Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, the lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

    Ever since, it is said, anyone who stays at the cabin is possessed by Gruvik's spirit and driven to drown themselves in the lake. What's more, Gruvik's restless ghost has been seen by many of the local people, prowling the woods by moonlight.Bjørn Werner, a young writer from Oslo, ignored the old superstitions and rented Dead Man's Cabin as a quiet spot to finish his book. Now he has disappeared, and the evidence suggests he threw himself in the lake in a fit of madness. The police write it off as a suicide, but his friends are not so sure. Kai Bugge, Bjørn's psychiatrist, believes in the suicide explanation, while private detective Harald Gran thinks it's a case of murder, and Gabriel Mørk, an expert in the occult, is certain that darker and otherworldly forces are at play. They travel to unravel the mystery of their friend's terrible fate, but not all of them will return alive from their stay at the Lake of the Dead ...André Bjerke's The Lake of the Dead (1942) was voted the all-time best Norwegian crime novel, and its atmospheric 1958 film adaptation is regarded as one of Norway's best films. This new translation is the first-ever American publication of Bjerke's classic, which features an unusual mixture of murder mystery and supernatural horror that will keep readers guessing until the thrilling conclusion.

    She's content with pretty much everything in her life--except with her basement. Even after a renovation, Myra can't go down there without a sense of dread. Her fear deepens when she learns that a body was buried there--the body of Goody Redman, a woman hanged for witchcraft 300 years before.

    While its citizens have fallen on hard times, they’ve managed to survive decades of harsh, northern winters. But when drifter Sarah Pembrooke rolls into town looking for work, the frigid cold will be the least of their worries.

    They built it outside the Suffolk town so it would not infect the healthy with its horrors. But the town itself is long gone, washed away by the North Sea. Only the Leper House remains, a shelter for the unwanted. A bereaved man strays there on a stormy night when the bell tolls once again beneath the waves. In a nearby house, a woman waits for history to repeat itself. When time isn’t what it seems, nor is love and nor are ghosts. And nor are we. The Leper House is a 19,000-word novella, written for Kindle Singles and available here for the first time. Andrew Taylor is a British crime and historical novelist whose books include the international bestseller, The American Boy (a Richard-and-Judy selection), and the Roth Trilogy (filmed for TV as Fallen Angel). Among his many awards are the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Excellence in crime writing. His latest novel is The Scent of Death, winner of the 2013 Historical Dagger.

    Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape—as long as she can keep her past concealed.After exchanging wedding vows, Kate quickly discovers that something isn’t quite right with her husband—or her new family. As Mrs. Matthew Lemont, she must contend with her husband’s disturbing past, his domineering mother, and his overly close sister. Isolated at Lakecrest, the sprawling, secluded Lemont estate, she searches desperately for clues to Matthew’s terrors, which she suspects stem from the mysterious disappearance of his aunt years before. As Kate stumbles deeper into a maze of family secrets, she begins to question everyone’s sanity—especially her own. But just how far will she go to break free of this family’s twisted past?

    Craven. A psychopath takes Trick or Treating a step too far. And a woman's dream of a quiet life is shattered by a knock on the door.Afraid Of The Shadows is a collection of gripping- sometimes funny, always spooky- short stories from some of the biggest names in crime fiction.From possessed sweaters to creepy wardrobes and disco shape shifters, there’s something for everyone in this Halloween bucket of short story goodies making it the perfect companion to snuggle up with as the nights draw in. Though be warned, you might want to leave the lights on...****************************************************************CONTRIBUTORSAfraid Of The Shadows is brought to you by twenty bestselling crime and thriller writers who between them have topped the Sunday Times and Amazon charts, won the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger Award, Gold Dagger Award and New Blood Dagger Award, the Bath Novel Award, the UK National Book Awards and the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award.Special guests:M.W. CravenPeter JamesT.M. LoganMatt WesolowskiTrevor WoodRachael BlokElle Croft (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Heather CritchlowJames Delargy (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Clare EmpsonJo FurnissT.E. KinseyN.J. MackayS.R. MastersPhoebe MorganDominic Nolan (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Robert Scragg (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Victoria Selman (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Kate SimantsAdam Southward (Longlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)****************************************************************Profits from the sale of Afraid Of The Shadows will be donated to the Barnardo's Children in Crisis Covid AppealThis delivers practical and emotional support to vulnerable children caught in a downward spiral of deprivation as a result of the coronavirus crisis.Children and families across the UK are increasingly in or on the brink of poverty as a result of coronavirus.The impact of the second wave is pushing a generation of the most vulnerable children into a downward spiral of deprivation. With your support Barnardo’s can deliver the practical and emotional support families in crisis need.

    Telly, the bus driver, discovers all of the children are missing -- all except one very frightened Billy who has hidden in a cabinet. Where is everyone? Telly and Billy are determined to find the answers.The little town of Rocky Flats is stirred into a frenzy. Nothing like this has ever happened before! Where have the children gone? Why? As the clock ticks and the little town rallies together in the search, will they find the children before it's too late?

    One particular summer, young Beau follows his cousin Sumter into a hidden shack in the woods—and christens this new clubhouse "Neverland."Neverland has a secret history, unknown to the children...The rundown shack in the woods is the key to an age-old mystery, a place forbidden to all. But Sumter and his cousins gather in its dusty shadows to escape the tensions at their grandmother's house. Neverland becomes the place where children begin to worship a creature of shadows, which Sumter calls "Lucy."All gods demand sacrifice...It begins with small sacrifices, little games, strange imaginings. While Sumter's games spiral out of control, twisting from the mysterious to the macabre, a nightmarish presence rises among the straggly trees beyond the bluffs overlooking the sea.And when Neverland itself is threatened with destruction, the children's games take on a horrifying reality—and Gull Island becomes a place of unrelenting terror.

    A new town filled with old secrets. One woman is determined to uncover the truth about her past, but Everwine Manor won’t easily give up the truth.Runa Brandon is naïve and uncertain, and she has been taken advantage of more than once. After disentangling herself from an abusive relationship, Runa begins a new life in Departure Cove, Oregon. Her mother, Asta, believes Departure Cove holds too many secrets that are better left buried, including the identity of Runa’s father.When Runa arrives in Departure Cove, strange things begin to happen. She experiences frightening visions, disturbing dreams, and unexplained physical changes. Then Runa meets Chase Everwine, a wealthy, mysterious man who pursues Runa with a passion that sweeps her off her feet.Runa falls hard for Chase, in spite of Asta’s warnings that his family cannot be trusted. Secrets and puzzles follow in Chase’s wake, and when Runa sees his family’s estate, Everwine Manor, she feels drawn to it. She doesn’t understand why the house calls to her but is compelled to find out.What Runa doesn’t know is that she is part of a long line of women who are blessed with inexplicable gifts and drawn to the power of the sea. As Runa uncovers the astounding secrets of her family tree, she also comes to realize there is more to her husband than meets the eye.

    Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special.Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her - one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

    A magician called Valerian must save his own life within those few days or pay the price for the pact he made with evil so many years ago. But alchemy and sorcery are no match against the demonic power pursuing him. Helping him is his servant, Boy, a child with no name and no past. The quick-witted orphan girl, Willow, is with them as they dig in death fields at midnight, and as they are swept into the sprawling blackness of a subterranean city on a journey from which there is no escape.

    A serial killer.A young widow tormented by unanswered questions. Was Valerie Yates' late husband, a police officer, hunting for the Rose Killer on his own? What was his relationship with the beautiful young woman who was the Rose Killer's third victim? Valerie's search for the truth uncovers the dark secrets of her idyllic little town and puts her squarely in the Rose Killer's path. The question now is: Will she survive?

    All Jesse wants is a simple life teaching at St. Bart’s… and a chance at love with Joe Riley. She realizes that plan has been thwarted when puzzling occurrences at St. Bartholomew Academy for Girls get increasingly dangerous. The danger doesn’t just spring from the ghost who haunts the grounds of St. Bart’s, but from a sinister presence that is not ghostly at all. As she digs into the mystery, threats on her life and the life of her student escalate. Which danger threatens her life the most? The ghost haunting her student or the secrets buried in the school?

    There was nothing to distinguish it from any other quaint, older home nestled within the rural Vermont landscape. For Liz, Charlie, Donna and Willa it was a dream come true; exactly what they needed. Each of them had escaped hardship longing for the comforts of loved ones, hearth and home. The spacious house, the location and the timing all seemed so perfect. But none of them could imagine the horrors that awaited them as the house revealed its secrets.