Showing results by author "A. Katherine Black" in All Categories

Retired librarian and bookshop owner May Morrigan lives in the affluent village of Blackheath with Fletcher, her best friend since they met decades ago, and May's two dogs. After an unpleasant church volunteer and an annoying local butcher meet their untimely ends, Fletcher and May team up to do some sleuthing. Soon, the elderly pair start working with a young journalist to investigate the case of a missing girl and its possible link to previous unsolved crimes.

Alice shouldn’t have opened this book, but she did. Some novels want to be read. THE BOOK demands it. Hidden in a dusty box for years, a plain, green book is mailed to the library of a psychiatric hospital. It is sentient. It watches. It listens and manipulates. Dr Alice Grant is understaffed. One patient away from burnout, THE BOOK wants her. She’s special, but she’s not the only one. Her patients—especially a fragmented Dissociative Identity Disorder collective—fixate on the book, each headmate experiencing devastating horrors. In this fusion of horror and psychological intrigue...

DCI Nash is brought into the Serious Crimes Task Force on a case that has the local police baffled. Their quiet town has been shattered by its first-ever serial killer. The beautiful countryside is tarnished forever. Four murders in and the psychopath nicknamed The Florist isn’t done. The staged and bizarre murder scenes are like nothing the team has seen before - but one thing is clear: the killer is playing cat and mouse. There are no apparent links between these elaborate murders, except for the sprig of honeysuckle left at the crime scene. As the evidence stacks up against the dying ...

Will you be my friend? Leverage is testament to how one innocuous ad in thelocal newspaper can turn your world upside down. Two people come into Beth’s life: One gives her a reason to die. The other takes away her choice. She appears out of nowhere and wants to be Beth’s friend.It would be sweet if it wasn’t such a sinister obsession. Beth is ensnared, her tranquil life spiralling into a vortex of chaos that she can't escape. Black's signature talent for probing the human psyche and unearthing the hidden pockets of humanity that we dare not acknowledge is at its peak in Leverage. In ...

The past plays on . . . and its melody is deadly. When eerie piano music echoes through the halls of Charleston Manor, personal assistant Anna Stone is drawn into a mystery that haunts the village. As strange occurrences unsettle the peaceful estate, whispers of a restless spirit—and long-buried family secrets—surface. With Dame Lilian determined to protect a grieving mother and tensions rising in the village of Rosewater, Anna must confront the ghostly presence that threatens the peace. But some mysteries refuse to stay buried, and the piano’s haunting melody may hold the key.

Author Ellie Erikson is dying from a rare degenerative disease that even the experts don’t know much about. But that’s just the start of her problems. When her boyfriend is beaten and left for dead, Ellie is the prime suspect. He names her as his attacker—but she has no recollection of hurting him. She’s told to expect changes to her personality—but the doctors never mentioned insanity. As she looks to her childhood for answers, everything about her past and upbringing is brought into question. When psychosis comes for her from a damaged mind, a wasting illness is the least of ...

Stephen Bell is compelled to dredge up every secret as his daughter’s world falls apart. Fourteen-year-old Sarah’s perfect existence is shattered when everything trusted and comfortable is stolen from her. She loves life . . . until her mother announces that she’s pregnant. But this is no ordinary pregnancy. In this domestic thriller, the family has to define where normal stops and madness begins. While the family is distracted, someone is watching. But what does this mean for Sarah? This is no Disneyland. This is Nowhere Boulevard. In Katherine Black’s genre-defying style, she ...

Every dead child deserves a voice. Noah Ross was fifteen. And now he’s dead. He was found floating in a lake within a month of his adoption. DCI Nash must confront the evil that stalks the locals to uncover the truth. But with so many secrets buried in the town, will he catch the killer before they claim their next victim? Meanwhile, Nash’s boyfriend, Kelvin, is devastated by the racial attacks on his family. There’s a blight on the town and a straight-talking outsider knows more than she’s letting on. But DI Molly Brown is hell-bent on taking her down. In his biggest case yet, ...

In a circus of shadows, death takes centre stage. In the shadowy heart of Prague, beneath the looming towers of Vysehrad Castle, DCI Nash finds himself ensnared in a web of malevolence. As a once-celebrated circus unravels into a maelstrom of death, the macabre discovery of a fifteen-year-old trapeze artist signals the start of a nightmare murder spree that disrupts the colourful façade of the big top. With the spectral hum of an uninvited carousel heralding a curse, Nash is thrown into a case where the performers live by superstition and folklore. With time running out, Nash battles the ...

Four cousins. One mysterious picture frame. Infinite danger. When Kerry stumbles upon an intricately carved frame at a local fair, she has no idea it will catapult her and her cousins into worlds beyond their wildest imaginations. What starts as a simple curiosity turns into a life-or-death adventure, as the cousins are swept into magical realms where ancient secrets, treacherous foes, and dark forces await. Each leap takes them deeper into unknown dangers—legendary landmarks, perilous landscapes, and sinister enemies lurking in every shadow. With no way of knowing when they’ll get home...

Every family has a limit. Every secret has a price. 15-year-old Samuel May is a neurodivergent young man with a unique mind. When his best friend vanishes, it triggers more than just a search. It plunges Sammy and his parents into an emotional labyrinth with unimaginable consequences. From the beginning, tensions rise and secrets emerge as the family is pushed to the limit. Sammy has to come to terms with a world that doesn't understand him. With each revelation, they're forced closer to breaking point. Can they endure the strain? Sammy's in danger. And everything hinges on finding his ...

"After Dinner Conversation" Magazine - April 2021 Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast: A quaint suburban couple rob their dying neighbor to settle an old score. Reach: A businessman travels to China to find the factory worker that left a curious poem in his child's Christmas present. Take-Em!: A father invites his liberal son to go duck hunting for quality time. The Angel In The Juniper: Holly meets an angel who tells her to kill her revolutionary professor. On Our Hands: An elderly woman tries to hold her family together as emotions heat up over populist politics. All Harriet's Pieces: A young...

An impossible mystery with a reluctant sleuth... The first in a gripping new standalone mystery series featuring Anna Stone. Country Estate PA, Anna Stone, 29, loves her job. But when a valuable necklace goes missing at a party, it’s clear that one of the people in that dining room is the thief. It doesn’t help that the pendant was around Anna’s neck at the time. She sees the way the villagers are looking at her: they’re closing ranks. Dame Lilian Charleston is upset about a cousin who disappeared fifty years ago... And now Angela Bennett, the estate’s former housekeeper, has ...

When you find your partner online, make sure you get a receipt DCI Silas Nash has a cold case dumped on his desk. He’s not pleased, and even less so when he hits brick walls. Every lead drags him down a rabbit hole where the hunter lies in wait for his victims. Lurking in the seediest corners of the internet, a charming conman attracts women on a dating site, ensnaring his victims with smooth words. He's a shark in a digital ocean, preying on lonely women. Clara Watts plays a dangerous game when he slithers back into her life eight years after taking her for a fool the first time. She’s...

‘Count to ten, now go and hide. You’re not safe, your daddy lied.’ Valerie and Robert Archer leave their comfortable farmhouse for a fresh start after an affair threatens to tear them apart. Valerie has reservations about the burnt-out house but must do what’s best for her daughter. They begin a daunting renovation project that allows them to knock down walls and rebuild their lives. As the smoke damage from the old house is repaired, Robert is plunged into the clutches of madness. Valerie struggles to hold the family together, but there’s more to battle than a controlling husband...

Katherine Black uses emotions and characters to manipulate your senses until they ache. This is a collection of fictional stories born of dark things living in the author’s head. It’s about the power of the human condition—and the weakness. A collection of intense stories written with passion and insight. Some are so tragic they can break a heart. Every piece in the book is tinged with human emotion—kindness, colour, darkness, or autumn tones. While some women are dipping in the supermarket freezers for frozen peas, Katherine wonders how a body would fit. Would you have to break ...

Violet Woods buries her firstborn child. Not lacking in fortitude, she soon produces five replacement boys. Violet, a matriarch with barely concealed neurotic psychosis, stifles the Woods brothers under her protective wing, and keeps them safe from wanton girls. As her hotel empire grows and the decades pass, the boys coerce their way into adulthood, each with his secrets and flaws. And Julie Spencer is pulled into the depraved family dynamic—trapped in their world. Through Katherine Black’s signature style of probing the darkest depths of twisting suspense, The Last Matriarch is a ...

The kids are older. The leaps are wilder . . . Vicki, Mark, Kerry, and Emma have a magic picture frame portal, leaping them into a cascade of otherworldly realms filled with magic and malice. But danger is ever lurking and the perfect leap can turn on a heartbeat, transforming their adventures into near-death encounters. A particular brush with death leaves them teetering on the brink. Adobe is an enigmatic figure from a parallel dimension, his intentions shrouded in darkness. He yearns for the frame, a tool for evil intentions. Keepers of the Quantum is a high-stakes adventure, brimming ...

Alma Cullen is dead. In a bizarre link, people from flight BX842 are dying at a holiday resort in Greece. DCI Silas Nash and his second in command, DI Molly Brown, go undercover as the body count rises. The guests have stopped dying—but there’s a new threat. One by one, the remaining guests go missing. Nash must solve the mystery before it’s too late. In this interconnected standalone paranormal detective thriller, Katherine Black delivers more intrigue and clues for the reader to find as she delves into the dark recesses of the human psyche. How do you hunt a killer when you don’t ...

Synopsis - A young girl faces the death of her mother and the loss of her closest companion. After Dinner Conversation is a growing series of short stories across genres to draw out deeper discussions with friends and family. Each story is an accessible example of an abstract ethical or philosophical idea and is accompanied by suggested discussion questions. Podcast discussions of this short story, and others, is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Youtube. ★★★ If you enjoy this story, subscribe via our website to "After Dinner Conversation Magazine" and get this, and other, ...