Category: gothic
+ brothers, family, fiction, gothic, gothic horror, Historical fiction, love, review, secrets, supernatural, World War One, WW1
The Patient in the Tower by G. R. Pidgeon
The war may be over, but the nightmare is just beginning… Released from prison after years of solitary confinement for refusing to fight in the Great War, Robert Latimer arrives in an isolated village looking for his brother. Thomas was wounded in France and sent to Ravensmere House for treatment. But the sprawling estate has a sinister reputation, housing the most disturbed soldiers returning … Read More The Patient in the Tower by G. R. Pidgeon
Little Spark by Jess Kidd
From the bestselling author of Things in Jars and The Night Ship comes a spellbinding gothic novel in which lifelike machines walk, old bones lie buried beneath the marsh grass, and a young woman born crackling with power confronts the terrible truth of her origins. A secret cannot stay locked away forever… Bodkin Bell, orphan, pickpocket and survivor, doesn’t know where she came from, … Read More Little Spark by Jess Kidd
+ 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
The Cutting by Michael J Malone (Annie Jackson Mysteries #4)
When a woman haunted by a relentless presence seeks Annie Jackson’s help, Annie and her brother Lewis are drawn into an investigation that reaches deep into Scotland’s darkest history. The twisty, atmospheric, addictive Annie Jackson series continues… The most dangerous voices are the ones that no one else can hear… Evie Cartwright first speaks to the dead as a child. When she leaves home … Read More The Cutting by Michael J Malone (Annie Jackson Mysteries #4)
+ 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
+ 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
+ audio book, childhood, family, fiction, folklore, ghosts, gothic, gothic horror, mythology, review, superstition, witches
The Ghost Woods by CJ Cooke
In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who was not quite a child. Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed. Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she … Read More The Ghost Woods by CJ Cooke
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
The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley
When reporter Martha Strangeways is summoned to investigate the discovery of body parts on a remote railway track, she’s drawn into a strange case, as her own past comes back to haunt her… The atmospheric, chilling series continues…RitualsSecretsA killer who will protect them at any cost… Martha Strangeways has settled into a quiet life in Strathbran, after the horrific events that traumatised the village … Read More The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley
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
