The Smell of Ink/Lukten av Trykksverte

Happy Halloween/Samhain everyone. As it is finally Halloween, I figured out I would post a review of the short story collection The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural by Agatha Christie, which I read earlier this month. Description from Goodreads From the Queen of Suspense, an all-new collection of her spookiest and most sinister stories, including an Agatha Christie story never before published in the USA, The Wife of Kenite! For lovers of the supernatural and the macabre comes this collection of ghostly and chilling stories from legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie. Fantastic psychic visions, specters looming in the shadows, encounters with deities, a man who switches bodies with a cat—be sure to keep the light on whilst reading these tales. The Last Séance gathers twenty stories, some featuring Christie’s beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, in one haunting compendium that explores all things occult and paranormal, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fans...

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for another Top Five Wednesday post courtesy of the  Top Five Wednesday Goodreads group  and today's topic was books about books. Here's my five picks. Cotton Cleopatra F VIII: The Abbess's Tale by Dominic Selwood Description from Goodreads In World War Two, Oxford academic Dr Iana Jenkins discovers an unknown medieval chronicle by the nun Mary of Shaftesbury. Mary confides that she was at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191 when its monks exhumed the bodies of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. However, the great abbey's celebrations turn to terror when the mortal remains of Arthur and Guinevere turn out to be not what they seem, and horror reigns. When all else fails, can Wulfrun - a priestess of the Old Religion from the forest - save the abbey from what has been unleashed. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness Description from Goodreads A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysteri...

It's Tuesday and thus time for another Top Ten Tuesday post courtesy of  That Artsy Reader Girl . As the theme of the week was a Halloween freebie, I decided writing a top ten list of spooky tales set in Britain, most of them being in England and Scotland. Anyway, here's my spine-chilling list. The Plague Stones by James Brogden Description from Goodreads From the critically acclaimed author of Hekla's Children comes a dark and haunting tale of our world and the next. Fleeing from a traumatic break-in, Londoners Paul and Tricia Feenan sell up to escape to the isolated Holiwell village where Tricia has inherited a property. Scattered throughout the settlement are centuries-old stones used during the Great Plague as boundary markers. No plague-sufferer was permitted to pass them and enter the village. The plague diminished, and the village survived unscathed, but since then each year the village trustees have insisted on an ancient ceremony to renew the village boundaries, u...

As I've got a weak spot for Scotland and all things spooky, I couldn't resist buying and reading Hidden Haunts: Scotland by W. J. Gilbert for obvious reasons and today I'll post my review of this book. Description from Goodreads Uncovering the world's hidden hauntings, one chilling story at a time. Hidden Scotland delves into the lesser-known ghost stories that quietly persist in the shadows of Scotland's rich supernatural history. As you turn each page, you’ll discover eerie tales often overlooked by mainstream paranormal accounts, with a focus on both Edinburgh and the broader Scottish landscape. Embark on a journey through the haunted streets of Edinburgh’s Old Town, where sites like the Governor's House in Edinburgh Castle and Chessels Court unveil the city's dark and mysterious past. Beyond the Old Town, explore ghostly echoes in places like Craigmillar Castle, George Heriot’s School, and Royal Circus, offering a fresh and chilling perspective on Edinb...

I recently read the non-fiction book Every Camp Has A Crystal Lake by Connor Flynn and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Summer camp, recess and amusement parks provided me many thrills during my childhood and no doubt for many of you. They are places of fun and enjoyment, however; when the sun goes down and the lights turn off, there are chills that lie beneath. From haunted dorms, ghost coasters and monsters under the staircase, my friends and I have had to fend off many spooky things. The historical locations in the pages of Every Camp Has A Crystal Lake are filled with many puzzling stories... try not to become the next chapter! My Thoughts on the Book I liked the idea of this book, but I felt it was so poorly executed, with little talk about the paranormal encounters and stories, and the backstory of locations and what-not, I almost felt a bit cheated. Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled in the sense that I've read quite a few well researched boo...

I found the book tag called The Official Spooky Season Book Tag over at The Artsy Reader , and I honestly couldn't resist doing this one. 1: You hear a strange noise in the night – the monsters got inside! Which book character would you choose to protect you from harm? Clive from The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore & Bar by Seana Kelly 2: You go on vacation and your hotel is located right next to a cemetery. Which book character do you really hope is not hiding in the shadows? The Dover Demon from, you guessed it, The Dover Demon by Hunter Shea 3: It’s a particularly cold night and you decide to stay inside. Which three book characters would you like to spend a trivia quiz and board game night with? Keira, Zoe, and Mason from The Whispering Dead by Darcy Coates 4: Time for a big adventure! The scary book you pick transports you into its world. Where do you end up? I would end up in the Scottish Highlands if I pick up Hearthstone Cottage by Frazer Lee 5: No Halloween without Trick o...

It's perhaps time for another Book Blogger Hop post courtesy of  Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer  and today's topic is " Which horror-themed book or novel is your all-time favorite? Which one made you shiver or made you feel like it was Halloween? ". Book Blogger Hop For some, it may not come as a surprise when I say Bram Stoker's Dracula is my all-time favourite when it comes to horror-themed novels. While I can't deny it's fairly mild on the horror by today's standards, I still love it. I even wrote my final paper on that novel when I majored in English at university, so I am a bit of a geek when it comes to that gothic novel. Funnily enough, it was the movie Dracula - Dead and Loving It that made me interested in Dracula in the first place.

As it's soon Halloween, it's only fitting that I review some Halloween-themed books. A good while ago, I read the short story collection Dead Leaves: 9 Tales from the Witching Season by Kealan Patrick Burke and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Two brothers find themselves drawn to the only house in the neighborhood not decorated for Halloween…A man returns to his hometown to bury his overbearing mother, and finds more than memories awaiting him in the shadows of his childhood home…A young girl walks a lonely country road, recalling a rhyme that brings with it memories of death…A teenager hoping for romance gets more than he bargained for when the object of his desire introduces him to the object of hers…An aging millionaire awakes buried in a cheap coffin with only a lamp and a bell for company…The son of a woman accused of being a witch accepts the villagers' peace offering at her funeral, but all is not quite as it seems…A woman with ...

It's Wednesday yet again, which means it's time for another Top Five Wednesday post courtesy of  the Top Five Wednesday Goodreads group . As the theme of the week was national horror movie day, I decided to write a list of five underrated horror novels. Here's my five spine-chilling reads. Slash by Hunter Shea Description from Goodreads Five years after Ashley King survived the infamous Resort Massacre, she’s found hanging in her basement by her fiancé, Todd Matthews. She left behind clues as to what really happened that night, clues that may reveal the identity of the killer the press has called The Wraith. With the help of his friends, Todd goes back to the crumbling Hayden Resort, a death-tinged ruin in the Catskills Mountains. What they find is a haunted history that’s been lying in wait for a fresh set of victims. The Wraith is back, and he’s nothing what they expected. Greyfriars Reformatory by Frazer Lee Description from Goodreads Nineteen year-old Emily's acute...

Earlier this month, I read the short story collection This Is Halloween by James A. Moore and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Author James A. Moore offers up ten autumnal tales of the darker things that lurk just around the corner of Indian Summer. A man learns of a town's obsession with scarecrows and tries to find the answers as to why they are so important. Children move through familiar streets and find that Halloween makes everything different. Tis' the season when ghosts are real, witches soar through the night, and things in the Beldam Woods are not always what they seem. Sometimes it's the monsters that wear the masks. My Thoughts on the Book James A. Moore has a writing style that sucks you into the short stories and almost makes you feel like you're tagging along. I especially enjoyed some of his descriptions in the short stories. As with the short stories themselves, there were of course some I liked more than others, su...

As much as I love reading horror and/or paranormal novels featuring vampires or haunted houses, I read other spooky books as well, such as cryptids and creature feature. So in this blog post, I wanted to share a few book recommendations with creature feature and/or cryptids. Well, technically you could say that cryptids go in under the creature feature category, but anyway, here's five books worth picking up, and just for the sake of it, there's five different cryptids/creatures. Loch Ness by Matt Shaw Description from Goodreads For decades the Loch Ness monster has been a creature of legend. Seen by only a few but doubted by many, is there really something lurking beneath the waters of Loch Ness? According to scientists who have studied the waters for years, the chances of Nessie being anything other than a giant eel are slim to none. Even so, that doesn't stop millions of people travelling to the loch on a yearly basis in the hope of seeing the creature for themselves. To...

Quite a while ago I read the novel Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Emmy Harlow is a witch in exile. She hasn't been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years, which has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town, casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams. But when a spellcasting tournament approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back. She's determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in Chicago. On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov - an all-around badass adept in the darker magical arts - who is fresh off a bad breakup . . . wit...

As I'm a fan of the paranormal investigation show Kindred Spirits, I couldn't resist Amy Bruni's new book Food to Die For: Recipes and Stories from America's Most Legendary Haunted Places, and today I'm reviewing the book. Description from Goodreads Discover tantalizing recipes, spine-tingling stories, and historic photos from the most notoriously haunted locations across America in this fun and fascinating cookbook. Paranormal investigator and Kindred Spirits co-host Amy Bruni leads you through eerie hotels, haunted homes, hellish hospitals, and spooky ghost towns, giving you stories and a recipe from each place. Whether you're in the mood for Lizzie Borden's meatloaf or want to serve up spooky prison stories along with sugar cookies from Alcatraz, Food to Die For is your guide to ghoulish gastronomy. One of America's favorite ghost hunters, Amy Bruni takes you to mysterious hotels, eerie ghost towns, and possessed pubs in this delightfully sinister co...

At long last I've read psychological thriller/horror novel Brother by Ania Ahlborn and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Brother follows a teenager determined to break from his family’s unconventional—and deeply disturbing—traditions. Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it’s served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard. But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he’s sure that someday he’ll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he’s immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he’s ...

Alright, I have a confession to make. I purchased the book Scottish Ghosts by Lily Seafield on my last trip to Scotland back in 2002 and it's been sitting in a shelf ever since. So I finally got my act together and read it, which means it's time to review it. Description from Goodreads Scotland's folklore is rich and varied, with stories passed from generation to generation to generation. This vibrant storytelling tradition is captured in Scottish Ghosts with tales of spectres past and present from all over Scotland, sometimes in the most unlikely of settings. Fairies, white ladies, tortured souls, poltergeists, malevolent phantoms, hideous creatures - Scotland has them all, ready for those who are willing to hear them, see them or sense their presence. There are tales of sightings that convinced the most sceptical of unbelievers. Whether they are the products of over-fertile imaginations, the desire to keep the memory of a colourful character alive, the simple wish to spi...

It's Wednesday and time for another Top Five Wednesday post courtesy of the  Top Five Wednesday Goodreads group . Today's theme was originally boarding schools, but as I couldn't find enough books to fit the theme, I decided to go with set in school instead, just to have enough books. Here's five spooky books to fit the theme. Blood Born by Renee Lake Description from Goodreads Maddie is excited about the new adventures college life will bring. She dreams of rallies, weird roommates and exciting courses of study. She's living with her girlfriend and making new interesting friends while watching out for her terminally ill brother. What she doesn't expect is mystery, tragedy, and heartbreak to befall her within the first semester. Is there a monster preying upon the people at her college? Will she betray her friends and succumb to temptation? Can they band together and fight the darkness? Or is the darkness that surrounds her not the enemy...but her only ally? Tr...