Women Horror

In nine spooky tales, Alison Lurie writes of women haunted by ghosts both literal and metaphorical: A woman about to marry Mr. Right is visited by the spirit of his first wife; a dead fiancé haunts a foreign service officer every time she has an intimate moment with another man; the ghost of a girl in a Halloween costume disconcerts the perfect housewife.

Things are heating up in Whispering Pines, and it’s not just the weather. Sheriff Jayne O’Shea is on edge. Hopeful applicants have taken over the commons area, all of them begging to become residents. Villagers who left long ago have returned, causing an uproar among the locals. The slow burn feud between the sister witches has reached the boiling point. And her parents are acting just plain weird. Fortunately, it’s time for the annual Beltane celebration, the last opportunity for everyone to gather before tourists invade the village for the summer.

As the vernal equinox brings welcome warmth and the promise of the coming tourist season to Wisconsin's Northwoods, it also brings an invading Wiccan coven. Sheriff Jayne O’Shea isn’t worried about the witches. It’s the fact that her mother is coming for her first visit in nearly 20 years that has her on edge. Their reunion goes well, better than expected, and then a coven member disappears.

When Allie moves to a quaint old cottage with her husband, it’s their dream home. Nestled in the village of Pluckley, it seems a perfect haven in which to raise their two children. But Pluckley has a reputation. It’s known as England’s most haunted village. And not long after the birth of their new son, Allie begins to notice strange things.... What’s the flash of white she sees moving quickly through the woods to the back of their house? And what’s the strange scratching noise coming from the chimney?

The elite warriors of the Hereford-based SAS know all about pain and the enduring of it. Syd Spicer, ex-SAS trooper, has found himself back in the regiment - this time as its chaplain, responsible for the spiritual welfare of the hardest men in or out of uniform. Faced with a case which would normally be passed discreetly to Hereford diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins, Spicer is forced, for security reasons, to try and handle it himself - and is coming close to a breakdown.

Northelm Boarding School on Lake Placid has the worst bully of all - a demon by the name of Hatchet Jack. M.J. Holliday, along with her partners Gilley and the handsome Dr. Steven Sable, are ready to send him back to the portal from whence he came. The school's summer construction, an uncooperative dean, and the very tempting Dr. Delicious are all trying to distract M.J. from her ghost hunting.

When Josephine arrives at the Salpêtrière asylum, she is covered in blood, badly bruised, and suffering from amnesia. She is quickly diagnosed with what the Paris papers are calling “the epidemic of the age”: hysteria, a disease is so baffling and widespread that Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot, the asylum’s famous director, devotes many of his popular public lectures to the malady. Charcot often uses hypnosis to prompt his patients to reproduce their hysterical symptoms, and to his delight, Josephine proves extraordinarily susceptible to this unconscious manipulation.

The fourth installment in the best-selling Cassie Quinn mystery series from Wall Street Journal best-selling author L.T. Ryan and K.M. Rought. A gripping thriller with a touch of the paranormal that will keep you guessing until the end. When a friend’s relative passes away, the family suspects foul play, but the evidence doesn’t match the accusation. But in the Big Easy, nothing is as it seems, and Cassie soon discovers there’s more to the story. Deciphering clues no one else can see becomes Cassie’s sole focus.

Amelia Matthew has done the all-but-impossible, especially for an orphan in Gilded Age New York City. Along with her foster brother Jonas, she has parlayed her modest psychic talent into a safe and comfortable life. When a distraught mother comes to Andrew searching for her missing daughter - a daughter she believes is being hidden at the asylum - he turns to Amelia. Together, they uncover evidence of a deadly conspiracy, and then it’s no longer just Amelia’s sanity and freedom at stake. Amelia must master her gift and use it to catch a killer - or risk becoming the next victim.

For more than two centuries, Winterbourne Hall has stood atop a bluff overseeing the English countryside of Cornwall and the sea beyond. In 1947, Londoner Alice Miller accepts a post as governess at Winterbourne, looking after Captain Jonathan de Grey’s twin children. Falling under the de Greys’ spell, Alice believes the family will heal her own past sorrows. But then, the twins’ adoration becomes deceitful and taunting. Their father, ever distant, turns spiteful and cruel. The manor itself seems to lash out. Alice finds her surroundings subtly altered, her air slightly chilled.

Honey, I just want you to have everything you ever wanted. That’s what Jacy’s mom always told her. And Jacy felt like she finally did. Newly married and with a baby on the way, Jacy and her new husband, Jed, embark on their first road trip together to visit his father, Dr. Ash, in Michigan’s far-flung Upper Peninsula. The moment they arrive at the cottage snug within the lush woods, Jacy feels bathed in love by the warm and hospitable Dr. Ash, if less so by his house manager, the enigmatic Mrs. Brandt. But their Edenic first days take a turn when Jacy has a health scare.

Bridget's afterlife has finally settled down into a nice, safe, dead-body-free rhythm. And she couldn't be more discontent. And then someone starts murdering livies...with a scythe. Feeling partially responsible, Bridget jumps into the investigation with both feet, her best friend, Sabrina, and all of her housemates in tow. But, as crazy as it sounds, finding a killer isn't Bridget's biggest concern. Her biggest concern is how will she be able to survive the mundanity of the afterlife once the investigation is over.

Christmas is a time for family and giving, and a wealthy woman in Adelaide, Oklahoma, is about to embrace both. Discovering that she has a young grandson, the dowager decides to change her will to leave the bulk of her fortune to the young boy, an alteration that stuns the rest of her family. But a scrooge of a determined heir makes sure she never signs the new document. When she is found dead, it's up to that irrepressible spirit Bailey Ruth to save Christmas.

In Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil, Lori's twins are now toddlers, walking and talking enough to drive her nearly stir crazy. So she jumps at the offer of a break - a trip to evaluate a rare-book collection in a remote and misty corner of Northumberland. On a dark and stormy night in late October, she sets out for Wyrdhurst Hall, the grim neo-Gothic castle owned by newlyweds Nicole and Jared Hollander. On the way there she encounters Adam Chase, a charming, handsome stranger who knows more than he's telling about the hall's mysterious secrets....

Josh and Allison Conner have moved out from the city, inspired to create a retreat for children in need, a place to build skills and character. They've brought their own children with them, and now they're hurrying to rebuild and update the old camp in time for their first opening day. But something lurks in the wilderness around the old summer camp, something that strikes against the Conners' best efforts to revitalize it. They feel watched, then threatened, but after sinking their savings and their hopes into the place, they are unwilling to walk away.

Merrily Watkins, parish priest, single mum and deliverance consultant to the Diocese of Hereford, heads for the Malvern Hills to investigate an alleged paranormal dimension to a spate of road accidents in the sleepy village of Wychehill. Merrily is called in when two people are killed in a head-on crash that is also linked to the revamped local pub which, it seems, has injected the valley with a shattering, strobing surge of inner-city nightlife...and drugs.

Imogen and Beck, two sisters who couldn't be more different, have been friends with Tilda since high school. Once inseparable, over two decades, the women have grown apart. But after Imogen survives a traumatic attack, Beck suggests they all reunite to hike deep into the Grand Canyon’s backcountry. A week away, secluded in nature...surely it’s just what they need. But as the terrain grows tougher, tensions from their shared past bubble up. And when supplies begin to disappear, it becomes clear secrets aren’t the only thing they’re being stalked by.

Hereford's Diocesan Exorcist must encounter a legacy of evil within the crumbling walls of an old hotel along with memories of murder. A crumbling hotel on the border of England and Wales has long been linked with the possible origins of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles and his obsession with contacting the dead. Fascinating for young Jane Watkins, flushed with the freedom of her first weekend job. But the sinister side soon becomes apparent to her mother, Merrily, Diocesan Exorcist for Hereford.

In Herefordshire's hop-growing country, a converted kiln is the scene of a savage murder. When the local vicar refuses to help its new owners cope with the aftermath, Merrily Watkins is sent in by the Bishop of Hereford to defuse the situation. Merrily, however, is already contending with a woman's claim that her daughter is possessed by evil. In both cases, Merrily remains unconvinced, but nothing is ever quite what it seems

The Parish Priest must solve the mystery of a young boy's deathly fall from the Ludlow Castle ruins, and discovers a hidden obsession with the afterlife amongst the ancient streets. In the affluent, historic town of Ludlow, a teenage boy dies in a fall from the castle ruins. Accident or suicide? No great mystery - so why does the boy's uncle, retired detective Andy Mumford, turn to Diocesan Exorcist Merrily Watkins? More people will die before Merrily uncovers a dangerous obsession with suicide, death and the afterlife hidden within these shadowed medieval streets.