Book picks similar to
Grace, Grits and Ghosts: Southern Short Stories by Susan Gabriel
short-stories
ebook
southern-fiction
horror
Before the Harvest
Kimberly A. Bettes - 2012
Louis to the safety of the countryside, they don't realize that the rural town they think of as a protective haven is loaded with secrets, and the farm they lease is far from safe. It is cursed land, and they're about to find out the hard way that danger lurks everywhere, even in a small, peaceful farming community.
AND SO HAS THEIRS...
Will the Martins live to see dawn, or will they only add to the rising body count?
How to Hang a Witch
Adriana Mather - 2016
Recently transplanted from New York City, Sam and her stepmother are not exactly welcomed with open arms. Sam is the descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for those trials and almost immediately, she becomes the enemy of a group of girls who call themselves The Descendants. And guess who their ancestors were?If dealing with that weren't enough, Sam also comes face to face with a real live (well technically dead) ghost. A handsome, angry ghost who wants Sam to stop touching his stuff. But soon Sam discovers she is at the center of a centuries old curse affecting anyone with ties to the trials. Sam must come to terms with the ghost and find a way to work with The Descendants to stop a deadly cycle that has been going on since the first accused witch was hanged. If any town should have learned its lesson, it's Salem. But history may be about to repeat itself.
Parallel
Claudia Lefeve - 2011
Saddled with powers she doesn't understand, Etta Fleming's world is turned upside-down the day she meets Cooper Everett, the man who transports her to an alternate reality. A reality she was meant to be a part of. One minute, she's an orphan living at Dominion House for Girls, an institution for delinquent foster kids, then finds herself attending the exclusive Dominion Hall Academy. Plucked from the only world she's ever known, Etta now has to deal with an aunt she never knew, a boyfriend she doesn't know, and a best friend who can't know. PARALLEL is the first book in the Travelers Series.
Let Her Be
Lisa Unger - 2020
This time he plans to prove he’s right in a New York Times bestselling author’s haunting short story of what happens when seeing is not believing.Will, an aspiring novelist, can’t stop parsing his ex-girlfriend’s popular social media accounts for clues that her ideal new rural life with the perfect man has a dark side. After all, nobody he knows has actually seen the blissful blogger in the flesh for nearly a year. When Will draws a wary friend into his “investigation,” the real question becomes who’s truly in danger.Lisa Unger’s Let Her Be is part of Hush, a collection of six stories, ranging from political mysteries to psychological thrillers, in which deception can be a matter of life and death. Each piece can be read or listened to in one truly chilling sitting.
Ghost Gifts
Laura Spinella - 2016
Her remarkable gift may help others rest in peace, but it also made for an unsettling childhood and destroyed her marriage. Finally content as the real estate writer for a local newspaper, Aubrey keeps her extraordinary ability hidden—until she is unexpectedly assigned the story of a decades-old murder.Rocked by the discovery of a young woman’s skeletal remains, the New England town of Surrey wants answers. Hard-nosed investigative reporter Levi St John is determined to get them. Aubrey has no choice but to get involved, even at the terrifying risk of stirring spirits connected to a dead woman’s demise and piquing her new reporting partner’s suspicions.As Aubrey and Levi delve further into the mystery, secrets are revealed and passion ignites. It seems that Aubrey’s ghost gifts are poised to deliver everything but a normal life.
The House on Fisher Street
Amy Cross - 2021
Protected by a state-of-the-art security system, this particular house is clearly owned by someone who has a lot of money. Somebody definitely lives there, yet he never leaves the property. He lives all alone, adhering to a strict routine, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world.Paula has already told her boyfriend Ryan that they're leaving town, and that they have to put their criminal activities in the past. When they're offered the chance to help break into the house on Fisher Street, however, they find themselves tempted by the prospect of one final payday. If the rumors about the house are true, they could make enough money to start their new lives with a bang. And the plan is so good, so airtight, that nobody has to get hurt.By the time they realize their mistake, Paula, Ryan and Davey are in a trap from which no-one has ever escaped before.Edward Van Dorsey is far from defenseless. Obsessed with his family's military history, Edward needs fresh victims for his hideous games. All he wants is to show the world that the Van Dorsey family can rise again and reclaim its position as one of the most powerful forces in the world. And while he waits for an opportunity to really show his strength, he's more than happy to hone his skills by taking out three helpless intruders.The House on Fisher Street is a horror novel about a girl who wants a fresh start, a man who wants to bring back the glory days, and a house that hides all manner of dark secrets.
Trance
Adam Southward - 2019
He is in control. This is his revenge—and he’s only just begun.Three university scientists are found dead in a gruesome murder-suicide, and the only suspect in the case, Victor Lazar, is quickly captured. When the spate of violent suicides follows him to prison he is moved to solitary confinement, reserved for the highest-risk inmates. And then his assigned psychologist inexplicably takes his own life.Alex Madison, a former forensic psychologist turned private therapist, is brought in to interview Victor. He suspects that Victor is controlling his victims, somehow coaxing them into a suggestive trance. It seems like science fiction, but as Alex digs deeper he uncovers a frightening reality of secret research and cruel experimentation—and the perpetrators are closer to home than he could ever have imagined.Too late, Alex learns the true extent of what Victor is capable of—and who he’s after. With everything he holds dear at risk, can Alex take control of a dangerous mind—before it takes control of him?
Out of the Frying Pan
Michelle Griep - 2016
Their zany attempts to track down the killer land them in hot water with Detective Jared Flynn. Should he be concerned about their safety or the criminal's? But there are deadly ingredients none of them expect. Drugs. Extortion. International cartels. And worst of all...broken hearts--especially when the Hopkins sisters’ niece KC arrives on the scene. Before the snooping pair gain any headway with the case, it becomes crystal clear that the sisters share a mysterious secret that takes life from the frying pan and into the line of fire.
The Forgotten Hours
Katrin Schumann - 2019
Katie’s life fell apart almost a decade earlier, during an idyllic summer at her family’s cabin on Eagle Lake when her best friend accused her father of sexual assault. Throughout his trial and imprisonment, Katie insisted on his innocence, dodging reporters and clinging to memories of the man she adores.Now he’s getting out. Yet when Katie returns to the shuttered lakeside cabin, details of that fateful night resurface: the chill of the lake, the heat of first love, the terrible sting of jealousy. And as old memories collide with new realities, they call into question everything she thinks she knows about family, friends, and, ultimately, herself. Now, Katie’s choices will be put to the test with life-altering consequences.
Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes
Karin Slaughter - 2015
She becomes gradually more obsessed with the case, never imagining how close she herself is to danger. Includes an extract from Karin Slaughter’s gripping new novel, Pretty Girls.
The Hand That Feeds You
A.J. Rich - 2015
Everything she holds dear in life is taken away from her in an instant.Devastated and traumatised, Morgan tries to locate Bennett's parents to tell them about their son's death. Only then does she begin to discover layer after layer of deceit. Bennett is not the man she thought he was. And she is not the only woman now in immense danger ...
More Twisted: Collected Stories Vol. II
Jeffery Deaver - 2006
Now the author of the Lincoln Rhyme series ("The Cold Moon" and "The Bone Collector," among others) has compiled a second volume of his award-winning, spine-tingling short stories of suspense.While best known for his twenty-four novels, Jeffery Deaver is also a short story master -- he is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story, and he won the Short Story Dagger from the Crime Writers Association for a piece that appeared in his first short story collection, "Twisted. The New York Times" said of that book: "A mystery hit for those who like their intrigue short and sweet . . . [The stories] feature tight, bare-bones plotting and the sneaky tricks that Mr. Deaver's title promises." The sneaky tricks are here in spades, and Deaver even gives his fans a new Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs story.Deaver is back with sixteen stories in the tradition of O. Henry and Edgar Allan Poe. His subjects range from a Westchester commuter to a brilliant Victorian England caper. With these intricately plotted, bone-chilling stories, Jeffery Deaver is at the top of his crime-writing game.
The Ghost of Marlow House
Bobbi Holmes
Since she's never visited the property, Danielle's not sure what awaits her in Oregon. She certainly doesn't expect to find one of the house's previous owners still in residence. After all, the man has been dead for almost ninety years--shouldn't he have moved on by now? Charming Walt Marlow convinces Danielle the only way he can move on is if she solves the mystery of his death. Danielle soon discovers her real problems may come from the living--those who have their sights on Marlow House's other secrets.
Grace Space: A Direct Sales Tale
Robin Merrill - 2014
So, when she heard that Grace Space Independent Consultants make $40 per hour, she could hardly wait to sign on the dotted line. That signature launched her into a crazy adventure full of embarrassing blunders, kooky characters, and sidesplitting laughs, and it's not long before she starts to wonder if the purple dream is too good to be true.
Force of Nature
Robin Mahle - 2015
The ten year old girl from a small town in Indiana doesn’t understand why she can feel what others feel, or see what others have seen. She only knows the hurt upon looking into the eyes of her mother—the beneficiary of her father’s recent run of bad luck. A streak that has hardened his heart and often finds him drowning in the bottom of a bottle. She tries hard to be just like the other fifth graders, but life at home is hard and the pain is difficult to endure. It isn’t until the day Riley meets Carl Boyd, a Vietnam veteran, that everything changes. Visions of a terrible past, not just from war, but from a life that has stolen much from him, begins to surface in Riley’s mind. But this is far more intense and frightening than anything she has experienced before. Riley discovers her gift is quickly evolving and finds herself swimming in the memories of Carl Boyd, and experiencing a past he can’t put behind him. Even more troubling; perceiving a future of which he doesn’t yet know—a future filled with danger. All are reluctant to come to terms with Riley’s ability, especially her father. But then, he has seen this before.