Books like 'The Devil's Playground'
Readers who enjoyed The Devil's Playground by Craig Russell also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical horror mystery fantasy supernatural historical-fiction noir suspense gothic cults
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The Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThis single volume brings together all of Poe's stories and poems, and illuminates the diverse and multifaceted genius of one of the greatest and most influential figures in American literary history... -
![The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe]()
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsThe Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, by Edgar Allan Poe, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras... -
![The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection by Edgar Allan Poe]()
The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsUniversally acclaimed as the maestro of horror and the morbid, Edgar Allan Poe's dark gift has for more than a century and a half set the standard for the genre.Now, Caedmon Audio presents a classic collection of Poe's most terrifying tales performed by two of the most brilliant interpreters of his work ever to be recorded: Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone... -
![Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, LHN Books]()
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, LHN Books
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsEdgar Allan Poe was one of the most original writers in the history of American letters, a genius who was tragically misunderstood in his lifetime... -
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![The Witch's Tree by Elena Collins]()
The Witch's Tree by Elena Collins
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA tale as old as time. A spirit that has never rested.Present dayAs a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises to be the perfect place to forget her problems, and Selena settles into her new home as spring arrives... -
![Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi]()
Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSt. Vincent's Orphanage for Boys.Turn of the century, in a remote valley in Pennsylvania.Here, under the watchful eyes of several priests, thirty boys work, learn, and worship. Peter Barlow, orphaned as a child by a gruesome murder, has made a new life here. As he approaches adulthood, he has friends, a future... a family... -
![The Tell-Tale Heart, Plus 3 other Tales of Mystery, Suspense by Edgar Allan Poe]()
The Tell-Tale Heart, Plus 3 other Tales of Mystery, Suspense by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsThe Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan PoeAdventures of the Noble Bachelorby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleThe Kitchen Table by Alan KingSight Unseen by Dorothy DavisIn the first volume of Mystery Theatre we present the "Tell Tale-Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. It is a frightening story of a troubled man's conscience driving him insane... -
![Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco]()
Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 62 ratingsFollowing the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper's true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe's best schools of forensic medicine.. -
![The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe]()
The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 57 ratingsThe eerie tales of Edgar Allan Poe, from the 1830s and 40s, remain among the most brilliant and influential works in American literature... -
![The Fabric of Sin by Phil Rickman]()
The Fabric of Sin by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCalled in secretly to investigate an allegedly haunted house with royal connections, Merrily Watkins, deliverance consultant for the Diocese of Hereford, is exposed to a real and tangible evil. A hidden valley on the border of England and Wales preserves a longtime feud between two old border families as well as an ancient Templar church with a secret that may be linked to a famous ghost story... -
![Callie by Bill Thompson]()
Callie by Bill Thompson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDeep in the bayous of southern Louisiana, an ancient mansion called Beau Rivage sits empty and abandoned. Arceneaux family members built the house and lived there for two hundred years. The house is inherited by Callie Pilantro, a down-on-her-luck granddaughter of Juliet Arceneaux, its most recent owner who died there a few months ago... -
![House of Secrets by Darcy Coates]()
House of Secrets by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSophie and Joseph’s escape from Northwood is short-lived. The beast survived, and attached itself to Joseph’s young cousin, Elise. Garrett writes to beg for their help. Joseph and Sophie travel to meet him at Kensington, a long-abandoned mansion that overlooks a dead town.The house offers a small hope: its original owner had dedicated her life to researching the monster that possesses Elise... -
![Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón]()
Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 54 ratingsFifteen-year-old Oscar Drai meets the strange Marina while he's exploring an old quarter of Barcelona. She leads Oscar to a cemetery, where they watch a macabre ritual that occurs on the last Sunday of each month. At exactly ten o'clock in the morning, a woman shrouded in a black velvet cloak descends from her carriage to place a single rose on an unmarked grave... -
![The Hanging of Hettie Gale by Tess Burnett]()
The Hanging of Hettie Gale by Tess Burnett
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA mother's love will never die. Neither will a mother's fury . . . The moor is a difficult place for a young woman to grow up in the eighteenth century, and life for Hettie Gale is no different. Abused by her father and abandoned by her family, she builds a new life for herself and her young son... -
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![The Bayou by Arden Powell]()
The Bayou by Arden Powell
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 7 ratings"Eugene didn’t know if he believed in the devil beyond the wicked things people did of their own accord, but if the devil had a face, it would look like Johnny Walker’s."Small-town Louisiana, 1935.When Eugene was twelve, a girl from town disappeared. Everyone said the gators must have got her when she strayed too near the bayou. No foul play, just a terrible accident... -
![The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Cox]()
The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories by Michael Cox
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Victorians excelled at telling ghost stories. In an age of rapid scientific progress, the idea of a vindictive past able to reach out and violate the present held a special potential for terror. Throughout the nineteenth century, fictional ghost stories developed in parallel with the more general Victorian fascination with death and what lay beyond it... -
![Zero Saints by Gabino Iglesias]()
Zero Saints by Gabino Iglesias
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEnforcer and drug dealer Fernando has seen better days. On his way home from work, some heavily-tattooed gangsters throw him in the back of a car and take him to an abandoned house, where they saw off his friend's head and feed the kid's fingers to...something. Their message is clear: this is their territory, now.But Fernando isn't put down that easily... -
![The Stars We Walked Upon by M.L. Bullock]()
The Stars We Walked Upon by M.L. Bullock
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCarrie Jo Stuart's dream catching has gotten out of control and threatens to wreck her happy home. She decides to tell her husband a secret that changes everything, but Ashland has ghosts of his own. Ashland's childhood friend Detra Ann Dowd battles a frightening supernatural being but travels across time to receive help from an unexpected ally... -
![The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights by Bridget Collins, Susan Stokes-Chapman]()
The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights by Bridget Collins, Susan Stokes-Chapman
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the creators of The Haunting Season comes a dazzling collection of never-before-seen ghostly tales.The tradition of a haunted tale at Christmas has flourished across the centuries... -
![Carousel by Jordan L. Hawk]()
Carousel by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNote: “Carousel” first appeared in the anthology Another Place in Time. It takes place between the events of Stormhaven and Necropolis. When a child goes missing in Widdershins, ex-Pinkerton detective Griffin Flaherty fears sinister forces are at work in the town... -
![The Venetian by Shani Struthers]()
The Venetian by Shani Struthers
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratings‘Welcome to the asylum…’ 2015Their troubled past behind them, married couple, Rob and Louise, visit Venice for the first time together, looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Not just a romantic destination, it’s also the ‘most haunted city in the world’ and soon, Louise finds herself the focus of an entity she can’t quite get to grips with – a ‘veiled lady’ who stalks her... -
![The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell]()
The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a gripping tale of obsession, superstition and ambition, set against the atmospheric backdrop of Victorian London. Be careful what you wish for it may just come true.At The Mercury Theatre in London's West End, rumours are circulating of a curse... -
![House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine]()
House of Echoes by Barbara Erskine
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe past isn't always dead or buried...When Joss Grant, adopted at birth, inherits Belheddon Hall – a beautiful old house on the East Anglian coast – it is like a dream come true. Eager to begin a new life there with Luke, her husband, and Tom, her small son, she is also impatient to find out about her newly discovered family who lived there for generations... -
![House of Shadows by Darcy Coates]()
House of Shadows by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsSophie's world is shattered when disaster bankrupts her family. She's still reeling from the news when she's offered an unexpected solution: Mr Argenton, a wealthy stranger, asks for her hand in marriage... -
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![The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by K.J. Charles]()
The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA story too secret, too terrifying—and too shockingly intimate—for Victorian eyes. A note to the Editor Dear Henry, I have been Simon Feximal’s companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide... -
![The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros]()
The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratings"The City Beautiful is the haunting, queer Jewish historical thriller of my darkest dreams." —Dahlia Adler, creator of LGBTQ Reads and editor of That Way Madness LiesDeath lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together. Chicago, 1893... -
![The Wine-Dark Sea by Robert Aickman]()
The Wine-Dark Sea by Robert Aickman
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsPeter Straub called Robert Aickman 'this century's most profound writer of what we call horror stories'. Aickman's 'strange stories' (his preferred term for them) are a subtle exploration of psychological displacement and paranoia. His characters are ordinary people that are gradually drawn into the darker recesses of their own minds... -
![The Raven Spell by Luanne G. Smith]()
The Raven Spell by Luanne G. Smith
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIn Victorian England a witch and a detective are on the hunt for a serial killer in an enthralling novel of magic and murder.After a nearly fatal blow to the skull, traumatized private detective Ian Cameron is found dazed and confused on a muddy riverbank in Victorian London... -
![Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite]()
Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsONCE A PERSON LEAVES THE MOUNTAIN, THEY NEVER COME BACK, NOT REALLY. THEY’RE LOST FOREVER. Nellie Clay married Hobbs Pritchard without even noticing he was a spell conjured into a man, a walking, talking ghost story. But her mama knew. She saw it in her tea leaves: death. Folks told Nellie to get off the mountain while she could, to go back home before it was too late... -
![The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle]()
The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsBrother and sister Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald flee their busy London lives for the beautiful but stormy Devon coastline. They are drawn to the suspiciously inexpensive Cliff End, feared amongst locals as a place of disturbance and ill omen. Gradually, the Fitzgeralds learn of the mysterious deaths of Mary Meredith and another strange young woman... -
![Playing With Fire by C.J. Archer]()
Playing With Fire by C.J. Archer
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsPRAISE FOR THE WRONG GIRL (BOOK 1 IN THE 1ST FREAK HOUSE SERIES):"It is incredibly well written and pulls you in from page one." ~ Annaleen, Amazon and Goodreads reviewer"This was one fantastic read! A really fascinating story which I couldn't put down, so this is easily a 5 stars... -
![Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp]()
Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEmily was a selfish, willful, hateful child who died before her thirteenth birthday. But that was a long time ago.Jane is nine years old and an orphan when she and her young Aunt Louisa come to spend the summer at Jane’s grandmother’s house, a large, mysterious mansion in Massachusetts. Then one day . . -
![Revelator by Daryl Gregory]()
Revelator by Daryl Gregory
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the acclaimed author of Spoonbenders comes the gripping tale of a family's mysterious religion, and the daughter who turns her back on their god. In 1933, nine-year-old Stella is left in the care of her grandmother, Motty, in the backwoods of Tennessee... -
![Sleepy Hollow: Rise Headless and Ride by Richard Gleaves]()
Sleepy Hollow: Rise Headless and Ride by Richard Gleaves
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNOTE: This E-Book edition INCLUDES "THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW" by Washington Irving (full text)!"May I present the Last Descendant of Ichabod Crane..."JASON CRANE just turned seventeen years old.He's a STAR WARS fan and a history geek. He doesn't believe in ghosts or the afterlife. He doesn't believe in psychic powers or tarot cards. He doesn't believe in the Headless Horseman... -
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![Lady Crymsyn by P.N. Elrod]()
Lady Crymsyn by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVampire detective Jack Fleming made a good bit of money cleaning up the streets of post-prohibition Chicago--enough to realize his dream of owning a nightclub. During renovations, workmen discover the remains of a woman, clad in a distinctive red dress... -
![A Chill in the Blood by P.N. Elrod]()
A Chill in the Blood by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA delicious new novel of the The Vampire Files -- in which our undead detective finds himself caught in the middle of a Chicago gangland... -
![The Daemoniac by Kat Ross]()
The Daemoniac by Kat Ross
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt's August of 1888, just three weeks before Jack the Ripper will begin his grisly spree in the London slum of Whitechapel, and another serial murderer is stalking the gas-lit streets of New York... -
![The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean]()
The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSome ghosts never leave us.SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2021'A wild rural gothic with some slick plotting . . . the perfect novel for our phantom present' Guardian'Outstanding . . -
![Fyneshade by Kate Griffin]()
Fyneshade by Kate Griffin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMany would find much to fear in Fyneshade's dark and crumbling corridors, its unseen master and silent servants. But not I. For they have far more to fear from me...On the day of her grandmother's funeral, Marta discovers that she is to be sent to be governess at Fyneshade, her charge the young daughter of the owner, Sir William Pritchard.All is not well at Fyneshade... -
![Dunmoor: A compelling journey in gothic suspense by London Clarke]()
Dunmoor: A compelling journey in gothic suspense by London Clarke
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsA lush gothic from bestselling author London Clarke set in the Regency era, Dunmoor is a tale of generational curses that threaten to destroy the most innocent and vulnerable.England, 1818. Lady Helena Winters hasn’t seen her husband in over a year—not since he disappeared without a trace... -
![The Soul Slayer by Paul Doherty]()
The Soul Slayer by Paul Doherty
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn medieval folk lore, if a warlock can take out the heart of his victim before death, and the victim does not die in a state of grace, the warlock can call upon that soul to do his bidding. In 1562, Queen Elizabeth has been on the throne for four years and the Protestant faith has been reaffirmed... -
![Creeping Jenny by Jeff Noon]()
Creeping Jenny by Jeff Noon
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe third book in Jeff Noon's widely acclaimed 'Nyquist Mysteries' find our protagonist caught up in a new mystery that delves into nightmares, Saints and the answer to his father's disappearanceNyquist finds himself in a village where everyday is a different type of nightmare and whose bizarre rules are governed by whichever Saint rules that day... -
![The Rose Demon by Paul Doherty]()
The Rose Demon by Paul Doherty
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMatthias Fitzosbert is the illegitimate son of the parish priest of the village of Sutton Courteny. Despite the recent spate of murders, each day he braves the dark woods to visit his friend, a mysterious hermit who shows him many strange and beautiful things... -
![Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff]()
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsThe critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy.Chicago, 1954... -
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![The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux]()
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsFirst published in French as a serial in 1909, The Phantom of the Opera is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her... -
![The Flood by Michael McDowell]()
The Flood by Michael McDowell
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsThe mysterious saga of the Caskey family begins in Blackwater I: The Flood, as a devastating flood brings a strange and beautiful visitor to the small, sleepy lumber town of Perdido, Alabama. Elinor Dammert's arrival will forever change the town and the wealthy and powerful Caskey family. James, who dotes on Elinor like a second daughter... Sister, who pines for Elinor’s strength and independence... -
![Blackwater: II The Levee by Michael McDowell]()
Blackwater: II The Levee by Michael McDowell
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsElinor Dammert abandoned her first-born child in a bargain with Mary-Love Caskey of Perdido, Alabama, and set in motion a series of strange familial entanglements. Her goals: power, money, her way.In her way, she would begin to suck power from the weaknesses of the family she had entered through marriage... -
![Gilchrist by Christian Galacar]()
Gilchrist by Christian Galacar
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsGilchrist is as beautiful as it is terrifying—a novel of mounting suspense, with an unsettlingly human heart at its core. . . black as it may be.Two years after losing their infant son to a tragic accident, Peter Martell, a novelist with a peculiar knack for finding lost things, and his wife, Sylvia, are devastated to learn they may no longer be able to have children... -
![The Witching Hour: From the creators of The Haunting Season and The Winter Spirits comes a spellbinding new collection of original haunted tales by Bridget Collins, Andrew Michael Hurley]()
The Witching Hour: From the creators of The Haunting Season and The Winter Spirits comes a spellbinding new collection of original haunted tales by Bridget Collins, Andrew Michael Hurley
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the creators of The Haunting Season and The Winter Spirits comes a brand new collection of ghostly talesThere is something peculiar about the hour after midnight.It is the time when darkness reigns.And strange things roam the earth.In this dazzling collection of new and original haunted tales, thirteen bestselling and much-loved authors bring this hour to vivid, spine-tingling life... -
![The Accursed Huntsman by Douglass Hoover]()
The Accursed Huntsman by Douglass Hoover
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn ancient wooden barrier buried deep in the granite cliffs of Nova Scotia’s rural coastline.A long abandoned Victorian mansion sighing in the salty ocean breeze.A patchwork team of nobodies ready to breathe new life into humanity’s most ancient mystery...
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