Spring is officially here, and April is blooming with fresh new reads from the dark side! From familial ghosts to monsters both figurative and literal, to nostalgic nightmares, futuristic fears, and even a murder by cheesecake, this month’s new releases span the gamut from the sweetly spooky to the downright strange.
Not to mention a creepy new blossom climbing up the walls of my own writer’s garden: Another Fine Mess (Minotaur Books) hit bookstores on April 15, the sequel to my horror novel Bless Your Heart. In it, the remaining Evans women (and their friends) are forced to face the possibility that the undead aren’t the only monsters preying on their small town. If you like your horror with a side of humor, heart and mystery, I wrote it for you!
Whatever your tastes, there are a bunch of good books busting out all over this month. Here are just some of them.
FREAKSLAW by Jane Flett
It’s the summer of ’97 when a traveling carnival of troublemakers arrives in a small Scottish town itching for change. As tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic, unwelcoming locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that has been bubbling for centuries is about to be unleashed in this crackling horror debut.
VANISHING WORLD by Sayaka Murata
Sex between married couples has vanished and all children are born by artificial insemination — except for Amane, who decides to go and live in a mysterious new town where all children are raised communally, in this highly imaginative story set in a version of Japan where attitudes to sex and procreation are wildly different to our own.
MURDER BY CHEESECAKE by Rachel Ekstrom Courage
Four of your favorite girlfriends reunite to solve a murder — and the murder weapon is a cheesecake. When Dorothy’s obnoxious date is found dead in a hotel freezer, it not only ruins a gorgeous cheesecake but threatens the elaborate St. Olaf-themed wedding Rose is hosting in the first installment of an all-new Golden Girls Cozy Mystery Series.
SENSELESS by Ronald Malfi
When the mutilated body of a young woman is discovered in the desert on the outskirts of Los Angeles, three storylines converge to create a tapestry of deceit, distrust and unapologetic horror in this supernaturally tinged puzzle-box page-turner set in the City of Angels.
THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS by Chuck Wendig
Twenty years after a camping trip that changed everything and bonded five high school friends forever, the group returns to the woods to find the lost boy that went up a mysterious staircase to nowhere and never came down in this mesmerizing horror novel.
WHEN THE WOLF COMES HOME by Nat Cassidy
After a violent, bloody encounter with a 5-year-old runaway boy’s father, a struggling actress slowly comes to a horrifying understanding of the butchery that follows them as she runs along for both their lives in this fresh take on the horrors that unfold when someone’s deepest fears are conjured into reality.
MAPPING THE INTERIOR by Stephen Graham Jones
Times have been tough for 12-year-old Junior and his family, but when his dad makes a surprise visit late one night, Junior is desperate to make him part of their family again. The only problem is Dad drowned 8 years ago, and bringing back the dead always comes at a cost in this spine-tingling journey through a young boy’s haunted home.
The Chill Quill is a monthly roundup of thriller, horror, mystery, and dark fantasy titles released each month by Lindy Ryan. Read previous editions here.