supernatural, superstition, USA
The Haunting of Noyo Bay by L.B. Stimson narrated by Jennifer March
When sixteen-year-old Charlotte Goolsby first encounters the mysterious little boy playing in the cemetery, she assumes he belongs to the minister’s family. However, as sightings of the little boy continue and seemingly go unnoticed by the rest of Keesbury’s residents, Charlotte is forced to confront everything she once believed about life and death. Charlotte finds herself confiding her fears to her father’s shipwright apprentice, … Read More The Haunting of Noyo Bay by L.B. Stimson narrated by Jennifer March
+ alcoholism, brothers, devil worship, feminism, fiction, friendship, Ghost story, Gothic mystery, grief, haunting, literature, paranormal, review, secrets, sisterhood, suffragette movement, supernatural
The Parlour Game by Jennifer Renshaw
Death is only the beginning…. London, 1873. Ivy Granger, an amateur botanist, is plagued by disturbing dreams and faceless whispers. Misunderstood by her father, she fears for her sanity – threatened with the asylum or worse, the hands of a man she loathes. But a stranger at her mother’s funeral reveals Ivy’s world has been a lie, and she could have a different life, … Read More The Parlour Game by Jennifer Renshaw
+ childhood, crime fiction, fiction, Gothic mystery, grief, lies, loss, love, mental health, mental illness, murder, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, secrets, superstition, thriller
The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone
From the author of the “dark and devious…beautifully written” (Stephen King) Mirrorland comes a richly atmospheric thriller set on an isolated Scottish island where nothing is as it seems and shocking twists lie around every corner. A remote village. A deadly secret. An outsider who knows the truth. Robert Reid moved his family to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides in the 1990s, driven by hope, craving safety and … Read More The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone
+ fiction, Gothic mystery, horror, jealousy, literature, love, mystery, obsession, review, secrets, supernatural, superstition, witchcraft
The House of Footsteps by Mathew West
It’s 1923 and at Thistlecrook House, a forbidding home on the Scottish border, the roaring twenties seem not to have arrived. But Simon Christie has – a young man who can’t believe his luck when he gets a job cataloguing the infamous art collection of the Mordrake family. Yet from the moment he gets off the train at the deserted village station he can’t … Read More The House of Footsteps by Mathew West
+ Cornwall, family, fiction, Gothic mystery, Historical fiction, literature, loss, love, marriage, mystery, review, secrets, World War One
The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown
I still dream, every night, of Polneath on fire. Smoke unfurling out of an upper window and a hectic orange light cascading across the terrace. By day, Ivy Boscawen mourns the loss of her son Tim in the Great War. But by night she mourns another boy – one whose death decades ago haunts her still. For Ivy is sure that there is more … Read More The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown
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