Best horror books to read

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The best horror books to read this spooky season

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Powerful stories that make great gifts

The essential Halloween reading list in 10 books 

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10 terrifying classic tales to read

The Woman in Black

'Heartstoppingly chilling' Daily Express 
 
Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House. 
 
The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose. 
 
'No one chills the heart like Susan Hill' Daily Telegraph 
 
**If you love The Woman in Black, try The Various Haunts of Men, the first book in Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series**

Haunting its readers for more than 40 years… Once read, it’s hard to forget the utter strangeness of The Woman in Black… For all its magnificent period detail, and its ability to immerse us in the dark, dank place it creates, it goes beyond its own story. It acts as a portal… Read it

Spine-tingling… [Hill] perfectly channels the atmosphere of Victorian ghost stories

SUSAN HILL has been a professional writer for over fifty years. Her books have won awards and prizes including the Whitbread, the John Llewellyn Rhys and a Somerset Maugham, and have been shortlisted for the Booker. Her novels include Strange Meeting, I'm the King of the Castle, In the Springtime of the Year and The Mist in the Mirror. She has also published autobiographical works and collections of short stories as well as the Simon Serrailler series of crime novels. The play of her ghost story The Woman in Black is one of the longest running in the history of London's West End. In 2020 she was awarded a damehood (DBE) for services to literature. She has two adult daughters and lives in North Norfolk.

'Heartstoppingly chilling' Daily Express 
 
Read the truly terrifying classic English ghost story behind the play. 
 
Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House. The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose. 
 
'No one chills the heart like Susan Hill' Daily Telegraph 
 
**If you love The Woman in Black, try The Various Haunts of Men, the first book in Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series**

Discover book 9 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

The Comforts of Home

Opens with a shock for fans... Serrailler's struggle to come to terms with the recent past is thoughtfully done

Susan Hill offers something different... fans cherish Hill's work for its judicious mix of the professional and personal... one of the most richly drawn coppers in the field

Hill paints a powerful picture of a proud but damaged man trying to remake his role in the world

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
A deadly new threat awaits Simon Serrailler in this compulsive thriller from Susan Hill, the bestselling author of The Woman in Black 
 
 DC Simon Serrailler's devastating last case was nearly the death of him. 
 
 Recovering on a remote Scottish island, his peace doesn't last long. When a woman's body is washed ashore, Simon is pulled in to a murder inquiry by the overstretched local police who are desperate for help. 
 
 But it's when Simon returns to Lafferton and a cold case is reopened that things start to get dangerous... 
 
 'Modern crime writing with a dark, fierce edge' Daily Mail 
 
Discover the bestselling crime series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

Discover book 8 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

The Soul of Discretion

A wonderful storyteller… she is also one of those rare crime writers whose books invite a second reading

Hill's Serrailler novels have developed into a series whose appeal stretches beyond their genre... The secret of Hill's narrative style is that she forces the readers to invest emotionally in her characters. And then she makes ghastly things happen to them... It sounds easy, but it isn't

The Simon Serrailler novels are in a league of their own; literate, detailed and full of drama - they stand head and shoulders above the majority of crime novels. This is the eighth novel in the series and is the darkest and most disturbing yet. It is also the best.

Although at times distressing, Hill tackles a difficult issue without losing any tension and the finale keeps the reader gripped until the last page

This is modern crime writing with a dark, fierce edge – and all the better for it

Keeps the reader gripped until the last page

Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when Susan Hill does the result is stunning

Exhilarating… These books succeed in harnessing all the genre’s addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination entirely their own

All the ingredients for the perfect English crime novel are here

She captures sinister atmosphere brilliantly...her characters are drawn with loving detail

Eagerly awaited by all aficionados of crime fiction

Susan Hill writes as an honest and disturbing witness to our times

The real joy of the Serrailler series is Serrailler himself…rich in incident and intrigue

Nothing’s quite as it seems, except Hill's brilliantly compelling prose

What you know about human nature is simultaneously being enlarged and improved upon thanks to Hill’s almost Shakespearean insights into what it is to be

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
Simon Serrailler faces his most dangerous challenge yet in the edge-of-your-seat thriller from Susan Hill, the bestselling author of The Woman in Black. 
 
 Going undercover, he must leave town immediately, change his identity and sever all contact with friends and family. 
 
 And, more importantly, he must inhabit the mind of the worst kind of criminal. 
 
 But can he do so without losing everything? 
 
 'Crime writing with a dark, fierce edge' Daily Mail 
 
 'Keeps the reader gripped until the last page' Sunday Express 
 
Discover the bestselling crime series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

A Change of Circumstance

&lsquo;Keeps the readers gripped until the last page&rsquo; Sunday Express 
 
Innocent or guilty. It's a matter of which lines you cross. 
 
Simon Serrailler finds himself in devastating new territory as a sophisticated drugs' network sets its sights on Lafferton and the surrounding villages. 
 
DCS Simon Serrailler has long regarded drugs ops in the Lafferton area as a waste of time. Small-time dealers are picked up outside the local secondary school, they're given a fine or a suspended and away they go. And rinse and repeat. 
 
But when the body of a young drug addict is found in neighbouring Starly, the case pulls Simon into a into the underbelly of an elaborate drug running operation. The foot soldiers? Vulnerable local kids like Brookie and Olivia, who will give Simon a bitter taste of this new landscape. 
 
With struggles both at home and on the job, Serrailler soon learns that even the familiar can hold shocking surprises. . . 
 
&lsquo;Hill's Serrailler novels are as addictive as Rankin's&rsquo; Scotsman 
 
Discover the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

Hill's Serailler novels are as addictive as Rankin's

Scotsman (Praise for the Serrailler series)

Modern crime writing with a dark fierce edge

Daily Mail (Praise for the Serrailler series)

Nothing's quite as it seems, except for Hill's brilliantly compelling prose

Daily Mirror (Praise for the Serrailler series)

All the ingredients for the perfect English crime novel are here

There are some harrowing moments in this unsparing novel, which shows how easily vulnerable youngsters can be exploited

Simon Serrailler finds himself in devastating new territory as a sophisticated drugs' network sets its sights on Lafferton and the surrounding villages 
 
DCS Simon Serrailler has long regarded drugs ops in the Lafferton area as a waste of time. Small-time dealers are picked up outside the local secondary school, they're given a fine or a suspended and away they go. And rinse and repeat. But when the body of a young drug addict is found in neighbouring Starly, the case pulls Simon into a whole new way of running drugs. The foot soldiers? Vulnerable local kids like Brookie and Olivia, who will give Simon a bitter taste of this new landscape. 
 
It is a harsh winter at home as well as work. Simon's GP sister Cat and her husband Kieron are struggling with medical dramas big and small. A trip to Bevham General on her rounds sets off alarm bells for Dr Cat, and a visit from her son Sam as he tries to work out if his midwifery course is right for him coincides with a threat to their beloved family dog. Simon is working hard, but he's restless, wondering what next. There's nothing new going on for him in Lafferton, but sometimes the familiar holds surprises, too . . .

Discover book 5 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

The Shadows in the Street

&lsquo;Exhilarating&rsquo; Independent 
 
When two prostitutes are found brutally strangled to death, Detective Simon Serrailler is called urgently back from his sabbatical. 
 
But by the time he reaches the town of Lafferton another girl has vanished. 
 
Then the wife of the Dean at the Cathedral goes missing. 
 
 Has the killer widened their net or is there more than one murderer at large? 
 
&lsquo;Brilliantly compelling&rsquo; Daily Mirror 
 
Discover the fifth edge-of-your seat novel in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

A crime series that specialises in sidestepping conventions, always to exhilarating effect. These books succeed in harnessing all the genre's addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination entirely their own

Nothing's quite as it seems, except Hill's brilliantly compelling prose

Susan Hill's Serrailler novels, with their persuasively-drawn copper and his equally well-rounded family, are real treats

Susan Hill is extremely rare if not unique in having achieved enormous literary success in two genres, that of so-called straight novels and crime fiction... Deeply engrossing and enjoyable

There's something reassuringly Victorian about Hill's literary values

Discover book 4 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

The Vows of Silence

I stayed up gone two in the morning and by the end there were tears in my eyes

Susan Hill's crime novels are getting better and better... The main plot is straightforward enough - who is the killer and will he be caught? - but the narrative is so streamlined and effective that it races beautifully along until it smacks against the buffers of an unexpected but entirely convincing ending

Delicious agony...The suspense-building techniques of Alfred Hitchcock have long been locked into Susan Hill's literary apparatus and they are given full rein here

As always, Hill creates a marvellous cast of characters with absorbing contemporary concerns

A triumph: cunningly plotted, shrewdly characterised. Hill has an understanding of evil that is both acute and disconcerting

The psychology and pace of the whole - and the quality of the writing - are utterly absorbing

Masterly story telling from an accomplished writer

It's a wonder it hasn't been snapped up for telly

Full marks to Susan Hill for her ability to face the unfaceable

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
A gunman is terrorising young women. 
 
 What links these seemingly random murders? Is the marksman with a rifle the same person as the killer with a handgun? Or do the police have two snipers on their hands? 
 
 Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler is in charge of the case, but is struggling to cope with a tragedy at the heart of his family. 
 
 The pressure is mounting... 
 
'A captivating read' Observer 
 
Discover the bestselling crime series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

Discover book 6 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

The Betrayal of Trust

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
Heavy rain falls on Lafferton. As the rain water slowly drains away, a shallow grave - and a skeleton - are revealed. 
 
It doesn't take long to identify the remains as those of missing teenager, Harriet Lowther, who was last seen sixteen years ago. 
 
But a cold case isn't a priority: if Detective Inspector Simon Serrailler is to solve the case, he will have to do it alone.

Hugely enjoyable... This is a satisfying crime story and a fearless examination of controversial issues surrounding terminal illness

The Betrayal of Trust isn't only a page-turner - though it certainly fulfils that expectation - it's also a thought-provoking novel about those who suffer and those who care for them

Hill can't write a bad sentence and her characters are all completely convincing - no more so than her long-serving detective Simon Serrailler

Her intellectual stance is engaging, her plot unpredictable and her detective a likeable presence

Far more than a whodunit...written with a novelist's flair, in that the characters, however fleeting, are carefully drawn and believable

A crime series that specialises in sidestepping conventions, always to exhilarating effect... These books succeed in harnessing all the genre's addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination entirely their own

Susan Hill's Serrailler novels are a real treat

An excellent next instalment and an absorbing novel

Susan Hill is to be congratulated on her tour de force: a novel rather more serious than a superior page-turner, though it is that as well. All us all, a highly commendable performance, thoughtful, uncomfortable, and worthy of our undivided attention

What one is aware of throughout is Hill's keen intelligence, the range of her sympathy and her depth of moral concern...reading these novels which combine good plots with well-drawn characters and intelligent probing of the way we live now, is so enriching

It is when Hill descends to write about mere mortals...that one remembers she is among our finest novelists

Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when one like Susan Hill does the result is stunning

A well-crafted crime novel… Hill writes so clearly, and the plot is so well put together, that you can't help gobbling it up

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
Heavy rain falls on Lafferton. As the rain water slowly drains away, a shallow grave - and a skeleton - are revealed. 
 
It doesn't take long to identify the remains as those of missing teenager, Harriet Lowther, who was last seen sixteen years ago. 
 
But a cold case isn't a priority: if Detective Inspector Simon Serrailler is to solve the case, he will have to do it alone.

Simon Serrailler Book 10

The Benefit of Hindsight

Discover book 10 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

Simon Serrailler, Hill’s brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer’s crime fiction novels

Beautifully told, Hill’s gimlet eye and steely prose remind you how fierce she can be

The Benefit of Hindsight evolves organically by way of a brilliant fusion of parts: plot, setting, characters, dialogue... I read it at a sitting. Not just a good book but an experience

Superb... It's a book to start when you have time to spare as you're not readily going to put it down until you get to the last page... I read it in just over a day and I'm still thinking about the characters days later

I love the Simon Serailler series and this was my favourite for a while... the ongoing family drama is hugely compelling. Add to that cleverly woven mystery elements and this, for me, puts this series somewhere near the top of my literary crime favourites

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
 
'Beautifully told, Hill's gimlet eye and steely prose remind you how fierce she can be' Daily Mail 
 
 One rainy night, a couple welcomes two strangers needing help into their home. It's an act they will regret for the rest of their lives. 
 
 On the other side of town a woman is brutally murdered and her husband is left unconscious. 
 
 Are the two crimes connected? 
Detective Simon Serrailler sets out to investigate but will his own demons get in the way? 
 
'Keepers the reader gripped until the last page' Sunday Express 
 
Discover the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

Discover book 1 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

The Various Haunts of Men

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
 
PEOPLE ARE GOING MISSING. ONLY ONE THING LINKS THEIR CASES. 
 
THEY ALL DISAPPEAR ON THE HILL. 
 
A woman vanishes in the fog up on the Hill in Lafferton. The police have one lead - a pair of expensive cuff-links found in her flat, with a mysterious note attached to them. 
 
Then a young girl, an old man and even a dog disappear in quick succession in exactly the same place. 
 
Young policewoman Freya Graffham and Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler are given the task of unravelling the mystery. But can they find the Hill killer before he strikes again? 
 
'A gripping whodunnit and a subtle study of the mind of a psychopath' Daily Mail 
 
Discover the first edge-of-your seat novel in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

A gripping whodunnit and a subtle study of the mind of a psychopath

I loved this book. Masterly and satisfying

This book must be judged as a potential successor to the great sequences of detective writing by PD James and Ruth Rendell...excellent

She has the priceless ability to construct a solidly-researched narrative that keeps the reader turning the pages

Hill's first crime novel has a grip of steel

For the first time in years, P D James has serious competition

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
 
PEOPLE ARE GOING MISSING. ONLY ONE THING LINKS THEIR CASES. 
 
 THEY ALL DISAPPEAR ON THE HILL. 
 
 A woman vanishes in the fog up on the Hill in Lafferton. The police have one lead - a pair of expensive cuff-links found in her flat, with a mysterious note attached to them. 
 
 Then a young girl, an old man and even a dog disappear in quick succession in exactly the same place. 
 
 Young policewoman Freya Graffham and Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler are given the task of unravelling the mystery. But can they find the Hill killer before he strikes again? 
 
 'A gripping whodunnit and a subtle study of the mind of a psychopath' Daily Mail 
 
Discover the first edge-of-your seat novel in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

Discover book 2 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

The Pure in Heart

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
A little boy is snatched at the gate of his home while he waits for his lift to school. 
 
An ex-con struggling to go straight finds himself drawn back into a criminal ring. 
 
A young woman hovers between life and death. 
 
Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler is called in to investigate. But with dead ends mounting up and time running out, has he taken on a case so complex it threatens to defeat him? 
 
'All the ingredients for the perfect English crime novel' Daily Mail 
 
Discover the second edge-of-your seat novel in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured

For the first time in years, P.D. James has serious competition

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
A little boy is snatched at the gate of his home while he waits for his lift to school. 
 
 An ex-con struggling to go straight finds himself drawn back into a criminal ring. 
 
 A young woman hovers between life and death. 
 
 Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler is called in to investigate. But with dead ends mounting up and time running out, has he taken on a case so complex it threatens to defeat him? 
 
 'All the ingredients for the perfect English crime novel' Daily Mail 
 
Discover the second edge-of-your seat novel in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured

Discover book 3 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

The Risk of Darkness

THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN 
1. 'I loved this book. Masterly and satisfying. The result is stunning' Ruth Rendell 
2. 'This book must be judged as a potential successor to the great sequence of detective writing by P.D. James and Ruth Rendall ... excellent' Daily Telegraph 
4. 'Gripping ... and subtle' Daily Mail

Fans of Hill's earlier work like The Woman in Black will appreciate that she can still weave a jolly good story... Minor characters acquire an extra dimension in Hill's experienced hands... Crime fans on the look out for intelligent examples of the genre will enjoy The Risk of Darkness

The Risk of Darkness is an almost flawless novel

Hill has a genius for tackling controversial issues head on while paying tribute to the quotidian detail of ordinary people's lives. This series has become indispensable for lovers of quality crime fiction

This is a crime series that specialises in sidestepping conventions, always to exhilarating effect...These books succeed in harnessing all the genre's addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination entirely their own. The Risk of Darkness reminds us that the other side of darkness is light, and that risk-taking, in fiction as in life, sometimes pays off brilliantly

A writer of the calibre of Susan Hill is never going to produce a mere whodunit... this is a complex novel, weaving themes of loss, family, the vulnerability of women and what happens when people choose isolation over intimacy with others

They can stand on their own...this is a really good novel regardless of fiction genre

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
Children are vanishing. 
 
 The village of Lafferton is shattered. 
 
 There are no witnesses and no leads - just a kidnapper at large. 
 
 Then Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler receives a call: a child has been snatched in Yorkshire. Has the abductor struck again? And will they find this child alive? 
 
 'Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when one like Susan Hill does the result is stunning' Ruth Rendell 
 
 Discover the third edge-of-your seat novel in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series that over ONE MILLION readers have devoured.

Discover book 7 in the bestselling Simon Serrailler series

A Question of Identity

Arguably one of the UK’s best crime fiction writers

Hill is, as ever, a true writer and a true storyteller… Her writing, never fancy or over-elaborate, is sweet and and clear and true, lifting the story above mass-market mass-killer lit

This is a crime series that specialises in side-stepping conventions, always to exhilarating effect.. The books succeed in harnessing all the genre's addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination all their own

The crime part of the novel…is very good. But as in all these books, we are also engaged in the continuing story of the Serrailler family… All this gives the novel a much richer texture than is usual in crime fiction…(Susan Hill) writes as an honest and disturbing witness to our times

Hill has a keen eye for description, an accurate ear for conversation and an innate 
understanding of relationships

'Serrailler, Hill's brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer's crime fiction novels' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL 
 
How do you catch a killer who doesn't exist? 
 
One snowy night in the cathedral city of Lafferton, an old woman is dragged from her bed and strangled with a length of flex. 
 
DCS Simon Serrailler and his team search desperately for clues to her murderer. All they know is that the killer will strike again, and will once more leave the same tell-tale signature. 
 
Then they track down a name: Alan Keyes. But Alan Keyes has no birth certificate, no address, no job, no family, no passport, no dental records. Nothing. 
 
Their killer does not exist. 
 
'As addictive as Rankin' Scotsman

The Man in the Picture

A terrifying ghost story by the bestselling author of The Woman in Black. 
 
A mysterious depiction of masked revellers at the Venice carnival hangs in the college rooms of Oliver's old professor in Cambridge. On this cold winter's night, its eerie secret is revealed by the ageing don. The dark art of the Venetian scene, instead of imitating life, has the power to entrap it. 
 
To stare into the painting is to play dangerously with the unseen demons it hides, and become the victim of its macabre beauty...

A Ghost Story

Dolly

A terrifying ghost story by the bestselling author of The Woman in Black. 
 
The remoter parts of the English Fens are unruly, deserted and damp, even in the height of summer. In Iyot Lock stands a large, decaying house, belonging to Leonora and Edward's Aunt Kestrel. The pair are cousins, who were both sent to their aunt's creepy house for the summer when they were children. 
 
At the time, Leonora was angry and upset when she received the wrong dolly for her birthday. 
 
At the time, Edward told himself that the noises he heard around the house were in his head. 
 
But now, 40 years later, the terrifying consequences of what happened to Leonora's birthday doll are just beginning to surface...

The Small Hand

A terrifying ghost story by the bestselling author of The Woman in Black. 
 
Late one summer evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow is returning from a client visit when he takes a wrong turn. He stumbles across a derelict Edwardian house and, compelled by curiosity, approaches the door. Standing before the entrance, he feels the unmistakable sensation of a small cold hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'. 
 
At first he is merely puzzled by the odd incident but then begins to suffer attacks of fear and panic, and is visited by nightmares. He is determined to learn more about the house. But when he does, he receives further, increasingly sinister, visits from the small hand.

The Travelling Bag

** CONTAINS 'THE FRONT ROOM' SOON TO BE A MAJOR A24 FILM ** 
 
A terrifying collection of ghost stories by the bestselling author of The Woman in Black. 
 
From the foggy streets of Victorian London to the eerie perfection of 1950s suburbia, the everyday is invaded by the evil otherworldly in this unforgettable collection of ghost stories from the author of The Woman in Black. 
 
In the title story, on a murky evening in a warmly lit club off St James, a bishop listens closely as a paranormal detective recounts his most memorable case, one whose horrifying denouement took place in that very building. 
 
In 'The Front Room' a mother tries to protect her children from the increasingly unnerving influence of their own grandmother. 
 
A lonely boy finds a friend in 'Boy Number 21', but years later he is forced to question the nature of that friendship and to ask whether ghosts can perish in fires. 
 
This is Susan Hill at her best - flesh-creeping tales of thwarted ambition, terrifying revenge and supernatural stirrings that will leave readers wide awake long into the night.

The Mist in the Mirror

A terrifying ghost story by the bestselling author of The Woman in Black. 
 
One dark and rainy night, Sir James Monmouth returns to London after years spent travelling alone. 
 
Intent on uncovering the secrets of his childhood hero, the mysterious Conrad Vane, he begins to investigate Vane’s life, but he finds himself warned off at every turn. 
 
Before long he realises he is being followed too. A pale, thin boy is haunting his every step but every time he tries to confront the boy he disappears. And what of the chilling scream and desperate sobbing only he can hear? 
 
His quest leads him eventually to the old lady of Kittiscar Hall, where he discovers something far more terrible at work than he could ever have imagined. 
 
‘Thoroughly frightening’ Daily Telegraph 
 
‘Chills the blood’ The Times

A special edition of the classic gothic novel

The Woman in Black and Other Ghost Stories

A remote house on the marsh. A woman in black who never leaves. 
 
Arthur Kipps is sent to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the reclusive owner of Eel Marsh House. The house stands isolated at the end of a causeway, cut off by tide and fog, its windows staring across empty marshland. 
 
At the funeral, Kipps glimpses a wasted woman dressed entirely in black. No one will acknowledge her. In the village, silence follows her name. As Kipps remains at the house to settle Drablow’s affairs, the atmosphere tightens. Footsteps echo in empty rooms. A child’s cry carries across the marsh. 
 
This collection centers on the novella that made Hill’s reputation, a ghost story in which grief becomes vengeance and the past refuses burial. The additional tales deepen that sense of unease, where ordinary lives are unsettled by forces that cannot be reasoned with. 
 
'Heartstoppingly chilling' Daily Express 
 
'No one chills the heart like Susan Hill' Daily Telegraph 
 
VINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

A beautiful hardback edition of the famously terrifying ghost story, The Woman in Black, together with four other spine-chilling tales in one beautiful volume. 
 
Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House. The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose. 
 
This illustrated edition includes four of Susan Hill's scariest ghost stories: Dolly, The Man in the Picture, Printer's Devil Court and The Small Hand. 
 
'Heartstoppingly chilling' Daily Express 
 
'No one chills the heart like Susan Hill' Daily Telegraph 
 
VINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful 
 
Illustrated by Nick Tankard

Revenge

A new Simon Serrailler short story to be published in the run-up to the tenth Simon Serrailler thriller, The Benefit of Hindsight, from the million-copy bestseller Susan Hill

An effigy in the woods. A message written in fear. 
 
 
Simon Serrailler is awoken into a hazy dawn by the insistent ringing of his phone. He’s being called out: there’s a body strung up in tranquil Harnham Woods. But on closer inspection it’s an effigy – a carefully made dummy, stirring in the breeze. This is no practical joke, it’s a message. And the next death is only a matter of time. 
 
 
Hill’s elegant prose conceals a blade of menace. Revenge is a compact masterclass in tension: haunted soldiers, buried guilt and the detective who must see through the lies before the next life is lost. 
 
 
‘A case like no other… gripping and humane’ Sunday Times

I'm the King of the Castle

Discover a chilling twentieth century classic, delving into the dark and complex heart of childhood 
 
'Some people are coming here today, now you will have a companion.' 
 
But young Edmund Hooper doesn't want anyone else in Warings, the rambling Victorian house he shares with his widowed father. Nevertheless Charles Kingshaw and his mother are soon installed and Edmund sets about persecuting his fearful new playmate. 
 
From the dusty back rooms of Warings through the gloomy labyrinth of Hang Wood to the very top of Leydell Castle, Edmund pursues Charles, the balance of power slipping back and forth between bully and victim. With their parents oblivious, the situation speeds towards a crisis... 
 
Darkly claustrophobic and morally ambiguous, Susan Hill weaves a classic tale of cruelty, power, and the dangerous games we play as children. 
 
'A brilliant tour de force' Guardian 
 
'Equalled for poignancy and horror only in Lord of the Flies' Sunday Telegraph 
 
'Delves beneath the surface of complex young minds, exposing not only their vulnerabilty and tenderness, their cruelty and malevolence, but also how parents end up turning a blind eye to their pain' Anita Sethi

Hill's exploration of a juvenile ghoul and his natural prey is a brilliant tour de force

Equalled for poignancy and horror only in Lord of the Flies

Delves beneath the surface of complex young minds, exposing not only their vulnerability and tenderness, their cruelty and malevolence, but also how parents end up turning a blind eye to their pain

Susan Hill was born in Scarborough in 1942, and educated at grammar schools there and in Coventry. She read English at King's College, London, of which she is now a Fellow. As well as I'm the King of the Castle, her novels include Strange Meeting, The Bird of Night, In the Springtime of the Year, Air and Angels, The Service of Clouds,The Various Haunts of Men, The Pure in Heart, The Rise of Darkness, The Beacon, The Vows of Silence and The Small Hand. She has written several volumes of short stories, including A Bit of Singing and Dancing; two ghost novels, The Woman in Black and The Mist in the Mirror; and a number of stories for children. Her autobiographical books are The Magic Apple Tree and Family. She is married with two adult daughters and lives in North Norfolk.

'Some people are coming here today, now you will have a companion.' 
 
But young Edmund Hooper doesn't want anyone else in Warings, the large and rambling Victorian house he shares with his widowed father. Nevertheless Charles Kingshaw and his mother are soon installed and Hooper sets about subtly persecuting the fearful new arrival. 
 
In the woods, Charles fights back but he knows that his rival will always win the affections of the adults - and that worse is still to come . . .

Susan Hill

Sian Philips

Judi Dench

Peggy Ashcroft

Stephanie Cole

Martin Jarvis

Ian Richardson

Patricia Gallimore

June Brown

Full Cast

Patricia Hayes

David Timson

14 Full-Cast Dramas

An extensive collection of full-cast dramatisations and long-lost original radio plays by Dame Susan Hill 
 
Award-winning author Dame Susan Hill is best known for her hit ghost story The Woman in Black and her popular ‘Simon Serailler’ detective series, but she has also written extensively for radio. This audio anthology includes full-cast adaptations of two of her early novels, plus an additional 12 BBC Radio plays, many of them available for the very first time since their original broadcasts. 
 
Gentlemen and Ladies tells of the friendship and loneliness of a family living in a small Midland village, while Strange Meeting explores the relationship between two young subalterns in the First World War. These moving dramatisations star Patricia Hayes, Stephanie Cole, Martin Jarvis and David Timson. 
 
Themes of interdependence and isolation run through all Hill’s radio plays, which she describes as dealing with ‘human beings in confrontation’. In Taking Leave, a nephew visits the family he barely knows; in Lizard in the Grass, an orphan living in a clifftop convent is persecuted by one of the nuns, in The Cold Country, tempers fray when four explorers become snowbound in Antarctica and in Consider the Lilies, an ageing bachelor who sees angels finds himself drawn to a dying girl. Richard Hurndall, Helen Worth, Terry Scully, John Rollason and Tony Britton are among the star casts. 
 
A Window on the World focuses on students Nell (Patricia Gallimore) and Jess (Julie Hallam), who are mere observers of life – until one of them acts to alter the situation. Strip Jack Naked finds sick recluse James (Ian Richardson) shaken out of his austere existence by a visit from his estranged wife, but in The Sound that Time Makes, wife and mother Fay (Patricia Gallimore) is obsessively haunted by her schooldays. And with her wedding approaching, Helena (Carole Hayman) struggles to let go of her childhood in Here Comes the Bride. 
 
Chances features two interlinked monologues, read by Dames Judi Dench and Peggy Ashcroft, in which an Irish maid at a seaside hotel ponders her life, and a guest remembers better days and higher standards. A dying Frenchwoman summons her estranged daughter in Out in the Cold, starring Pauline Letts and Fiona Walker. Finally, Winter and Autumn focus on two couples, one elderly and resident in an old folks’ home, the other middle-aged and attempting to escape the past by moving house. Doreen Mantle, Cyril Luckham, June Brown and Bernard Hepton star as the spouses searching for meaning and connection. 
 
Copyright © Susan Hill 1968 (Gentlemen and Ladies), 1971 (Strange Meeting, Taking Leave, Lizard in the Grass), 1972 (The Cold Country), 1973 (Consider the Lilies), 1975 (A Window on the World, Strip Jack Naked), 1980 (The Sound that Time Makes, Here Comes the Bride), 1981 (Chances), 1982 (Out in the Cold), 1985 (Winter), 1986 (Autumn) 
 
Contents: 
Gentlemen and Ladies 
Strange Meeting 
Taking Leave 
Lizard in the Grass 
The Cold Country 
Consider the Lilies 
A Window on the World 
Strip Jack Naked 
The Sound that Time Makes 
Here Comes the Bride 
Chances 
Out in the Cold 
Winter 
Autumn 
 
Copyright © 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

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