Showing results by author "Alistair Cross" in All Categories

Priscilla Martin. She’s the diva of Morning Glory Circle, and a driving force in the quaint California town of Snapdragon. Overseer of garage sales and neighborhood Christmas decorations, she is widely admired. But few people know the real woman behind the perfectly coiffed hair and Opium perfume.

At Ravencrest Manor, the organ in the abandoned east wing begins to play -- low, mournful, and mad -- and the walls tremble with each chord. The Bride is awake. Centuries ago, she wed Sir Lionel Manning, only to lose him to war. Alone and slowly going mad, she gave birth to a son who died in his crib -- or so the legend goes. Locals whisper that the child’s bones still cling to her beneath her tattered wedding gown, and that the ghost of her long-dead husband remains trapped in the scorched armor displayed in the dining hall.

After the death of his mother, Cade Colter arrives in the seemingly idyllic mountain town of Crimson Cove, where his older brother Brooks is being pulled into the depths of a deadly addiction. His drug of choice: the venom of Gretchen VanTreese, a beautiful, ruthless vampire who rules the Crimson Corset nightclub, a local den of debauchery notorious for its lurid parties and sordid past.

In the 1920s, Henry Manning ruled Ravencrest with an iron fist. He held debauched parties that would have inspired Jay Gatsby himself. From the Manning fortune to a beautiful wife, the silent-film star known as the White Violet, Henry had it all...including a loyal cult that worshipped the demon Forneus.

There's an island up in Gold Country at the northern end of Snapdragon Lake. It's named Manchester for the family that owns it, but the locals call it Spite Island. There's a single lonely mansion on that island and a group of authors have been invited to write about its ghosts and its mysteries. But the real mystery is, who will survive this luxurious but deadly retreat?

In a remote part of California just above the coastal town of Devilswood, Ravencrest Manor, imported stone-by-stone from England more than two centuries ago, looms tall and terrifying, gathering its dark and unnatural powers, and drawing those it wants as its own.

There's an island up in Gold Country at the northern end of Snapdragon Lake. It's named Manchester for the family that owns it, but the locals call it Spite Island. There's a single lonely mansion on that island and a group of authors have been invited to write about its ghosts and its mysteries. But the real mystery is, who will survive this luxurious but deadly retreat?

Something ancient stirs in the Raven Woods. A creature out of the darkest fairy tales calls to Thad and Cynthia, seducing them with promises of gingerbread and magick. Belinda must keep them safe, but her patience with the children has run thin. Her senses are on overdrive, and her appetites are voracious as she wanders the woods, heeding a siren call only she can hear. Meanwhile, in Ravencrest Manor, new employee Ryan O’Brien is tormented by a trickster spirit that seems harmless, even humorous.

Ravencrest Manor is the most beautiful thing new governess Belinda Moorland has ever seen, but as she learns more about its tangled past of romance and terror, she realizes that beauty has a dark side. Who is the man digging in the garden beyond Belinda’s bedroom window? Who - or what - is watching her from the vents? Belinda is thrust into a world of waking nightmares where there is no distinction between the living and the dead, and there are no limits to the horrors that await.

When Agnes’ estranged grandson, Cody Manchester, faces the shocking secret that destroyed his childhood, he realizes that he must confront not only the horrors of his past, but of the island itself, its ghosts, and his own tainted bloodline. The only way to survive is to uncover his grandmother’s perverse secrets and the horrifying mysteries that the island holds close to its malignant dark heart.

The vampires of Candle Bay and Crimson Cove come together for the Biting Man Festival in Eternity, California, to celebrate a centuries-old tradition that quickly turns murderous as they’re faced with old enemies, uncontrolled bloodlust, and the unpredictable antics of a self-proclaimed vampire slayer who is hellbent on destroying them all.

It’s Founder’s Day in Crimson Cove and even as the town’s darkest secrets are masked by carnival lights and laughter, a serial killer leaves a trail of butchered bodies in his wake. The line between man and monster blurs with every fresh corpse, and to save those he’s sworn to protect, Sheriff Ethan Hunter must first determine whether his quarry is flesh and blood -- or something far deadlier.

Naive and heart-stoppingly handsome, he calls himself Alejandro, and Madison O’Riley has no clue what to do with him. As they set out to recover his lost identity, Madison realizes the mysterious man who saved her life harbors deep, otherworldly secrets that will put her in grave danger.

When his closest companion is executed by monster hunters Cade Colter and Father Vincent Scarlotti, an ancient vampire, the God of Shadows, is hell-bent on revenge. Unleashing a creeping contagion that will not only destroy Cade and Vince but seep into the marrow of Crimson Cove itself, the God of Shadows waits, watching as the living become strangers to themselves, haunted by insidious whispers only they can hear.

Since 1887, Cliffhouse Lodge has been famous for its luxurious accommodations, fine dining...and its ghosts. Overlooking Blue Lady Lake, nestled among tall pines, Cliffhouse has just been renovated by its owners, Teddy and Adam Bellamy, and their daughter, Sara. Cliffhouse has not always been a place of rest and respite, though. Over the years, it has served many vices, from rum-running to prostitution.

It's been a year since the bloody showdown at the infamous Crimson Corset nightclub, but in the mysterious little mountain town of Crimson Cove, the dead don’t rest in peace for long. Haunted by guilt and desperate for redemption, Cade Colter has come into possession of an ancient ceremonial dagger -- a mythic blade that bridges the worlds between the living and undead. When he unwittingly awakens a malevolent entity that feeds on fear and death, no one is safe.

Cade Colter’s world is coming apart. Stalked by a ruthless crew of fanatical assassins determined to silence him, he lives in fear, haunted by grief and the guilt of a tormented past. But even as he struggles with his own demons, a new tide of terror is rising -- an ancient darkness more dangerous than any vampire. A malignant presence stalks the rain-soaked streets. Cloaked in widow’s black, she comes with the fog, her poison rotting victims from within, leaving nothing behind but hollowed corpses and the echoes of their final, desperate screams.

Jason Crandall, recently widowed, is left to raise his young daughter and rebellious teenage son on his own - and the old Victorian in Shadow Springs seems like the perfect place for them to start over. But the cracks in Jason’s new world begin to show when he meets Savannah Sturgess, a beautiful socialite who has half the men in town dancing on tangled strings.

After centuries of denying his true nature, Vampire Michael Ward has surrendered to his darkest impulses. Once a man driven by peace, he now prowls the Santa Cruz Boardwalk -- a ravenous predator consumed by feral rage and an insatiable lust for blood. His victims are left mutilated, their bodies twisted into grotesque displays that are turning the boardwalk into a gallery of horror.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is perhaps the most famous ghost story of all. For nearly 200 years, this tale has singlehandedly extended the haunting season from autumn through winter, and ghost lovers everywhere are happy about that. Traditionally, A Christmas Carol is told and retold each year in every form from plays to movies and TV shows. But, originally, the tale was read aloud as folks sat by the hearth, drinking mulled cider or hot cocoa as they warmed their hands at the fireplace. Many of us first heard the tale as children.