A renaissance woman of sorts, T. Kingfisher writes multiple genres, including fantasy, horror, and other oddities, and can also paint and draw. Armed with a vibrant sense of humor, Kingfisher not only has a knack for writing, but has a knack for weaving wit, charm, and skin-crawling horror into a story that will undoubtedly stick with you long after you’ve reached the back cover.
Our list below highlights her most terrifying horror novels—however, she is known to include elements of horror in her books that are classified as other genres, particularly her romance stories.
Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead sequel, What Feasts at Night, is her most recent release as of February 13, 2024—read on for a description of her newest work as well as her other horrifying volumes that you can read while waiting on her next release.
What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier Book 2)
Her most recent release and sequel to What Moves the Dead, What Feasts at Night brings back retired soldier Alex Easton for a horrifying new adventure. After the chaos they faced at the Usher Manor, all anyone wants is rest and a return to normalcy.
Instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, the crew treks through the cold, damp forests of Gallancia to their family hunting lodge. And when they get there, they find the caretaker dead.
Even more, the lodge is in complete disarray, and the grounds are fostering an eerie, uncharacteristic silence. There are whispers among the village that fear a breath-stealing monster from folklore has occupied Easton’s home.
aston knows that village gossip should be the least of his worries, but he can also tell that something is not quite right in their home…or in their dreams.
What Moves the Dead
The prequel to What Feasts at Night, What Moves the Dead is a brilliant, atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
In it, we meet retired soldier Alex Easton for the first time, who races to the aid of childhood friend Madeline Usher upon finding out that she’s dying. The ancestral home of the Ushers resides in the remote countryside of Ruravia–and what they find there makes it easy to understand why Madeline is dying.
They discover horrifying things: fungal growth and possessed wildlife surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. At night, Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices, and her brother Roderick is overcome with a mysterious malady of the nerves.
In cahoots with a respectable British mycologist and a perplexed American doctor, Alex must uncover the secrets of Usher House before it plagues them all.
The Twisted Ones
Critically acclaimed, The Twisted Ones begins with a simple request from Mouse’s dad: to clean out her dead grandmother’s house. Thinking it would be a simple task, Mouse agrees…but quickly wishes she didn’t.
Not only was her grandma a hoarder, but then Mouse stumbles upon her step-grandfather’s journal, and the lunacy of his rants turns out to be much truer than she originally anticipated.
When alone in the woods with her dog, she encounters a slew of impossible horrors—because sometimes the things you read about in your grandfather’s journals are real, and they’re coming for you. And if she doesn’t face them head—on, she may not survive to tell the tale.
The Hollow Places
When Kara finds a mysterious bunker behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house, she finds these words inside: pray they are hungry.
Living back at home post-divorce, the cryptic words are burnt into Kara’s brain, and she starts exploring the peculiar bunker. She discovers that it contains portals to multiple alternate realities.
The only problem is that these places are haunted by creatures that appear to hear her thoughts…and the more you fear them, the stronger they become.
A House With Good Bones
A House with Good Bones is another critically acclaimed work, in which we’re introduced to Sam Mongomery, a woman on her way to visit her mother. She’s excited for the rare extended visit, as she’s missed spending time with her mother; drinking boxed wine, watching murder mysteries, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters can put the pieces together.
But her brother’s words won’t get out of her head: “Mom seems off.”
Trying to put his words out of her mind, she can’t help but understand what he meant when she arrives. Sterile white walls have replaced the warm, cluttered charm so synonymous with her mother and her mother jumps at every little sound and constantly looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only one in the room. When Sam goes outside to get some air, she discovers a jar of teeth hidden under the rose bushes, and vultures circling the garden overhead.
Sam must go digging for the truth to help her mother overcome whatever is frightening her. But she’s about to find out that some secrets are better left buried…
Featured photo: Daniel Jensen / Unsplash
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