Women Horror

When FBI psychic Dr. Aurelia Murphy Hiyakawa is asked in on a case in New Orleans, she soon learns that the missing Gone Girls may as yet be alive and that their abductor is a "collector" rather than a typical serial abductor/killer. With three missing and as yet no clue as to where they may be, the only saving grace is that no bodies have shown up. There is little about this case that resembles anything that "Rae" Hiyakawa has faced before in PSI Blue and DEJA Blue. But the case takes on a new wrinkle that no one could have predicted.

Listeners will discover lost and forgotten women who wrote horror every bit as effectively as their male contemporaries. They will learn about their lives and careers, the challenges they faced as women working in a male-dominated field, the way they overcame those challenges, and the way they approached the genre - which was often subtler, more psychological, and more disturbing.

Whether they are undeniably heroes and heroines or bloodthirsty monsters (or something in between), the undead are a lively lot. This anthology offers some of the best short fiction ever written by the "blood sisters" who know them best: stories you can really sink your teeth into.

When Linnet Shellwin moves into a picturesque Victorian house known as the Valentine Villa - it is as pink and lacy as Valentine card - she looks forward to a long and successful career teaching English in the town's middle school. Then, some members of her out-of-control ninth-grade class concoct a plan to kill her, and a disconnected phone in the house begins to ring.

Sarah Salas buried her clairvoyance at age six, bowing to her family’s insistence that she become “normal”. Sarah’s struggle to suppress her abilities forced her into a lonely, isolated life. Now, her clairvoyance has burst out, and an irresistible psychic pull leads her to a collection of abandoned old photographs in the attic of her new home in the North Cascades. Through each photo Sarah relives the lives of the deceased residents of not only her house, but also its twin, the home of her neighbor Conrad Thompson.

Lindsy Foster, a clairvoyant who uses her abilities to free the living from the dead, finds her newest case troubling. Together with her husband, Mike, they travel to a small Colorado mountain town where dangers lurk at every turn, leading to a horrifying truth.

On her 21st birthday Katie Harper has only one wish: to become a real Harper woman. Mystical powers are passed down her family generation after generation - some even call them witches - yet every spell Katie attempts goes disastrously wrong. When her magic does appear, it’s in a form nobody expected, and suddenly Katie is thrown into a dangerous new world with shadowy consequences. For the realm of the deceased is not as peaceful as she once thought. The dead are buried with their secrets, and only Katie can help the ghosts of the past finally find peace.

Paisley Mott struggles with anxiety. Her particular blend of anxiety causes her to go into a hyper-focused state, which can lead to more anxiety. After the tragic death of her mother, she began to see her anxiety-induced hyper-focus as a strength. Now, she's a paranormal investigator with an up-and-coming web series that is propelling her into becoming an expert in her field.

Return to the most haunted small town in America.... Mackenzie Clair finally has this whole ghost-hunting psychic thing figured out. The Soul Searchers are a hit, she’s got pet-parenting down, and she even has a plan to banish the poltergeist running amok at a lakeside cabin. Best of all, Donn’s Hill feels like home. But not everyone loves the town as much as Mac. A world-famous paranormal debunker thinks the psychics in Donn’s Hill are lying about their abilities.

It’s one thing to get attitude from her teenagers, but when Angela Panther’s newest ghost in distress is an in-her-face, snarky teenage boy, the psychic medium lays down the law. When an unidentified 14-year-old boy takes a dive off an interstate overpass, to solve the case, Atlanta area detective Aaron Banner calls Angela to get the truth about his junior John Doe.

When the body of Shadow Valley resident Dason Williams is discovered in his mother’s basement it appears to be a clear-cut case of suicide, but seasoned paranormal investigator Maureen Keslyn knows otherwise. A photograph on the dead man’s wall links him to a murdered teenage girl whose body bears the marks of a dangerous paranormal creature known as the Medusa. Convinced that the Medusa is on a killing spree, Maureen joins forces with an unwieldy team - Jake, the local sheriff, Matt, the Shadow Valley Manor cook, and Sophronia, a teenage girl with an uncanny affinity for ghosts.

1855, New Hampshire. Lucy Blunt is set to hang for a double murder. Murderess or victim? Only Lucy knows the truth. In the shadow of the gallows, Lucy reflects on the events that led to her bitter downfall - from the moment she arrived at the rambling Burton mansion looking for work and a better life to the grisly murders themselves.

Seven guests. One killer. A holiday to remember. A dark and addictive psychological thriller about seven strangers who find themselves cut off from civilisation in a remote guesthouse in Ireland. You use an app, called Cloud BNB, to book a room online. And on a cold and windy afternoon you arrive at The Guesthouse, a dramatic old building on a remote stretch of hillside in Ireland. You are expecting a relaxing break, but you find something very different. Something unimaginable. Because a killer has lured you and six other guests here, and now you can’t escape.

Lisa needs to disappear. And her friend's rambling old home in the wilds of Yorkshire seems like the perfect place. It's miles away from the closest town, and no one there knows her or her little boy, Joe. But when Lisa meets some of the locals and hears some disturbing rumours about the house, she realises it might not be the sanctuary she thought. What secret has Rowan Isle House - and her friend - kept hidden all these years? And what will Lisa have to do to survive when her own past finally catches up with her?

When Willow is born and her mother dies moments later, only the narrator of this spellbinding debut novel knows the death isn't from complications of childbirth. Amelie-Anais, buried on the Nebraska hilltop where the family home resides, tells the story of deceit, survival, and love from beyond the grave. Following Willow's life and Willow's incredible passion to paint despite loneliness, a physical handicap, and being raised by a father plagued with secrets, Amelie-Anais weaves together the lives of four enigmatic generations.

Helen Clapp's breakthrough work on five-dimensional space-time landed her a tenured professorship at MIT; her popular books explain physics in plain terms. Helen disdains notions of the supernatural in favor of rational thought and proven ideas. So it's perhaps especially vexing for her when, on an otherwise unremarkable Wednesday in June, she gets a phone call from a friend who has just died.

Brenda Strange is back and is spooked by a fishy apparition that leaves wet footprints behind. During her most current murder investigation, she's got the living and the dead wanting a piece of the action.

Aspiring author Graye Templeton will do anything to escape the horrific childhood crime that haunts her. After a life lived in shadows, she’s accepted a new job as protégé to Laura West, influential book blogger and wife of an acclaimed novelist. Laura’s connections could make Graye’s publishing dreams a reality. But there’s more to Laura than meets the eye. Behind the veneer of a charmed life, Laura’s marriage is collapsing. Her once-lauded husband is descending into alcoholism and ruin and bringing Laura nearer to the edge.

John and Wilhelmina Constable uproot their lives in Boston so John can pursue his lifelong dream of becoming an artist. After settling into a beautiful Victorian home on Nantucket, John finds inspiration in the island light that illuminates his attic studio and Willy relaxes happily into the slower pace of seaside life. Painting alone one stormy night, John is startled by the sight of a beautiful ghost. When he admits to his wife what he thinks he’s seen, Willy tries to remain rational and understanding.

Death, accidental and early, has always been Abby Walters's preoccupation. Now 33 and eager to settle down with her commitment-shy boyfriend, a recurring dream from her past returns: a paralyzing nightmare of being buried alive, the taste of dirt in her mouth cloying and real. But this time the dream reveals a name from her family's past. Looking for answers, Abby returns home to small-town Minnesota for the first time in 14 years, where she reconnects with her high school crush, now a police detective on the trail of a violent criminal.