Book picks similar to
The Devil in Canaan Parish by Jackie Shemwell


historical-fiction
louisiana
fiction
southern-fiction

Waking the Merrow


Heather Rigney - 2014
    ISBNs of the original cover edition of WAKING THE MERROW: ISBN-10: 1499114257ISBN-13: 9781499114256In 1772, angry Rhode Island colonists set fire to a British ship, sparking the American Revolution. Taxation without representation was a motivator. So was the vengeful, man-eating mermaid who had it out for the commanding officer. That was then. This is now. Mermaids, or merrow, still hunt in Narragansett Bay, but these days they keep a lower profile. At night, centuries-old Nomia seduces smutty frat boys, lures them into icy waters, and feeds them to her voracious kin. By day, she and her half-breed daughter attempt to blend in at the coastal Village Playground. But Nomia slips up. She makes a friend. Then she makes that friend disappear, and someone notices. Thirty-something Evie McFagan just wants to make it through working motherhood. But she’s a blistering stew of issues—snarky alcoholic and a friendless funeral director who just witnessed Nomia dismembering a guy at the nearby yacht club. When Evie believes a mermaid stole her baby, who will help? The merrow of Ireland? Or maybe anti-hero Evie will surprise everyone, including herself, and summon the strength to save her own family. Intertwining the stories of two primordial families with the colonial history of Narragansett Bay, Waking the Merrow is a dark historical fantasy.

The Plantagenet Vendetta


John Paul Davis - 2014
    They were secretly created during the final hours of the reign of Richard III. Their sole purpose to hunt down and eliminate the descendents of his murderer.By any means necessary.Over five hundred years later the long reign of King James III of England comes to an unexpected end. Less than a week later, the bodies of two Cabinet ministers are discovered in a burning car. Though the deaths of all three are initially assumed to be unconnected, a chance arrest in London yields a bizarre confession. And a sinister warning...Thomas Winchester has been waging war on the enemies of his family ever since graduating from Sandhurst. Youngest nephew of the king, he is celebrated as one of MI5's finest agents - the only man capable of taking on the Royal Family's biggest crisis in recent memory.Meanwhile, a quiet village in the North York Moors mourns a tragic loss. A young girl has vanished, allegedly the victim of a deranged boy who later committed suicide. A year on, television researcher Jennifer Farrelly is sent to follow up the story. The body was never found, and the girl's parents have not given up hope of finding her alive.A locked door in the medieval vaults of a remote Yorkshire church hides something strange: something with the potential to expose a previously untold chapter of England's darkest history. As Farrelly's search for the truth causes her to unwittingly cross paths with that of the royals, she and Winchester have no choice but to form a unique alliance to uncover a secret many have died to protect - a secret that still threatens the very foundation of the monarchy...

Veiled Eyes


C.L. Bevill - 2010
    Thais. The trees sit on a black lake that resembles a dark Louisiana bayou with an evocative aura. The dream includes the presence of a man who seems to know Anna all too well and a group of people with strange telepathic powers, sometimes called veiled eyes. An orphan from Texas, she is on her way east to help out a friend when she encounters two terrifying things. Psychically, she begins to see and hear things through the eyes of an unknown individual, a man who knows more about her than she ever would have imagined. The second thing is that she has been kidnapped by a sociopathic trucker intent on making her his latest victim. When she is rescued by Gabriel Bergeron, a member of the elusive Lake People in Northwestern Louisiana, Anna doesn’t realize that he is her psychic counterpart and she has been inexplicably pulled to the area. She shares their strange colored gold eyes and their distinctive mental powers. They are a reclusive lot and know that Anna is one of them, but has been isolated by unknown circumstances. She is drawn into their incomparable world, something between that of the Creoles and Cajuns, and much in addition to those. There Anna finds a romantic link with Gabriel and the spine-tingling fear of not knowing who to trust. Her return has disturbed the inner workings of the group and threatens to expose secrets long concealed in the murky Louisiana bayous. There are secrets to be divulged about her past and why she was spirited away as an infant. Anna isn’t safe until she discovers the answers she so desperately requires.

The Threshing Circle


Neil Grimmett - 2014
    They enter a labyrinth of forbidden love, betrayals, murder, greed and vendettas, old and new. Then they disappear. A feisty Scottish woman and an irascible, Zorba-like Greek form a reluctant allegiance in a desperate attempt to find and rescue them. They both have very different motives for their involvement. Their search will take them to hidden rituals, ceremonies, remote gatherings, famous monasteries and villages abandoned after decades of vendettas. To the remote island of Gavdos and finally back to a place that, “Even God does not know exists”. They will encounter characters good and evil; some modern and pragmatic, others ancient and magical. All the time they are being stalked by the sons of man who seeks to complete the crimes of his father and sate his own greed and insane desire for vengeance. These men are more animal than human and have been raised in the remote mountains for the sole purpose of carrying out the brutal will of their father. The mystery of the real, hidden Crete runs deep, and THE THRESHING CIRCLE explores some of the myths and romance while not shying away from its often violent nature. By the end choices will have to be made. If such actions are really possible on an island where many Cretans still believe that: “The Cycle of Blood”, can never stop flowing.

John Crow's Devil


Marlon James - 2005
    With language as taut as classic works by Cormac McCarthy, and a richness reminiscent of early Toni Morrison, Marlon James reveals his unique narrative command that will firmly establish his place as one of today's freshest, most talented young writers.In the village of Gibbeah--where certain women fly and certain men protect secrets with their lives--magic coexists with religion, and good and evil are never as they seem. In this town, a battle is fought between two men of God. The story begins when a drunkard named Hector Bligh (the "Rum Preacher") is dragged from his pulpit by a man calling himself "Apostle" York. Handsome and brash, York demands a fire-and-brimstone church, but sets in motion a phenomenal and deadly struggle for the soul of Gibbeah itself. John Crow's Devil is a novel about religious mania, redemption, sexual obsession, and the eternal struggle inside all of us between the righteous and the wicked.

The Defendants


John Ellsworth - 2014
    Ermeline's persecutors are not only the District Attorney but also the Chicago Mob and Illinois governor in this legal thriller. Set in small-town Illinois, the Governor is in the business of accepting payoffs from state contractors on construction jobs. In the end he is at the bottom of the plot to send Ermeline to the execution chamber for the murder she didn't commit. You never win against the Mob, Thaddeus is warned. Now the FBI has the lowdown on the players and Thaddeus needs their help but is afraid they will come after his client too. For Ermeline to walk away from the murder charges Thaddeus Murfee must not only prove her innocence but must also outwit the Mob and the Governor and stay alive himself. A murder trial ensues, which is followed by a show-down between the Mob's hitman and Thaddeus while the surprise ending leaves the reader breathless in this courtroom thriller.

Boxed Set - The Coach House and Daughters


Florence Osmund - 2015
    In her pursuit of a new life, fate draws her to Kansas where she finds refuge in a coach house apartment tucked away behind a three-story Victorian home in the quaint town of Atchison—an ideal place to start over, away from big city life and Richard.But Richard isn’t about to let her go easily, and his convincing attempts to coerce her into believing that she is safer with him in his world than on her own cause Marie to second-guess her own convictions more than once.Scared, confused, and at the brink of deciding what to do in order to find peace in her life, Marie discovers the identity of her real father and his surprising heritage—changing her life more than Richard ever could.Daughters - Discovering the identity of your real father can be life-altering. Just ask Marie. At twenty-six, she is about to meet her father for the first time and sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with him and his family.As she packs her suitcase, Marie wonders how her newfound family will receive her and what she will learn about them…and their ethnicity. While she realizes that her life will change because of them—it is not knowing just how much that scares her.Will Marie find the peace and truth in her life that she so desperately needs, or is it unrealistic for her to think that such disparate lives can freely converge in 1940s middle America? She quickly learns that the answer to that question is not going to come easily.A lot happens as a result of Marie’s visit, but ironically the most significance consequence grows out of an encounter with a twelve-year-old neighbor girl named Rachael.What others are saying:Mary Crocco – “The Coach House is a superbly written book. It will leave the reader thinking about relationships, adversity, independence and growth.” Rebecca's Reads—“Osmund has once again written a good book with a great message. She writes about a conflagratory time period and subject with grace, compassion, love, and understanding. Daughters is a must read for anyone who struggles with, or has struggled with, their own identity.”

SEVEN-X


Mike Wech - 2012
    With the opportunity to break this story, Eddie voluntarily commits himself into the asylum. His journals, video diary and recordings leave a trail of breadcrumbs into a series of radical experimental procedures conducted on patients without their consent. With proof that this vicious serial killer is alive, records of her forced exorcism and the impending birth of the child the world believes is dead, Eddie has the big story that will redeem his life and career.But as Eddie dives deeper into his investigation, he is forced to confront his own demons, becoming an unwilling participant in the asylum's paranormal rehabilitation experiment.__________________________________Please Note: A revised edition of SEVEN-X was released on February 4, 2016 edited by Rachel Kirsch. The previous edition was edited by Robert Scott.SEVEN-X is Amazon Kindle's INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLING NOVEL reaching #1 in Dark Horror and Religious Mystery; as well as a Best Seller in Psychic Suspense, YA Paranormal and Horror in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Australia. This is the first novel in the SEVEN-X Trilogy.For more information visit: www.seven-x.com

The Secret Dead


S.W. Fairbrother - 2014
    She should. She's died enough times. Vivia is a hag, one of the last of her race, and can die, visit the underworld, and return at will. She loves her job helping London's most vulnerable supernaturals, even if her colleague Malcolm drives her round the bend on a daily basis. Then Malcolm is outed as a zombie, and along with his teenage son, flees the police. When Malcolm is captured, he is only able to pass on one message before his dead brain degrades completely: 'He killed me.' When the police find decades-old corpses hidden near Malcolm's home, Vivia begins to realise Malcolm's still-missing son is in a lot more danger than from just a possible zompocalypse...

Mina and the Undead


Amy McCaw - 2021
    After growing up in Whitby, the town that inspired Dracula, Mina loves nothing more than a creepy horror movie. She can't wait to explore the city's darkest secrets - vampire tours, seedy bars, spooky cemeteries, disturbing local myths... And it gets even better when Mina lands a part-time job at a horror movie mansion and meets Jared, Libby's gorgeous housemate, co-worker and fellow horror enthusiast. But the perfect summer bliss is broken when, while exploring the mansion, Mina stumbles upon the body of a girl with puncture marks on her neck, clutching a lock of hair that suspiciously resembles Libby's... Someone is replicating New Orleans' most brutal supernatural killings. Mina must discover the truth and prove her sister's innocence before she becomes the victim of another myth.

The Blue


Scott Kelly - 2012
    He'd love to: getting assaulted, stabbed and spied on is taking its toll on his mind. But, Derek is incapable of recognizing the man tormenting him, or anyone else - not even his own face in the mirror. A brain injury left the young artist with face blindness, a rare condition that renders him unable to identify people by their appearances.Anyone in Derek's world of strangers could be his stalker. In this mind-bending thriller, the talented painter is pushed to a tipping point as his reality unravels at the hands of a madman.The Blue is a gritty, cerebral suspense novel from Scott Kelly, author of the award-winning internet sensation "[SIC]".

Sentinel


Jamie Foley - 2013
    Now Darien’s car is wrecked, his sister is bleeding out, and the only medical aid is at the reclusive Serran Academy.Some say the Serrans have blood-bonds with angels. Some say they have surreal mental abilities. Some say the gods grant them elemental powers.But when the Academy is targeted for harvesting, its secrets—and the collapse of modern civilization—are the least of Darien’s worries.

The Black Witch


Micheal Rivers - 2011
    In an obscure marina off the shores of Maryland a schooner unlike any other ever built was discovered. Dorian and Diana Coe purchased the schooner and sailed from the shores of tranquility into the bowels of hell itself. Prurient tales of suicide, murder, and the disappearance of an entire crew were hand written within the ship's logs. On her decks sailed a well seasoned Captain and crew that never knew the schooner's shadowed past. The new owners ignored the words of men with integrity and sailed the Black Witch in the Spring of 1935. Into the realms of illusion and pure evil the ship and its compliment sailed never knowing the fate awaiting them!

The Mind's Eye


K.C. Finn - 2014
    But Kit has an extraordinary psychic power: she can put herself into the minds of others, see through their eyes, feel their emotions, even talk to them – though she dares not speak out for fear of her secret ability being exposed.As Kit settles into her new life in the North Wales village of Bryn Eira Bach, solitude and curiosity encourage her to gain better control of her gift. Until one day her search for information on the developing war leads her to the mind of Henri, a seventeen-year-old Norwegian boy witnessing the German occupation of his beloved city, Oslo. As Henri discovers more about the English girl occupying his mind, the psychic and emotional bonds between them strengthen and Kit guides him through an oppressive and dangerous time. There are secrets to be uncovered, both at home and abroad, and it’s up to Kit and Henri to come together and fight their own battles in the depths of the world’s greatest war.

Girl Through Glass


Sari Wilson - 2016
    Enduring the mess of her parent’s divorce, she finds escape in dance—the rigorous hours of practice, the exquisite beauty, the precision of movement, the obsessive perfectionism. Ballet offers her control, power, and the promise of glory. It also introduces her to forty-seven-year-old Maurice DuPont, a reclusive, charismatic balletomane who becomes her mentor.Over the course of three years, Mira is accepted into the prestigious School of American Ballet run by the legendary George Balanchine, and eventually becomes one of “Mr. B’s girls”—a dancer of rare talent chosen for greatness. As she ascends higher in the ballet world, her relationship with Maurice intensifies, touching dark places within herself and sparking unexpected desires that will upend both their lives.In the present day, Kate, a professor of dance at a Midwestern college, embarks on a risky affair with a student that threatens to obliterate her career and capsizes the new life she has painstakingly created for her reinvented self. When she receives a letter from a man she’s long thought dead, Kate is hurled back into the dramas of a past she thought she had left behind.Told in interweaving narratives that move between past and present, Girl Through Glass illuminates the costs of ambition, secrets, and the desire for beauty, and reveals how the sacrifices we make for an ideal can destroy—or save—us.