Victorian Gothic

Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive Doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town. Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed.

Falling in love was never part of the bargain. Lady Sofia Cloverfield’s family has disintegrated, and she finds herself on the streets to make her own way with only a few guineas and her wits with which to rely on to survive. Sofia uses her common sense and prays she can figure out how to turn her fate around. Exeter Trenton, the Devil Duke, is wealthy, handsome, and lonely. His position demands he take a wife, but he finds none to his liking. Then, quite by accident, his luck changes when his horses nearly trample a waif he mistakes for a child. He allows her to leave with his ...

Clara Penrose was not looking forward to her society debut, but she never imagined it would be interrupted by murder. The murdered man is a pushy suitor who wouldn’t take no for an answer and suspicion quickly falls on Clara. The man’s father, an influential member of high society, holds Clara responsible and is pushing for a fast resolution. As the clues pointing to the culprit being intimate with the Penrose Household pile up, Clara can almost feel the noose tightening around her neck. Unable to trust the police, she turns to her best friend and neighbour, Roland Fisher. The two ...

Amelia and Lord Blackwell must defy all odds for their love to survive, but can they overcome their biggest challenge yet? London 1860 Amelia and Dimitri must fight for their love in the face of those who seek to hunt Dimitri and his kind. When Amelia faces a new challenge, she must keep it a secret before it puts everyone she loves in danger. Separating herself from the vampire she loves is a torment Amelia can hardly bear, but she knows she must endure it for his safety. Will Amelia and Dimitri find a way to fight those who are seeking to end their lives? Or will Amelia’s secret tear ...

In the fog-laden streets of Whitechapel, something far deadlier than Jack the Ripper hunts the night… Scarlet Blackwood never believed in monsters—until the night she met one. When a savage attack leaves her teetering between death and something… other, she finds herself drawn into the dark world of Dorian Thorne, a brooding and enigmatic man with secrets as deadly as the city itself. London trembles beneath whispers of a ruthless killer, but the true danger lurks in the shadows far older than the city’s gaslit streets. At the heart of it all sits Ambrose Fairchild, a hunter whose ...

Bubble, bubble, toil, and murder... When a woman is found dead near her village in Norfolk, the verdict is suicide. Not everyone agrees. Detective James Simpson is ordered to investigate and he brings Agatha Aston, Betty Simpson and Talleyrand the hound, with him. They stumble across a tale of murder that stretches back two centuries. Part occult story, part murder mystery - this creepy tale is steeped in witchcraft and strange rural festivals where everything is not as it seems. The second Agatha Aston murder mystery is full of laughs, twists and things that go bump in the night. Golden ...

The Ripper Lives: The Living and the Dead (2/10) A city on edge. A killer in the shadows. A crime scene like no other. The slums of Whitechapel reek of despair, a place where violence festers in the damp alleyways and darkness consumes the living as surely as it does the dead. When a mutilated body is discovered in full public view on Thrawl Street, it shatters the uneasy peace that had settled after the Ripper’s reign. But this murder feels different—chaotic, frenzied, and far too exposed. As Inspector Abberline and his secret task force dig deeper, they realize that everyone has ...

In Victorian London, where traveling sideshows are the very pinnacle of entertainment, there is no more coveted ticket than Ashe and Pretorius' Carnivale of Curiosities. Each performance is a limited engagement, and London's elite boldly dare the dangerous streets of Southwark to witness the Carnivale's astounding assemblage of marvels. For a select few, however, the real show begins behind the curtain. Rumors abound that the show’s proprietor, Aurelius Ashe, is more than an average magician. It's said that for the right price, he can make any wish come true.

A gothic book set in Venice during the mid to late 19th century.Dive deep into the intricate world of "Haunting in Venice", where the pomp and splendor of Venetian high society hide layers of deceit, ambition, and unexpected supernatural elements. Haunting in Venice artfully explores these dark themes against the majestic backdrop of grand palaces and an undercurrent of stifling societal expectations. When Deception Turns DeadlyDr. Starkweather, a respected London physician, finds himself plunged into an unsettling tale of deceit and potential madness. It begins with a mysterious foreign ...

Can a curse strike twice in a woman's life? In 1854, 17-year-old chambermaid Clara Crofton was dismissed from Gravesend Hall for having fallen in love with Richard Blackwood, the younger son of the house. Alone in the world, Clara found a tenuous position as a seamstress, but she always blamed the Gravesend curse for the disaster that had befallen her - and for Richard's death soon after in the Crimean War.

When one man's scheme to create the Greatest Freak Show on Earth leads to an insane obsession that can only end in devastating tragedy. The ghoulish proprietor of a Victorian arcade specifically designed to showcase the myriad of freaks, outcasts, and oddities that abound in old London town is a man driven by his own dark desires. Rodney Thompson is an emotionless, sadistic person who craves glory above all else - at least until the beautiful Violet wafts into his world. From the very day when Violet first takes a dainty step inside the arcade, Rodney is determined to make her his own. A ...

Betrayed by those she trusted, penniless and alone, Darcie Finch is forced to accept a position no one else dares as assistant to dangerously attractive Dr. Damien Cole. Ignoring the whispered warnings and rumors he's a man to fear, she takes her position at his eerie estate, where she quickly discovers nothing is at it seems, least of all her handsome and brooding employer. As Darcie struggles with her fierce attraction to Damien, she must also deal with the blood, the disappearances...and the murders.

In the first of a brand-new series set in Victorian England, a young woman returns home from India after the death of her family to discover her identity and inheritance are challenged by the man who holds her future in his hands.

“Oh, those aren't ordinary goggles, miss! There's nothing ordinary about them,” claimed the seller. “Those are special. Very special. You might not believe me, but... those goggles will let you see ghosts.” Goggles that let you see ghosts? It's an obvious scam, but the (usually) intellectual Augusta Hodge succumbs to it. Why? She desperately wants to see her deceased father again. Shortly after her father's death, Augusta accepts a job as a governess. She never wanted to be a governess, but as a penniless spinster, her options are limited. Her new employer is a difficult man, but ...

As far as rash decisions go, it was formidable. But Lady Jocelyn Rathbourne's will remains strong. If the only way to save her family's estate and reputation is by aiming a small pistol at the Duke of Calydon, then so be it. For Lady Jocelyn demands satisfaction - and she will have it at any cost. Even if it means demanding the hand of the intense and foreboding Duke himself....

This omnibus brings together seven of H.E. Bulstrode’s ghost stories originally published between 2016 and 2018. These are: The Ghost of Scarside Beck A newly-wed Cumbrian vicar and his wife experience a night like none they could ever have foreseen. He may have answered his calling, but who, or what, is calling her? Old Crotchet The year is 1920, and it's Twelfth Night by the old reckoning. Festivities are about to commence at Hinton St Cuthbert Manor when something sinister stirs from its protracted dormancy, awakened, it would seem, by the arrival of two young guests. The old ways, ...

The House on Thornhallow Moor (Book One of the Between Heartbeats Series) On the wind-swept cliffs overlooking Blackwater Hollow stands Thornhallow Moor—a house bound by secrets older than the sea. When Clara Wren returns to the neglected Victorian estate of her childhood, she expects memories, perhaps even closure. But the house has waited patiently for her arrival, harboring more than just dust and echoes of the past. Whispers drift through empty rooms, footprints glisten with seawater, and in the shadows stands Silas Vale—a ship’s captain lost to a storm over a century ago. Bound ...

Haunted Montague by Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a gripping mystery fiction novel set in the eerie, fog-shrouded valleys of the English countryside during the early 20th century. This chilling story of secrets, shadows, and psychological suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Explore the haunting mystery surrounding Montague Hall, a sprawling estate with a dark past. Follow Major Sauer and his friends as they uncover secrets buried deep within the ancient walls of the house. Encounter eerie apparitions, unsettling whispers, and chilling discoveries that will leave ...

When lady’s maid Marian Osley and footman Valentine Hobbs assume their positions at the cliff-top estate of Valor Rise, they already share a history. Raised together as paupers in a London workhouse, they indulged in S&M games of imaginary crimes and sublime punishment. Now they’ve been unexpectedly reunited - in subservience to the brooding Wythe Bornholdt and his frail wife, Diana. A master and mistress with their own dark secrets.

THERE’S A GHOST IN HER BATHTUB AND A WEREWOLF IN HER GARDEN! When lovely Viveca Stanhope fled a scandalous past in Old San Francisco to make a new life for herself in Savannah, little did she know she’d just purchased the most “haunted” house in the entire South! From the ghostly specters prowling the square to the ax woman stalking her yard, “Hangman’s House” is indeed a fright. And Viveca’s “Nightmare on Lost Lane” comes complete with a half-crazed housekeeper, a mysterious houseboy with a fetish for knife-throwing and numerous other strange bedfellows. Still, Viveca ...