Book picks similar to
Haunted Ground by Irina Shapiro
mystery
historical-fiction
romance
fiction
Loki's Daughters
Delle Jacobs - 2002
She knows their brutality first hand, having lost the men from her own family and village to their swords. When she encounters and wounds a Viking warrior one stormy night, she has every right to want him dead. Instead, she allows him shelter in her cottage. Although she fears him, his confidence and teasing manner give her pause. He acts as if she belongs to him. As if he knows her. Ronan didn’t expect Arienh to recognize him. Why should she? They were both just children when his uncle forced him into a raid against her village. But Ronan risked his life to protect the young Arienh from his marauding kinsmen. Now that the time has come for Ronan and the other warriors to choose wives, he has returned to claim the beautiful girl who captured his heart so long ago.But for men accustomed simply to taking what they want, wooing the courageous, headstrong Celtic women is easier said than done. And for Arienh, who always sacrificed her own happiness for the sake of her people, trusting—and loving—a Northman may be impossible. By turns poignant and humorous, Loki’s Daughters is a stirring tale of unlikely lovers, forged in dangerously opposite worlds yet bound together by sacrifice, strength, and undeniable passion.
This House Is Haunted
John Boyne - 2013
Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall on a dark and chilling night. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor.When she finally arrives, shaken, at the hall she is greeted by the two children in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There are no parents, no adults at all, and no one to represent her mysterious employer. The children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, a second terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.From the moment she rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence which lives within Gaudlin’s walls. Eliza realises that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past…
Delia's Shadow
Jaime Lee Moyer - 2013
But a dark secret colors her life, for Delia’s most loyal companions are ghosts, as she has been gifted (or some would say cursed) with an ability to peer across to the other side.Since the great quake rocked her city in 1906, Delia has been haunted by an avalanche of the dead clamoring for her help. Delia flees to the other side of the continent, hoping to gain some peace. After several years in New York, Delia believes she is free…until one determined specter appears and she realizes that she must return to the City by the Bay in order to put this tortured soul to rest.It will not be easy, as the ghost is only one of the many victims of a serial killer who was never caught. A killer who after thirty years is killing again. And who is now aware of Delia’s existence.
Moon Dance
J.R. Rain - 2009
Then the unthinkable happens, an attack that changes her life forever. And forever is a very long time for a vampire.Now working the night shift as a private investigator, Samantha is hired by Kingsley Fulcrum to investigate the murder attempt on his life, a horrific scene captured on TV and seen around the country. But as the case unfolds, Samantha discovers Kingsley isn't exactly what he appears to be; after all, there's a reason why he survived five shots to the head...
Sparrow Hill Road
Seanan McGuire - 2014
Trouble was, he didn’t ask Rose what she thought of the idea.It’s been more than sixty years since that night, and she’s still sixteen, and she’s still running.They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by “Rose,” a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what’s his. She’s the angel of the overpass, she’s the darling of the truck stops, and she’s going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it’s not like it can kill her.You can’t kill what’s already dead.
The Shape of Darkness
Laura Purcell - 2021
Still recovering from a serious illness herself, making enough money to support her elderly mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric has never been easy, but then one of her clients is murdered shortly after sitting for Agnes, and then another, and another... Why is the killer seemingly targeting her business?Desperately seeking an answer, Agnes approaches Pearl, a child spirit medium lodging in Bath with her older half-sister and her ailing father, hoping that if Pearl can make contact with those who died, they might reveal who killed them.But Agnes and Pearl quickly discover that instead they may have opened the door to something that they can never put back...
Black Candle
H.P. Bayne - 2018
The ghost of a murdered woman. And one man racing against time to save them both.The ability to see the ghosts of homicide victims has always been more burden than gift and, for Sullivan Gray, it's never been heavier.As the storm of the century pummels the city, he finds himself sucked into a mystery, struggling to decipher clues from a ghost intent on saving a missing teenage girl.His foster family has had his back since childhood, his older brother Dez acting as both wing man and protector. But as he draws nearer to answers, Sullivan finds himself pulled further from his family and increasingly on his own.With time running out, Sullivan races to fulfill the ghost's desperate quest, a path that will take him into a world of witchcraft, dark secrets and murder.One wrong step will leave him a ghost himself.The Sullivan Gray Series provides mystery and suspense with a ghostly edge, and the brother dynamic of shows like Supernatural. Pick up your copy today.
The Storycatcher
Ann Hite - 2013
But they had more in common than she knew. Shelly tried to ignore the haints that warned her Faith’s tyrannical father, Pastor Dobbins, was a devil in disguise. But when Faith started acting strange, Shelly couldn’t avoid the past—not anymore. Critically acclaimed, award-winning author Ann Hite beckons readers back to the Depression-era South, from the saltwater marshes of Georgia’s coast to the whispering winds of North Carolina’s mystical Black Mountain, in a mesmerizing gothic tale about the dark family secrets that come back to haunt us.
The Dark Between
Sonia Gensler - 2013
While mediums dupe the grief-stricken, a group of local fringe scientists seeks to bridge the gap to the spirit world by investigating the dark corners of the human mind.Each running from a shadowed past, Kate, Asher, and Elsie take refuge within the walls of Summerfield College. But their peace is soon shattered by the discovery of a dead body nearby. Is this the work of a flesh-and-blood villain, or is something otherworldly at play? This unlikely trio must illuminate what the scientists have not, and open a window to secrets taken to the grave—or risk joining the spirit world themselves.
Wylding Hall
Elizabeth Hand - 2015
There they create the album that will make their reputation, but at a terrifying cost: Julian Blake, the group’s lead singer, disappears within the mansion and is never seen or heard from again.Now, years later, the surviving musicians, along with their friends and lovers—including a psychic, a photographer, and the band’s manager—meet with a young documentary filmmaker to tell their own versions of what happened that summer. But whose story is true? And what really happened to Julian Blake?
Duet
Eden Winters - 2010
A conqueror’s decree couldn’t separate Aillil Callaghan from his Scottish pride. He wears his clan’s forbidden plaid as a badge of honor, living for the day he can restore his family name and overthrow English tyranny.Fleeing England and persecution, violinist Malcolm Byerly accepts a post in the Highlands as tutor for the sons of Laird Callaghan. He never expects the kilt-wearing force of nature, the Laird’s eldest son, Aillil, or the man’s bitter hatred of all things English, including Malcolm. He doesn’t expect their shared love of music to overcome the barriers between them. Or for their love to be short-lived.Distraught and alone, Aillil grasps for a second chance at love, and vanishes into Highland legend to await the rebirth of his lover. Concert violinist Billy Byerly’s arrival at Callaghan Castle feels like coming home, and the gift of an antique violin awakens memories of another time and place. Billy doesn't believe in ghosts, but a dark-haired Highlander haunts his dreams and the antique violin releases tunes he doesn’t remember learning. But the Lost Laird knows his own.
Any Witch Way You Can
Amanda M. Lee - 2012
To make matters worse, the police believe the murder may have something to do with the occult.This wouldn't be a problem for a normal reporter, but since Bay is descended from a well-known line of actual witches, the town is understandably on edge.Between the suspicious townspeople, the befuddled police presence and that random hot biker guy that may or may not have something to do with the murder -- Bay has her hands full.When you add the typical family problems, multiplying ghosts -- and one monster of a zit that she's sure came from her aunt's curse -- Bay is just struggling to make it through the week.Of course, when the killer sets his sights on Bay, things could get a whole lot worse.
Wraith
Angel Lawson - 2012
Weird. Crazy. These are the names tossed around seventeen-year old Jane Watts by her fellow classmates. But things aren’t always as they seem. Sometimes there’s a reason for talking to yourself in the hallway at school.Adjusting to her new home and school after an abrupt move, Jane just wants to be like everyone else at school. Although she does manage to make one friend, Evan — sixteen, charming and protective. Evan is everything a girl could want in a best friend, with one minor caveat: He’s dead.Caught somewhere between life and death, Evan is tied to Jane and the living world, unable to complete the journey to the other side. She thinks he’s here to be her friend, to take care of her, and that’s why no one else can see or hear him.That is, until a new boy shows up at school after a rumored stretch in juvie. Connor can see Evan and is not convinced that the ghost is completely honest. Past experience taught him how ghosts tend to need something from the humans they connect to and Evan, despite his arguments, isn’t any different.Jane is resentful of Connor’s intrusion but soon realizes that her ghostly friend has secrets about his past. And now Evan's family, still reeling from his tragic death, is in danger. Jane must face her fears and battle Evan’s human demons to free both of them.
Dark Bayou
Nancy K. Duplechain - 2010
That was when we saw the cabin, far off in a corner on the west bank. It was as I had seen it in my dreams—rustic long-forgotten by the world, save for whatever occupied its malevolent little frame. And whatever it was, was nothing more than a black silhouette in a creaking rocking chair on the tiny porch. As I stared at the phantom rocker, it suddenly stopped in mid rock, picked up its head and turned to me, grinning, and started rocking away, never taking its yellow eyes off of me. And there, in the humid twilight of the swamp, a bitter chill washed over me, and my spine felt like ice.When Leigh Benoit returns home to Louisiana for the funeral of her brother and his wife, she becomes increasingly concerned about the welfare of her orphaned niece, Lyla. She is prompted by her grandmother, Clothilde, to move back to take care of her. Leigh has no desire to take on any responsibility, and being home again brings back painful memories. At the funeral, Leigh’s childhood friend, Detective Lucas Castille, tells her the mysterious details of the accident that killed her brother and his wife. Lucas’ young son has dreams of a Dark Man who wishes to harm Lyla. Leigh begins to have similar dreams. She struggles with her rational mind but vows to protect her niece. Soon, she finds out there is more to the story and more to her grandmother than she thought.