Historical Horror Fiction

For a handful of gold, Madame de Morville will read your future in a glass of swirling water. You'll believe her, because you know she's more than 150 years old and a witch, and she has all of Paris in the palm of her hand. But Madame de Morville hides more behind her black robes than you know. Her real age, the mother and uncle who left her for dead, the inner workings of the most secret society of Parisian witches: None of these truths would help her outwit the rich who so desperately want the promise of the future.

When painter Shane Bellamy attempts to relaunch his life by moving into a remote summer cottage on the Missouri river, he becomes enthralled by the property's original owners, famed depression-era artist Gustav Wilhelm, and his wife, Marlena; painting their long-dead secrets of betrayal and revenge in a series of increasingly bizarre works, Shane finds that he has not only recreated their dark story on canvas, but he has brought it dreadfully back to life all around him.

Billy Edgewater is a harbinger of doom. Estranged from his family, discharged from the navy and touched by a rising desperation, he sets out hitchhiking home to East Tennessee, where his father is slowly dying. On the road, separately, are Sudy and Bradshaw, brother and sister, and a one-armed con man named Roosterfish. All, in one way or another, have their pasts and futures embroiled with D. L. Harkness, a predator in all the ways there are.

It’s 1962, and Violet Romero, a young woman searching for peace after a horrible tragedy, finds herself in an unexpected place—managing funerals at Berwick, an antebellum mansion-turned-mortuary in Lexington, Kentucky. Her employer, Henry Pendleton, a botany-obsessed mortician, seems harmless, but Violet believes that he is hiding something. Following her instincts, Violet discovers a hidden room in Berwick that offers a glimpse into the mansion’s dark past. Violet soon understands that a reckoning is coming to Henry’s life, and she is caught in the rising tide of revenge.

For the first time, the untold story of the three women closest to Victor Frankenstein is revealed in a dark and sweeping reimagining of Frankenstein by the acclaimed author of The Lost History of Dreams and Doomed Queens. Unnatural Creatures shocks new life into Mary Shelley's beloved gothic classic by revealing the feminine side of the tale.

In 19th-century America, making sense of mysterious events often perplexed citizens of the small Southern town of Juniper, South Carolina. Especially the three Chadwick households. Brothers Laurence, Brodie, and Angus Chadwick lost their parents shortly after sailing from England to the New World. Each young man, in turn, would meet the woman of his dreams. Lacey. Fiona. Guinevere. Beautiful, intelligent, sensitive creatures all. And yet, despite their noble virtues, the three Chadwick women are cursed, it seems, for reasons only the occult can provide.

1813. Lizzie's beloved older sister Esme is sold in marriage to the ageing Lord Blountford to settle their father's debts. One year later, Esme is dead, and Lizzie is sent to take her place as Lord Blountford's next wife. Arriving at Ambletye Manor, Lizzie uncovers a twisted web of secrets, not least that she is to be the fifth mistress of this house. Marisa. Anne. Pansy. Esme. What happened to the four wives who came before her? In possession of a unique gift, only Lizzie can hear their stories, and try to find a way to save herself from sharing the same fate.

The Perigord: a beautiful August day. Kind, well-respected young nobleman, Alain de Monèys, sets off happily for the local fair at Hautefaye. But this is the summer of 1870, a time of terrible drought and even worse defeats for France in the Franco-Prussian war. One misheard comment at the fair sets in motion an horrific train of events that Alain, for all his popularity, is powerless to stop. Based on a shamefully brutal incident from French history, Jean Teulé’s riveting story shows how easily a group of individuals can turn into an irrational, bloodthirsty mob.

Racism. Hate. Delusion. Each is an integral ingredient in the recipe of genocide. Each was present during World War II. Xperimental Genocide delves into the "what ifs" as Dr. Ackerman is tasked with summoning the hatred within a young girl that was born from the ashes of Hitler’s hatred of the Jewish people. Faced with the decision to follow orders or his own ethics, Dr. Ackerman finds himself deep in trenches of Hitler’s Xperimental Genocide.

A "Bluebeard" story in which a young woman marries a man whom she discovers has killed his previous wives and is trying to kill her as well.

Anno Domini 1076. Sopravvissuta alla strage della sua famiglia, Doralice di Lacus trova ospitalità a Canossa, dove la grancontessa Matilda la accoglie come una figlia. Quando l'orrore per l'assassinio dei suoi genitori sembra aver lasciato posto a una tranquilla quotidianità, i piani di conquista di Enrico IV sconvolgono il suo mondo. Tristan di Holstein, indomito guerriero forgiato da mille battaglie, ha un'ultima missione prima di riconquistare la libertà: deve colpire al cuore Matilda, strappandole quanto ha di più prezioso.

Nine-year-old Olivia Friel is delighted to be spending the summer at Greyfriars House, a place where her parents, their family and friends are always happy. But this year there's an underlying tension that Olivia doesn't understand. Then one night she sees something she's not meant to, and accidentally lets slip a devastating betrayal. Charlotte Friel gets a call from her ailing mother, asking something she's never asked before: for Charlotte to come home. There are things Olivia needs to tell her daughter before it's too late, secrets to be shared about forgotten relatives and a mysterious house.

When Jane’s lover, Tom, returns from the navy to find her unhappily married to his betrayer, Jane is caught in an impossible situation. Still reeling from the loss of her mother at the hands of the witchfinder, Jane has no choice but to continue her dangerous work as a healer while keeping her young daughter safe. But as Tom searches for a way for him and Jane to be together, the witchfinder is still at large. Filled with vengeance, the witchfinder will stop at nothing in his quest to rid England of the scourge of witchcraft.

In 1933, Mississippi was in the throes of both the Great Depression and Prohibition. Dirt-poor living was the way of life for most. Some folks were forced to turn to any means possible to put food on the table. In Winchester County, the Lawtons turned to brewing moonshine to make ends meet. Though dangerous and illegal, their operation ran smoothly until John Kirkwood, a highly ambitious federal revenue agent, came to town. Thanks to a dirty deal with a man with deep pockets, Kirkwood sees ridding Winchester County of its moonshiners as his way to fortune.

New Hampshire, 1877. Maud Price was once a celebrated child medium, a true believer in lifting the veil between the living and the dead. Now penniless, her guiding spirits gone, the so-called “Maid of Light” is desperate to regain her reputation—but doing so means putting her faith in deceiving others.

The events which killed dozens of people and put the word "werewolf" on people's lips have been covered up. Deaths blamed on gang warfare, drugs, and costumes. A secret operation is in process to make sure that the truth about what happened in Boxford stays buried. But some things refuse to lie down and be still. There are perpetual loose ends that continue to multiply and carry on a legacy that began well before the Second World War.

There is lots of room for debate throughout the world about a man named Cartaphilus. Many people of good reputation claim to have spoken to him, and throughout history, some have claimed to have personally known him. There is no mention of Cartaphilus in the Bible, so many of us would write off these tales as folklore.

Anglo-Saxon England, AD 997. Brother Galen is anxious about leaving the haven of his abbey. Suddenly reconciled with his father after being disowned, he fears he will never again fit in with his estranged family. But when he’s commissioned to produce a manuscript for the king, the shy scribe has the chance to visit his relatives after three years of banishment.

This is the story of a beautiful peasant girl and a farm boy who fall in love in the South of France, years before she becomes mi Lady, the Duchess of Harcourt, and he becomes...something else. It is also the story of William de Parlimae, their childhood companion, whose path takes a different turn.

From a daring Confederate raid that nearly seized Washington, DC, to a stunning reversal on the bloody fields of Cedar Creek, the summer and autumn of 1864 witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of our Civil War, in mighty battles now all but forgotten.