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A Ghost of Caribou: A Novel of Suspense (Alex Carter Series #3)

by Alice Henderson

Building upon the highly acclaimed debut of Alice Henderson’s A Solitude of Wolverines and its follow-up thriller A Blizzard of Polar Bears comes the eagerly anticipated and electrifying third installment A Ghost of Caribou, in which wildlife biologist Alex Carter encounters an unsolved murder and a town in turmoil while in search of this majestic, all-but-vanished animal. When a remote camera on a large, rugged expanse held by the Land Trust for Wildlife Conservation picks up a blurry image of what could be a mountain caribou, they contact Alex Carter to investigate. After all, mountain caribou went extinct in the contiguous U.S. years ago, and if one has wandered down from Canada, it’s monumental.But when Alex arrives on scene in the Selkirk mountains of northeastern Washington state, she quickly learns that her only challenge isn’t finding an elusive caribou on a massive piece of land. The nearby townspeople are agitated; loggers and activists clash over a swath of old growth forest marked for clearcutting. The murdered body of a forest ranger is found strung up in the town’s park, and Alex learns of a backcountry hiker who went missing in the same area the year before.As she ventures into the forest in search of the endangered animal, she quickly finds herself in a fight for her life, caught between factions warring for the future of the forest and a murderer stalking the dense groves of ancient trees.

A Ghost's Story: A Novel

by Lorna Gibb

&“A fascinating story of what it might be like to be a ghost, and the longing in us that makes us want them to exist.&”—Glasgow Herald, &“Books of the Year&” Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, séances and spiritualist meetings grew in popularity. One &“ghost&” appeared more than any other: the Katie King spirit. Blending historical fact and fiction, A Ghost&’s Story presents the mysterious spirit writings and biographical outpourings of Katie King, this famous and enigmatic spirit celebrity. A profound and curious consciousness guided into this realm by the faith of true believers, or the cheap trickery of parlor cheats and exploitative swindlers? Katie King is both, and more. This is the tale of a ghost&’s quest to understand human faith, loss, and passion. It is also the tale of a contemporary scholar desperate to understand the allure of the spirit world, journeying with Katie from the candle-lit drawing rooms of Victorian London to the Imperial Palaces of Tsars; from the shadiest of gimmicks and tricks, to the most poignant sincerity of the deathbed wish.A Ghost&’s Story features a narrator like no other, moving in and out of time and space, obstreperous, witty, and profoundly honest. Above all, this inventive novel is an examination of belief, and a spectacular insight into what lies on the other side. &“At turns spooky and comical, Gibb deftly weaves fact with fiction so that each page shimmers ectoplasmically with uncertainty.&”—Irish Mail &“Compelling...add in a supporting cast of rogues, charlatans and true believers and the theatrical trappings of seances and you are pitched in a world that is rich and strange.&”—Sunday Express

A Ghost, a Witch and a Goblin

by Rosalind Fry

Three short scary stories for Halloween, midnight or any time. A clever man who doesn't want to be a barber, tricks some ghosts. With magical help, a motherless little girl escapes being eaten by Baba Yaga. A tailor doesn't let a giant goblin stop his delivery. Most pictures are described. These stories are adapted from old folk tales from Bengal, Russia and Scotland. They are easy reading for young readers.

A Ghostly Collection (3 books in 1)

by Mary Downing Hahn

The ultimate gift for young readers who love thrills, chills, and spooky stories, here are three haunting tales from award-winning master of middle grade horror Mary Downing Hahn, together in one ghostly collection. Are you ready for a hauntingly good read? There are scares aplenty in this enticing collection of three of Mary Downing Hahn's most popular books: Took, The Girl in the Locked Room, and The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall. Daniel&’s little sister disappears in a forest haunted by witches and beasts. Jules is sure that someone—or something—lurks in the upstairs of her new house. Vengeful Spirit Sophia stalks the shadows of a gloomy manor, and dreams of the girl inside. Three of award-winning author Mary Downing Hahn&’s spookiest tales come together in this gathering of ghosts. Guaranteed to give you goosebumps!

A Ghostly Demise: A Ghostly Southern Mystery (Ghostly Southern Mysteries)

by Tonya Kappes

The prodigal father returns—but this ghost is no holy spirit. Third in the chilling series from the USA Today–bestselling author of A Ghostly Grave.When she runs into her friend’s deadbeat dad at the local deli, undertaker Emma Lee Raines can’t wait to tell Mary Anna Hardy that he’s back in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, after five long years. Cephus Hardy may have been the town drunk, but he didn’t disappear on an epic bender like everyone thought: He was murdered. And he’s heard that Emma Lee’s been helping lost souls move on to that great big party in the sky.Why do ghosts always bother Emma Lee at the worst times? Her granny’s mayoral campaign is in high gear, a carnival is taking over the town square, and her hunky boyfriend, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, is stuck wrestling runaway goats. Besides, Cephus has no clue whodunit . . . unless it was one of Mrs. Hardy’s not-so-secret admirers. All roads lead Emma Lee to that carnival—and a killer who isn’t clowning around.

A Ghostly Gallery

by Joan Aiken

The stories in A Ghostly Gallery were written over a period of sixty years, the whole length of Joan Aiken's writing career; some appeared in her very first collections of what her father Conrad Aiken called "Twentieth century Fairy stories for the young of all ages." Stories include A Roomful of Leaves, where a boy escapes an unbearable family and disappears into the Elizabethan past, and the luminously uplifting Watkyn Comma about a ghost mouse who rescues a lonely heroine. These stories often inspired by dreams and myths are written to comfort and console. Some appeared in anthologies, such as a Pan Ghost Book, or in her own collections for younger readers, which came out in England and America. As she moved away from overtly scary stories towards the end of her life, these are her gentler tales of mystery and imagination. Two of the stories have not previously appeared in an Aiken collection.Dancing in the Air, and Lungewater

A Ghostly Gathering

by Mary Downing Hahn

A bewitched doll, a vengeful spirit, and a haunted mansion populate three haunting tales from award-winning author Mary Downing Hahn. Spine-chilling and spooky, these stories of the supernatural will thrill readers who love to be scared . . . just enough. Set during the Flu epidemic of 1918, One for Sorrow introduces Annie, a new girl at school, who is immediately claimed as best friend by Elsie—a tattletale, a liar, and a thief. Soon Annie makes other friends and finds herself joining them in teasing and tormenting Elsie. Elsie dies from influenza, but then she returns to reclaim Annie's friendship and punish all the girls who bullied her. In Took, a witch called Old Auntie is lurking near Dan's family's new home. He doesn't believe in her at first, but is forced to accept that she is real and take action when his little sister, Erica, is "took" to become Auntie's slave for the next fifty years.The Old Willis Place follows Diana and her little brother Georgie, who have been living in the woods behind the old Willis place, a decaying Victorian mansion, for what already seems like forever. They aren’t allowed to leave the property or show themselves to anyone. But when a new caretaker comes to live there with his young daughter, Lissa, Diana is tempted to break the mysterious rules they live by and reveal herself so she can finally have a friend. Somehow, Diana must get Lissa’s help if she and Georgie ever hope to release themselves from the secret that has bound them to the old Willis place for so long.

A Ghostly Grave

by Tonya Kappes

There's a ghost on the loose--and a fox in the henhouseFour years ago, the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home put Chicken Teater in the ground. Now undertaker Emma Lee Raines is digging him back up. The whole scene is bad for business, especially with her granny running for mayor and a big festival setting up in town. But ever since Emma Lee started seeing ghosts, Chicken's been pestering her to figure out who killed him.With her handsome boyfriend, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, busy getting new forensics on the old corpse, Emma Lee has time to look into her first suspect. Chicken's widow may be a former Miss Kentucky, but the love of his life was another beauty queen: Lady Cluckington, his prize-winning hen. Was Mrs. Teater the jealous type? Chicken seems to think so. Something's definitely rotten in Sleepy Hollow--and Emma Lee just prays it's not her luck.

A Ghostly Mortality: A Ghostly Southern Mystery

by Tonya Kappes

That ghost sure looks . . . familiar Only a handful of people know that Emma Lee Raines, proprietor of a small-town Kentucky funeral home, is a “Betweener.” She helps ghosts stuck between here and the ever-after—murdered ghosts. Once Emma Lee gets them justice they can cross over to the great beyond. But Emma Lee’s own sister refuses to believe in her special ability. In fact, the Raines sisters have barely gotten along since Charlotte Rae left the family business for the competition. After a doozy of an argument, Emma Lee is relieved to see Charlotte Rae back home to make nice. Until she realizes her usually snorting, sarcastic, family-ditching sister is a . . . ghost. Charlotte Rae has no earthly idea who murdered her or why. With her heart in tatters, Emma Lee relies more than ever on her sexy beau, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross…because this time, catching a killer means the Raines sisters will have to make peace with each other first.

A Ghostly Murder: A Ghostly Southern Mystery (Ghostly Southern Mysteries)

by Tonya Kappes

This psychic undertaker knows there’s only one cure for a bad case of murder. Fourth in the cozy paranormal mystery series following A Ghostly Demise.I told you I was sick, reads the headstone above Mamie Sue Preston’s grave. She was the richest woman in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, and also the biggest hypochondriac. Ironic, considering someone killed her—and covered it up perfectly. And how does Emma Lee, proprietor of the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home, know all this? Because Mamie Sue’s ghost told her, that’s how. And she’s offering big bucks to find the perp.The catch is, Mamie Sue was buried by the Raines family’s archrival, Burns Funeral Home. Would the Burnses stoop to framing Emma Lee’s granny? With an enterprising maid, a penny-pinching pastor, and a slimy Lexington lawyer all making a killing off Mamie Sue’s estate, Emma Lee needs a teammate—like her dreamboat boyfriend, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross. Because with millions at stake, snooping around is definitely bad for Emma Lee’s health.

A Ghostly Reunion: A Ghostly Southern Mystery (Ghostly Southern Mysteries #5)

by Tonya Kappes

Emma Lee Raines sees dead people—the Ghostly Southern Mystery series continues with a whodunit “as entertaining and engaging as the previous books” (Kings River Life Magazine).Proprietor of the Eternal Slumber Funeral Home, Emma Lee can see, hear, and talk to ghosts of murdered folks. And when her high school nemesis is found dead, Jade Lee Peel is the same old mean girl—trying to come between Emma Lee and her hot boyfriend, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, all over again.There’s only one way for Emma Lee to be free of the trash-talking ghost—solve the murder so the former prom queen can cross over.But the last thing Jade Lee wants is to leave the town where she had her glory days. And the more Emma Lee investigates on her own, the more complicated Miss Popularity turns out to be. Now Emma Lee will have to work extra closely with her hunky lawman to get to the twisty truth.

A Ghostly Undertaking

by Tonya Kappes

A funeral, a ghost, a murder . . . It's all in a day's work for emma lee raines . . .Bopped on the head from a falling plastic Santa, local undertaker Emma Lee Raines is told she's suffering from "funeral trauma." It's trauma all right, because the not-so-dearly departed keep talking to her. Take Ruthie Sue Payne--innkeeper, gossip queen, and arch-nemesis of Emma Lee's granny--she's adamant that she didn't just fall down those stairs. She was pushed.Ruthie has no idea who wanted her pushing up daisies. All she knows is that she can't cross over until the matter is laid to eternal rest. In the land of the living, Emma Lee's high-school crush, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, isn't ready to rule out foul play. Granny Raines, the widow of Ruthie's ex-husband and co-owner of the Sleepy Hollow Inn, is the prime suspect. Now Emma Lee is stuck playing detective or risk being haunted forever.

A Ghoul's Guide to Love and Murder

by Victoria Laurie

Medium M. J. Holliday battles demons in the tenth Ghost Hunter Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of No Ghouls Allowed.M.J., Heath, and Gilley, are back home in Boston, where their new film is sure to be a monster hit! To promote the film, the studio is sponsoring a special exhibit of supernatural artifacts at a local museum. Unfortunately, Gilley--whose mind is engaged with wedding plans--gets talked into donating to the exhibit the very dagger that keeps the dangerous ghost Oruç and his pet demon locked down in the lower realms. Before M.J. can recover the bewitched blade, there's a murder and a heist at the museum, and the dagger is stolen. Now Oruç is coming for M.J. and her crew, and he's bringing with him some fiendish friends from M.J.'s haunted past. She, Gilley, and Heath are certain to be in for a devil of a time. M.J. may even need to recruit a certain skeptical Boston detective to help stop the paranormal party crashers from turning Gilley's wedding bells to funeral knells. . . .From the Paperback edition.

A Gift for Dying: The gripping psychological thriller and Sunday Times bestseller

by M. J. Arlidge

The totally gripping psychological thriller, from the million-copy bestselling author of the Helen Grace series. 'The perfect psychological thriller' 5***** Reader Review ________ Nothing surprises Adam Brandt anymore. As a forensic psychologist, he's seen and heard everything. That is, until he meets Kassie. Because she claims to have a terrible gift - with one look into your eyes, she can see when and how you will die. Adam doesn't believe her. But then a serial killer starts wreaking havoc across the city, and only Kassie seems to know where he'll strike next. Against all his intuition, Adam starts to think Kassie might be telling the truth. He just doesn't realise how dangerous this trust might be . . . ________ 'Strikingly well-told, and with a compelling central character' Daily Mail 'Keeps you guessing right to the end' 5***** Reader Review Praise for M. J. Arlidge: 'Page-turningly chilling' The Times 'Taut, fast-paced, truly excellent' Sun

A Gift of Magic

by Lois Duncan

When the old woman died, she left each of her grandchildren something very special. For Kirby, the gift of dance. For Brendon, the gift of music. And for Nancy, the most extraordinary gift of all . . . the gift of magic.

A Girl Like Us: A Novel

by Anna Sophia McLoughlin

Succession meets Saltburn in a crackling locked-room thriller of inconceivable wealth, unchecked power, and the secrets poised to bring a powerful family down.It's 2004 and former reality TV star and party girl Maya Miller has just married the most eligible bachelor on the planet: Colin Sterling, of the globally famous Sterling family whose history of aristocratic titles and land holdings rival a British royal and whose media empire is comparable to the Murdochs. To some, Maya represents the American dream. To others, a gold digger. But when Colin's cousin Arianna, the heiress to the family's immense fortune, is found murdered, Maya is thrust into the spotlight: first as she is revealed to be the next heiress to the fortune, and then as the prime suspect.Swiftly, the entire Sterling family goes into lockdown at Silver House, the family's ancestral estate in the English countryside. They're told it's for their own safety—but Maya becomes convinced that it's not to keep threats out, but to keep secrets in. Now, she has no choice but to find and expose the truth hidden within the Sterling family, and why Arianna, a girl she had never met, chose her to take her place. But Maya has secrets of her own. And she knows that in order to survive the Sterlings, she'll have to beat them at their own game.

A Girl Walks into the Forest

by Madeleine Roux

Midsommar meets The Shadows Between Us in this alluring mash-up of horror and fairy tale from New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Roux, where a girl must embark on a harrowing journey through a deadly forest filled with otherworldly creatures, supernatural forces, and one maniacal villain who will stop at nothing to bring her down. For as long as she can remember, Valla’s been told her beauty would give her a life most people only dreamed of. So when the mysterious Count Leonid calls on her to be his betrothed, Valla jumps at the chance to leave her small, bleak village. The only thing standing in her way? The journey through the dangerous Gottyar Wood that many don’t survive.Filled with deadly and cunning creatures, the Gottyar immediately delivers on its reputation with an attack that leaves Valla injured; her face torn to shreds. Barely making it to the castle in one piece, Valla is relieved to finally be safe. But things have changed. Valla’s face is no longer beautiful. And the Count is not happy…Valla thought making it through the Gottyar was a victory, but when she sees what awaits beyond the palace walls, the true battle begins.In this ruthlessly female-forward narrative that borrows from the best of horror, fairy tales, and folklore, a chewed-up-and-spit-out heroine must lean on the brutality of nature and her biggest fears in order to win back what’s she's been robbed of: her life.

A Girl of White Winter (A Dark Glass Novel #3)

by Barb Hendee

Kara, as a ward with no parentage and no future, has been raised knowing nothing outside her lady’s chambers. Until Royce Capello, a visiting nobleman, is struck by her ice-pale looks, and demands her as payment for the land the family needs. With barely time to protest, Kara is sold and packed off for a life as a concubine—until a raiding party descends on Royce’s company and she’s kidnapped for the second time in as many days. Whatever happens, Kara will be alone in the world, inexperienced and fearing even the vast unfamiliar sky. But one raider gives her a choice—and a magic mirror appears to show her where each path will lead… ~She can leave with her protector Raven and journey with his performing troupe, competing for his mercurial affections. ~She can flee the raiders’ settlement, and return to Royce’s manor, chattel among devious nobility. ~Or she can stay in the settlement, bound to firm, silent Caine, who is as gentle as he is staid and inscrutable. Her fates twist and turn to affect far more than she could have guessed, tangling the bitter with the sweet—and Kara must choose which consequences she can live with… A GIRL OF WHITE WINTER New York Times bestselling author Barb Hendee reveals a hidden world where the twists and turns of one woman’s path will be determined by a crucial choice . . .

A Girl, a Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills

by Lizabeth Zindel

When Holly's mother dies unexpectedly, she thinks things can't get much worse. But then her dad starts dating again. And his new girlfriend is Holly's aunt-her mom's sister! Aunt Claudia is known in Hollywood as the Queen of B Movies. Horror films, zombie flicks, she's made them all. Holly never liked her aunt, but now she positively can't stand her. Especially once the ghost of her mother appears and tells Holly that Claudia was to blame for her death. Inspired by Hamlet, this funny novel about the danger of family secrets is a modern comic take on a classic Shakespearean tragedy. .

A Golden Grave: A Rose Gallagher Mystery (The Rose Gallagher Mysteries #2)

by Erin Lindsey

The follow-up to Murder on Millionaires' Row, Erin Lindsey's second historical mystery follows Rose Gallagher as she tracks a killer with shocking abilities through Gilded Age Manhattan. Rose Gallagher always dreamed of finding adventure, so her new life as a freshly-minted Pinkerton agent ought to be everything she ever wanted. Only a few months ago, she was just another poor Irish housemaid from Five Points; now, she’s learning to shoot a gun and dance the waltz and throw a grown man over her shoulder. Better still, she’s been recruited to the special branch, an elite unit dedicated to cases of a paranormal nature, and that means spending her days alongside the dashing Thomas Wiltshire.But being a Pinkerton isn’t quite what Rose imagined, and not everyone welcomes her into the fold. Meanwhile, her old friends aren’t sure what to make of the new Rose, and even Thomas seems to be having second thoughts about his junior partner. So when a chilling new case arrives on Rose’s doorstep, she jumps at the chance to prove herself – only to realize that the stakes are higher than she could have imagined. Six delegates have been murdered at a local political convention, and the police have no idea who–or what–is responsible. One thing seems clear: The killer’s next target is a candidate for New York City mayor, one Theodore Roosevelt.Convinced that something supernatural is afoot, Rose and Thomas must track down the murderer before Roosevelt is taken out of the race–permanently. But this killer is unlike any they’ve faced before, and hunting him down will take them from brownstones to ballrooms to Bowery saloons. Not quite comfortable anywhere, Rose must come to terms with her own changed place in society–and the fact that some would do anything to see her gone from it entirely.

A Good House for Children

by Kate Collins

The perfect place to destroy a family...The Reeve stands on the edge of the Dorset cliffs, awaiting its next inhabitants. Despite Orla's misgivings, her husband insists this house will be the perfect place to raise their two children.In 1976, Lydia moves to Dorset as a nanny for a family grieving their patriarch. She soon starts to hear and feel things that cannot be real, but her bereaved employer does not listen when Lydia tells her something is wrong.Separated by forty years, both Lydia and Orla realise that the longer they stay at the Reeve, the more deadly certain their need to keep the children safe from whatever lurks inside it...Nothing is quite what it seems at the Reeve, and with its pervasive atmosphere of claustrophobia and dread, Kate Collins' gothic creation will chill you to the core.

A Good House for Children: A Novel

by Kate Collins

"A feminist gothic that evokes Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House." -- New York Times Book ReviewOnce upon a time Orla was: a woman, a painter, a lover. Now she is a mother and a wife, and when her husband Nick suggests that their city apartment has grown too small for their lives, she agrees, in part because she does agree, and in part because she is too tired to think about what she really does want. She agrees again when Nick announces with pride that he has found an antiquated Georgian house on the Dorset cliffs—a good house for children, he says, tons of space and gorgeous grounds. But as the family settles into the mansion—Nick absent all week, commuting to the city for work—Orla finds herself unsettled. She hears voices when no one is around; doors open and close on their own; and her son Sam, who has not spoken in six months, seems to have made an imaginary friend whose motives Orla does not trust.Four decades earlier, Lydia moves into the same house as a live-in nanny to a grieving family. Lydia, too, becomes aware of intangible presences in the large house, and she, like Orla four decades later, becomes increasingly fearful for the safety of the children in her care. But no one in either woman’s life believes her: the stories seem fanciful, the stuff of magic and mayhem, sprung from the imaginations of hysterical women who spend too much time in the company of children.Are both families careening towards tragedy? Are Orla and Lydia seeing things that aren’t there? What secrets is the house hiding? A feminist gothic tale perfectly suited for the current moment, A Good House for Children combines an atmospheric mystery with resonant themes of motherhood, madness, and the value of a woman’s work.

A Good Marriage

by Stephen King

Now a major motion picture, Stephen King's brilliant and terrifying story of a marriage with truly deadly secrets.Darcy Anderson’s husband of more than twenty years is away on one of his routine business trips when the unsuspecting Darcy looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a hidden box under a worktable and in it she discovers a trove of horrific evidence that her husband is two men—one, the benign father of her children, the other, a raging rapist and murderer. It’s a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitively ends “A Good Marriage.”This story was originally published in Stephen King’s acclaimed collection, Full Dark, No Stars.

A Good and Happy Child: A Novel

by Justin Evans

Thirty-year-old George Davies can’t bring himself to hold his newborn son. After months of accepting his lame excuses and strange behavior, his wife has had enough. She demands that he see a therapist, and George, desperate to save his unraveling marriage and redeem himself as a father and husband, reluctantly agrees. As he delves into his childhood memories, he begins to recall things he hasn’t thought of in twenty years. Events, people, and strange situations come rushing back. The odd, rambling letters his father sent home before he died. The jovial mother who started dating too soon after his father’s death. A boy who appeared one night when George was lonely, then told him secrets he didn’t want to know. How no one believed this new friend was real and that he was responsible for the bad things that were happening. Terrified by all that he has forgotten, George struggles to remember what really happened in the months following his father’s death. Were his ominous visions and erratic behavior the product of a grief-stricken child’s overactive imagination (a perfectly natural reaction to the trauma of loss, as his mother insisted)? Or were his father’s colleagues, who blamed a darker, more malevolent force, right to look to the supernatural as a means to end George’s suffering? Twenty years later, George still does not know. But when a mysterious murder is revealed, remembering the past becomes the only way George can protect himself–and his young family.A psychological thriller in the tradition of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History–with shades of The Exorcist–the smart and suspenseful A Good and Happy Child leaves you questioning the things you remember and frightened of the things you’ve forgotten.From the Hardcover edition.

A Gothic Treasury of the Supernatural: Six Novels

by Henry James Robert Louis Stevenson Oscar Wilde Horace Walpole Bram Stoker Mary Shelley

A GOTHIC TREASURY OF THE SUPERNATURAL. What sends chills down our spine when we read a good horror story? Contrary to some modern trends, it is not merely how much blood is spilled or how grotesquely an alien creature or monster is portrayed. Rather, the thrill of terror comes in exploring the depths of the human soul and in discovering the capacity for evil that lies hidden there: the monsters that lurk within us are the most frightening ones of all. These six gothic masterpieces of supernatural horror and suspense provide a wealth of such terrors. The first true gothic novel appeared in 1764: Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. Inspired by a dream in which Walpole saw a huge, armored hand in an ancient castle, the story contains all the elements that have become the earmarks of the gothic novel: a medieval castle, a lost heir who must prove himself in order to claim his fortune, a villain, a love interest, and various supernatural phenomena. The Castle of Otranto influenced countless literary works throughout the nineteenth century. In Geneva during the summer of 1816, Lord Byron, John Polidori, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley) amused one another by making up ghost stories. Mary Shelley's tale was the seed from which her timeless novel Frankenstein grew. Subtitled The Modern Prometheus, it is the spellbinding story of Victor Frankenstein, a doctor who plays God by creating a living being from the bodies of the dead; the tragic monster is ultimately seen as Frankenstein's alter ego. A similar theme appears in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A doctor discovers a potion that has the power to transform him into a fiend whose deeds become more and more horrifying. Awakened by a nightmare, Robert Louis Stevenson feverishly wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in three days, destroyed it, and wrote it again in another three days. In Dracula, Bram Stoker created a monstrous being founded in folklore and legend; it is a tale made the more horrifying by the enduring belief in the possible existence of real vampires. With superhuman power, the vampire Count Dracula lures victims into his clutches and drains them of life until they too join the living dead. Oscar Wilde portrays a beautiful, ever-youthful Adonis who leads a life of decadence in The Picture of Dorian Gray. As Dorian ruins and corrupts those around him, his portrait strangely alters with each new crime he commits. We follow him down this path of decay to a shattering, inevitable climax. In The Turn of the Screw, Henry James, the master of ambiguity, tells the story of a governess, her two charges, and the spiritual presence of a dead valet and a dead governess. If we cannot be sure that these ghosts are real or imagined, there is no doubt about the terror this tangled tale inspires. Complete and together in one volume, these six gothic classics of the supernatural, by great writers who are masters of the macabre, provide new insights--and heightened terrors--with each reading.

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