Crime Horror Fiction

From Ian Rankin to Joe Lansdale, Seanan McGuire to David Morrell, each author reveals the dark truths and buried secrets that make institutions of higher learning such a hotbed of controversy. You'll encounter plagiarism, sexual misconduct, and brutal competition - not to mention secret societies, cover-ups of murder, and one near-future course of study that makes The Handmaid's Tale look like Mother Goose. So: collect your supplies, plan your schedule, and prepare to pull an all-nighter, because The Darkling Halls of Ivy is required listening.

Angela was just a baby when she was abandoned, and a children's home is no place to grow up. When manager Ray takes girls off to his 'den' in the garden, they always come back crying.... So, when wealthy couple James and Rosemary come to choose a child to adopt, Angela is desperate to escape. Years later, Angela starts to search for her birth mother, Evelyn, hoping to heal the scars of her childhood. But strange and sinister events start to unfold. And Evelyn fears she may not survive her daughter's return.

Nothing bad ever happens in the quiet little town of Hope. However, when the circus rolls in one misty morning in late October, everyone decides to go see what they have. Even the Jorgenson family and their 8 year old son Noah head on down to the circus big top, but when it is time to leave he is nowhere to be found. With the help of Sheriff Langley, his parents search the premises, but they don't find him. Now that it is closing time, they are forced to leave in hopes that he will come home. Will they ever find him and all the other children that have gone missing from other towns?

Thomas Fool - the resilient investigator doomed to catalog hell's atrocities in Simon Kurt Unsworth's stunning debut, The Devil's Detective, is back. The man with no memory of who he was or what led to his damnation is now in command of the Information Office of Hell. This power has only inspired new deadly enemies like Mr. Tap, the cunning leader of a shadowy organization known as the Evidence. Fool alone has survived the wrath of both demon and angel, and now he faces his most thrilling and complex challenge.

Meet Peter Blanton, a young man with a traumatic past. His inner beast is an orangutan. His beast carefully monitors his growth and development. He tries mightily to help his human to grow up straight and true. But Peter becomes bent on revenge when he discovers what happened to him when he was a child - a baby, really.

Family. The job. The thrill of discovery. No one gets out alive...What's a little sin between the sheets, and a little blood between lovers? What's a little death to be discovered, waiting for you under that white sheet? I'm digging a desert grave just for you, underneath the burning sun. You won't be found...not even by the vultures circling in the sky. You, my dear, are the reason why I was always easily influenced.

London. 1891. Sir Simeon Harkness has joined his son in the pursuit of the infamous killer. With his resources, it is not long before the scent of new lines of investigation are detected. The Ripper can feel the oppressive breath of his pursuers upon his skin. He must hide his tracks and remove those that once called him master. The hunt is on but the Ripper will not go quietly to the gallows.

Homicide Detective Catherine Halford finds herself in a situation she thought wasn't even possible. She's faced with a gruesome murder scene in an uneventful townhouse in Chicago. In an unexpected turn of events, she finds a man who changes her world forever. As they delve into the case to find those responsible, Catherine suspects John Adams isn't who he seems to be. Catherine must chose between the man she loves or the fate of the world to stop Lucifer's rising.

Years ago, Thomas Edison invented the psycho phone, a crude device he believed was capable of reaching dead people; but now, Heather Ross has his old phone number, and the dead are calling her non-stop. Heather wants to get rid of the phone but learns they can still reach her through email, television, and billboards. Heather is not averse to talking to lost souls, but will they save her life or destroy it?

Sgt. Phillip Davis and Sgt. Anthony Trangotta of the Sheriff's office were under increasing pressure to solve the series of murders that were taking place with increasing frequency among the Tampa Bay drumming community. Fear was spreading like wildfire, and many of the drummers were becoming reluctant to attend drumming events not knowing where the madman who was terrorizing them would strike next.

John Brandon has quickly become a critical darling thanks to his evocative prose and recognizable, yet quirky, characters. Citrus County introduces teenaged Shelby Register and her offbeat family. Moving to the swampy Citrus County region of Florida, Shelby is quickly confronted by life’s challenges and possibilities.

Aislinn Cain and the Serial Crimes Tracking Unit are being sent to the hottest place in North America to investigate mummified remains that were found in Death Valley. When Xavier Reece uncovers elemental mercury in the heart of one of the mummies, they discover there is more than Mother Nature at work. The victims have matching injuries, but only one of the bodies reveals the liquid metal, raising questions about how many killers are using the valley as a dumping ground.

The day Mike's dealer failed to show up was the catalyst that forced Mike and his girlfriend, Rosie, to take the first steps on a sometimes bizarre and tragic journey. Their addiction compels them to steal from the type of people that would stop at nothing to retrieve their treasure. Slowly the couple become progressively more entangled in a web of their own making. The story begins in London. Rosie receives a Valentines gift, which she may later regret accepting. As a naturally shy girl, Rosie hadn't wanted to be in a relationship with Mike.

Displace everything you thought you knew about the Man-Eating F--ks and get ready for the truth, as the saga goes full circle in this past vs. present tale of blood-dripping carnage. The cannibals are back, and they're bigger, meaner, stronger, and out for gut-wrenching revenge on the one person who destroyed their family: Storm. And with the financial backing from a mysterious cult and the devil himself, the F--ks aren't going to let anything, or anyone, get in their way of seeking absolute domination.

At the start of the day Ripley had nothing more on her mind than doing well at her new job. She never envisioned that a lunch date with some of her co-workers would ensnare her in a nightmare involving abduction, rape, and death. Shaken and terrified, Ripley manages to evade the bloody fate in store for her, with the assistance of retired police officers Henry and EZ, but her relief is a fleeting thing. Stranded by the storm in the strange township of Carn, with the local authorities seemingly in no rush to lend assistance.

From the author of the widely acclaimed debut novel A Stirring in the North Fork, Mark Torres’ next installment, Adeline, is a fast-paced, gripping tale about the mysterious death of an innocent young woman wrongly committed to a notorious mental asylum in 1977. The ever-determined Savoy Graves returns to try and unmask the sinister fiend, only to find himself plunged deep into the dangerous and dark world of a maniacal secret society willing to guard its identity at all cost. Will Graves achieve justice for this long buried unsolved murder?

On Mardi Gras weekend in February of 2007 over 40 people were butchered beyond recognition in a lonely Louisiana bayou. The horrific tragedy would go on to be known as The Honey Island Swamp Massacre. Paramedic Andrew Yong was one of the first responders called to the scene over that fateful weekend and was mysteriously the only survivor of the mass killing spree that took place.

From the best-selling author of Mercy. Avicenna Crowe's mother, Joanne, is an astrologer with uncanny predictive powers and a history of being stalked. Now she is missing. The police are called, but they're not asking the right questions. Like why Joanne lied about her past, and what she saw in her stars that made her so afraid. But Avicenna has inherited her mother's gift. Finding an unlikely ally in the brooding Simon Thorn, she begins to piece together the mystery.

In The Meaning of Blood: and Other Tales of Perversity, award-winning author and Edgar Allan Poe scholar Chuck Caruso combines his deep roots in the American Gothic with his own contemporary sense of macabre humor. These 15 stories of dark fiction range from crime thrillers to western noir to grotesque horror. Each twisted tale displays Caruso's unique blend of wry prose, feverish storytelling, and tragically flawed characters discovering that even the most innocent encounter can lead to death. Or sex. Or both.

Gathering of Waters is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi - a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families. Tass Hilson and Emmett Till were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit