Jennifer McMahon is the New York Times Bestselling author of thirteen novels including The Winter People and Stay Buried. She's written about ghosts, demons, serial killers, shape-shifting monsters, an evil fairy king, a terrifying swimming pool, and more. She lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with her partner, Drea. When not writing, she spends time growing tropical fruit, exploring the wilds of Florida and seeking out haunted places, real and imagined.

Recommended in this episode: Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon, Why I Love Horror by Becky Siegel Spratford, Hear the Dead by Ann Dávila Cardinal and Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

In Linda Hamilton's The Fourth Wife, Hazel Russon finds herself in an arranged marriage to Jacob Manwaring, a man who lives in the Utah wilderness in the crumbling Manwaring manor with his three other wives and their children. Hazel doesn't know what to expect of her new life, but she never expected a manor home full of mysterious sounds, specters of women, and a terrifying attic that holds too many secrets.

For more from author Linda Hamilton, including her research into Mormon history, check out her Substack.

Recommended in this episode: Neil McRobert's Good Boy and Pretty Evil by Rebekah and David Ian McKendry

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: An interview with author Jennifer McMahon!

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

In Darcie Little Badger's "The Scientist's Horror Story," three friends at a scientific conference meet up and tell ghost stories. One is pure fiction and one is not: which one is scarier?

This short story can be found in the anthology Never Whistle at Night. (The sequel Never Whistle at Night: Part 2 Back for Blood is available for preorder now and will be out in bookstores this August.)

Recommended in this episode: Becky Spratford's Why I Love Horror and T. Kingfisher's The Hollow Places

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: The Fourth Wife by Linda Hamilton

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

TW: This novel includes depictions of death by suicide and harm/death to an animal. We mention it in this episode but do not discuss in depth. Be advised.

What happens when a horror author moves into the suburbs? Murder, of course. In Lindy Ryan's novel Dollface, new resident Jill finds herself at the heart of a slasher plot, straight out of one of her novels.

Recommended in this episode: the Veronica Speedwell series and Bitter Karella's Moonflow

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: "The Scientist's Horror Story" by Darcie Little Badger (found in the anthology Never Whistle at Night)

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

In This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud, Maggie, a young woman trying to survive the Great Hunger in Ireland, is rescued from a workhouse by the enigmatic Lady Catherine, who brings Maggie back to her estate home. She promises Maggie a roof over her head, food to eat, and, eventually, a shockingly ample plot of land to call her own–with one catch. Maggie must pretend to be Lady Catherine's daughter Wilhelmina. It seems too good to be true–and Maggie may be in more danger than she realizes.

Recommended in this episode: Widow's Bay on Apple TV and The Other Bennet Sister on BritBox

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO DANIEL KRAUS ON HIS PULITZER WIN!

UP NEXT: Dollface by Lindy Ryan

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

Join us as we interview author Maria Tureaud on her Irish Gothic This House Will Feed.

Maria Tureaud is an editor and acclaimed author of middle grade and adult fiction. Born and raised in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, she now lives with her husband and son in New Jersey and can be found online at AuthorMariaTureaud.com.

Recommended in this episode: The Eyes Are the Best Part and The Devil and Mrs. Davenport and the ultimate Gothic novel Jane Eyre

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

In "Perdita" by Hildegarde Hawthorne, Silvia and Jack settle into their newlywed lives on Alfalfa Ranch, owned by Silvia's Aunt Agnes. Things would be perfect, except for the little ghost child who can't quite leave them alone.

More on Hildegarde here.

Recommended in this episode: The Macabre by Kosoko Jackson

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

In Anne Rivers Siddons's The House Next Door, Colquitt and Walter Kennedy are living their dream life. They have flourishing careers, a thriving social life, and a home they love in an affluent Southern suburb. But when an architect builds a house on the lot next door, immediately Colquitt worries that their quiet life will be disrupted. Unfortunately, the house has something much worse in store for the Kennedys–and anyone else who dares to step inside its walls.

Recommended in this episode: Paul Tremblay's Horror Movie: A Novel

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: "Perdita" by Hildegarde Hawthorne

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

In Liz Moore's The God of the Woods, the idyllic setting of the Adirondack mountains conceals something sinister. One child going missing is a tragedy–but two children–and from the same family is a disturbing pattern. A young investigator is pretty sure that the wealthy Van Laar family is concealing something, if only she can get close enough to the family to find out what they are hiding.

Recommended in this episode: Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer and preorder Tananarive Due's newest Mazywood (out in September)

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: Anne Rivers Siddons's The House Next Door

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.

Heads up, listeners. The ghosts of Hill House invaded this recording, so you might hear some audio glitches.

In Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Eleanor Vance has just buried her ailing elderly mother when she is invited to be part of a psychic investigation at a notoriously haunted house. The plan is to rent the home out for the summer and see what evidence of ghosts they can collect. What could possibly go wrong?

Recommended in this episode: Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad

NEWS: We have a Bookshop.org shop now! Find all of our favorite books at our shop–and help out small businesses.

UP NEXT: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Buy our books here, including Monster, She Wrote and our newest Toil and Trouble.