Historical Horror Fiction

You've never met a ghost hunter or demon slayer like John Thunstone. Defying the naysayers' vision of a pale basement-dwelling hobbyist, Thunstone is tall, broad-shouldered, athletic, and handsome. He likes to spend his evenings in nightclubs, holding court and charming women. But does he lack focus? No! Thunstone is also a serious scholar, deeply studied in the occult and dark arts, and he carries a blade of silver inscribed with the motto sic pereant omnes inimici tui, forged by Saint Dunstan, patron saint of silversmiths, and one of the few men the Devil himself feared.

The Civil War has just ended and world-weary Sheriff Jesse Smith likes his town quiet and peaceful. One night, the body of a young woman is found torn apart, and that peace is shattered as it dawns on him that a predator is among them. With little to go on, all the men in the town are potential suspects, and Jesse begins an investigation that spans the social spectrum. Unable to find the killer, the mayor goes against Jesse's wishes and brings in bounty hunters. But the cure may be more dangerous than the disease.

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realises that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's dark secrets.

In the wake of their Aunt Amity's suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline's return to the childhood home they once shared. While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby South-of-Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this haunted "House of Usher in the Hollywood Hills" that is a conduit for the supernatural.

So you want to play with magic? There’s trouble in the French Quarter when a professional basketball player hires Wyatt and voodoo mambo Mama Mulate to help him exorcise a supernatural demon. Wyatt is thrilled to have a paying client, Mama, over the moon in lust for the handsome athlete. Things look rosy for the pair of paranormal investigators until the assignment dictates Wyatt travel back in time to antebellum New Orleans. Thrust headfirst into the middle of a dangerous situation, Wyatt must deal with a red-haired Irish witch named Aisling and avoid becoming a haunted torture room ...

Maisie Thomas spends every summer at Grange House, a hotel on the coast of Maine ruled by the elegant Miss Grange. In 1896, when Maisie turns 17, her visit marks a turning point. On the morning after her arrival, local fishermen make a gruesome discovery: drowned lovers, found clasped in each other's arms. It's only the first in a series of events that casts a shadow over Maisie's summer. As she considers the attentions of two very different young men, Maisie also falls under the gaze of Miss Grange, who begins to tell her disturbing stories of her past.

The Ripper Lives: To Catch a Killer (1/10) A city haunted by fear. A case buried in secrecy. A detective who refuses to let the past die. In the gaslit streets of Whitechapel, terror still lingers. Months have passed since the brutal murders that gripped London, yet the killer remains a phantom—unseen, unnamed, unstoppable. As whispers of conspiracy spread and trust in Scotland Yard crumbles, Inspector Frederick Abberline is left with more questions than answers. When the government issues a chilling directive—close the case publicly, but continue the hunt in absolute secrecy—...

Ghost stories date back centuries, but those written in the Victorian era have a unique atmosphere and dark beauty. Michael Sims, whose previous Victorian collections Dracula’s Guest (vampires) and The Dead Witness (detectives) have been widely praised, has gathered twelve of the best stories about humanity’s oldest supernatural obsession. The Phantom Coach includes tales by a surprising and often legendary cast, including Charles Dickens, Margaret Oliphant, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, and Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as lost gems by forgotten masters such as Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and W. F. Harvey. Amelia B. Edwards’s chilling story gives the collection its title, while Ambrose Bierce ("The Moonlit Road"), Elizabeth Gaskell ("The Old Nurse’s Story"), and W. W. Jacobs ("The Monkey’s Paw") will turn you white as a sheet. With a skillful introduction to the genre and notes on each story by Sims, The Phantom Coach is a spectacular collection of ghostly Victorian thrills.

Inspired by TRUE Events! - In a historical with romance, action-adventure, family, foreign and national intrigue between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, all kinds of exciting things...Through blizzards, gale-force winds, temperatures falling below -80, and over 700 miles of death-dealing terrain, teams of brave men and courageous and smart dogs of in dominatable fighting spirit, mush sleds across the Alaska wilderness, in an around the clock relay, race with lifesaving serum for 11,000 plague-ravaged people inaccessible by everything, but death and their determined rescuers, warring with the...

1547: Pedro Gonsalvus, a young boy living on the island of Tenerife, understands that he is different from the other children in his village. He is mercilessly ridiculed for the shiny layer of hair covering his body from head to toe. When he is kidnapped off the beach near his home, he finds himself delivered by a slave broker into the dangerous and glamorous world of France’s royal court. There “Monsieur Sauvage,” as he is known, learns French, literature, and sword fighting, becoming an attendant to the French King Henri II and a particular favorite of his queen.

It is 1556 and the queen's astrologer, the prophet Nostradamus has uncovered a secret that could destroy the kingdom of France. The queen, Catherine de Medicis, a dabbler in black magic, has decided to get rid of the king's mistress by seeking out the legendary Undying Head of Menander the Magus, known as the Master of All Desires. But she does not know that evil befalls all those who wish upon this accursed object. And the head, in its coffer, has fallen into the possession of a charming, wryly perceptive but stubborn young woman: Sybille Artaud de la Roche.

The Carnival Has Rolled Into New Orleans… And So Has Something Darker. October, 1951—The Thunder & Shield Traveling Carnival arrives in New Orleans, ready to bring lighthearted spectacle to a city already steeped in magic and mystery. But beneath the glow of gas lamps and the hum of jazz, something sinister stirs. When a desperate group of young men approach the carnival’s charity division, claiming their friend was murdered and the police refuse to investigate, Mr. Atlas, Solomon the Sorcerer, and Carny—along with their young blind protégé, Lois, whose own mysterious powers are ...

Ghosts of the Wild West tells the tale of Billy the Kid as you’ve never seen him: no longer a mere gunslinger or cunning outlaw, but a man haunted by every victim he ever claimed. Each new killing spawns another restless ghost, trailing him through desert wastes and half-collapsed frontier towns. As his fame (or infamy) grows during the Lincoln County War, so do the whispering apparitions: some pleading for peace, others demanding vengeance, all of them fueling Billy’s slow spiral from cocky renegade to trembling soul.

Alma Katsu delivers the highly anticipated follow-up to her haunting novel about an immortal woman learning firsthand that the heart wants what the heart wants...no matter how high the stakes. Fans of The Taker can finally indulge in their next juicy fix with the second book of the trilogy, The Reckoning. In this gripping, pulse-pounding supernatural sequel, discover what happens to Lanny, Luke, Adair - and Jonathan. The Reckoning picks up where The Taker leaves off, following Lanny on her path to redemption.

Sixteen-year-old photography enthusiast Zoey has been fascinated by the haunted, burnt-out ruins of Medwyn Mill House for as long as she can remember - so she and her best friend, Poulton, run away from home to explore them. In 1851, 17-year-old Roan arrives at the Mill House as a ward - one of three, all with something to hide from their new guardian. 1583. Hermione, a new young bride, accompanies her husband to the wilds of North Wales where he plans to build the largest water mill and mansion in the area.

A Devil’s Bargain – A Gothic Tale of Love, Curses, and the Shadows That Bind Us There are houses that whisper. Houses that breathe. Houses that remember every soul that ever dared to cross their threshold. Ravenshade Manor is one of them. When Evelina Harrow arrives at the decaying estate, she believes she’s simply settling a family debt. But from the moment she steps inside, the house knows her name. The walls shift when she isn’t looking. Shadows move where no light should be. And then there’s Lucien D’Armand—the cursed and enigmatic lord of Ravenshade, a man who walks the ...

Life is close to perfect for Emil Larsson, a self-satisfied bureaucrat in the Office of Customs and Excise in 1791 Stockholm. He is a true man of the town - a drinker, card player, and contented bachelor - until one evening when Mrs. Sofia Sparrow, a fortune-teller and proprietress of an exclusive gaming parlor, shares with him a vision she has had: a golden path that will lead him to love and connection. She lays an octavo for him, a spread of eight cards that augur the eight individuals who can help him realize this vision - if he can find them.

The isolated cottage on the remote Hebridean island of Moila seemed like an ideal away-from-it-all retreat for writer Rose Fenemore, a place where she could work in peace, and where her brother Crispin could walk, fish, and photograph the birds and wildlife. But it is not easy to escape the world and its troubles. Crispin's arrival is delayed, and Rose, on her own in the lonely cottage, has to cope with two very different men who come in from the sea on a night of summer storm.

Winner of the 2014 Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller competition. Abandoned on a bank of snow as a baby, Amy is taken in at nearby Hatville Court. But the masters and servants of the grand estate prove cold and unwelcoming. Amy's only friend and ally is the sparkling young heiress Aurelia Vennaway. So when Aurelia tragically dies young, Amy is devastated. But Aurelia leaves Amy one last gift. A bundle of letters with a coded key. A treasure hunt that only Amy can follow. A life-changing discovery awaits ... if only she can unlock the secret.

Lacey Elliot has been a woman without a past since the day her mother whisked her off to Charlottesville, refusing for 30 years to speak of her father, her family or her history. But when Lacey intercepts a desperate letter from an aunt in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, she sees her chance to confront the past that has terrified her mother and to fill in the gaps in her own life. Against the charm and the colorful, turbulent history of the picturesque town, the violent history of Lacey's own heritage is about to repeat itself.