Showing results by author "Jess Kidd" in All Categories

'A superb anthology for these dark winter nights' Guardian 'Now's the time to curl up with a ghostly tale - and this collection should be your go to!' Fabulous 'This cracking collection of spooky tales is perfect for the season of darkling nights' Mail on Sunday 🕰️🌙🕯️ FROM THE...

Nora Breen arrives inconspicuously in the seaside town of Gore-on-Sea, and takes a room at the Gulls Nest guest house. Supper is at 6 o'clock sharp, and there will be no admittance after 9 - a routine Nora likes, as it reminds her of her former life as a nun. As she settles in, she is careful not to reveal too much about herself to the other guests. Instinct tells her it's better to watch and listen. Because Nora is not here on a whim. She has a disappearance to investigate.

'Nora Breen will become a favourite character' Ian Moore 'A glorious read' Amanda Mason 'Nora Breen is Maria Von Trapp on steroids' Richard Armitage Sharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen is back, as the latest attraction in Gore-on-Sea turns deadly . . . On a brilliant December morning, Nora finds...

THE IRISH BESTSELLER 'A dazzling modern mythology of our oldest stories, richly imagined by the very best of Irish writers' DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA, author of A Ghost in the Throat' 'Enthralling . . . The imaginative freedom in Banshee's stories is remarkable' Irish Times 'Bold, beautiful' Daily...

Things in Jars is an enchanting Victorian detective novel that explores what it is to be human in inhumane times, from Costa Award-winner and twice BBC Radio 2 Book Club author Jess Kidd. London, 1863. Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age, is taking on her toughest case yet...

The mesmerising new novel from the winner of the Costa Short Story Award, following her debut novel Himself. Maud Drennan - underpaid carer and unintentional psychic - is the latest in a long line of dogsbodies for the ancient, belligerent Cathal Flood. Yet despite her best efforts, Maud is...

Winter, with its unsettling blend of the cosy and the sinister, has long been a popular time for gathering by the bright flame of a candle, or the warm crackling of a fire, and swapping stories of ghosts and strange happenings. Now eight best-selling, award-winning authors, master storytellers of the sinister and the macabre bring this time-honoured tradition to vivid life in a spellbinding collection of new and original haunted tales.

A SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION PICK 2026 'A sumptuous Gothic mystery' NAT REEVE, author of NETTLEBLACK 'Kidd has imagination to die for' Guardian 'This tale of secrets and mysteries is steeped in atmospheric suspense. Gothic, yes, but galvanised by flashes of inventive wonder' Mail on Sunday...

A SUNDAY TIMES BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK 1628. Embarking on a journey in search of her father, a young girl called Mayken boards the Batavia, the most impressive sea vessel of the age. During the long voyage, this curious and resourceful...

From Dickens's A Christmas Carol to the ghost stories of M.R. James, the tradition of a haunted tale at Christmas has flourished across the centuries. The twelve stories of The Winter Spirits are all centred around Christmas or Advent, boldly and playfully re-imagining a beloved tradition for a modern audience. Taking you from a haunted Tuscan villa to a remote Scottish island with a dark secret, and drawing inspiration from festive traditions from all around the globe, these vibrant haunted stories are your ultimate companion for frosty nights.

When Mahony returns to Mulderrig, a speck of a place on Ireland's west coast, he brings only his handsome face, a photograph of his long-lost mother, and a determination to do battle with the village's lies. Mahony also somehow wakes the dead from their graves, with their foggy memories and...

Welcome to Little Snoddington, where nothing is normal and every day is magic . . . Nine-year-old Alfie Blackstack’s parents have met a very unfortunate end. Now he’s living in the dark and cobwebby Switherbroom Hall with his mad-haired Aunt Gertie and warty Aunt Zita, who would really like...

London 1863. Bridie Devine, Privatdetektivin und Expertin für kleinere chirurgische Eingriffe, erhält den Auftrag, die entführte Tochter des Adligen Sir Edmund zurückzubringen. Alles an dem Fall ist beängstigend seltsam: der nervöse Vater, die feindselige Dienerschaft, der windige Hausarzt. Allen voran aber die verschwundene Christabel, die kaum je einer gesehen hat. Doch zunächst ist die energische Bridie ganz in ihrem Element, denn sie liebt vertrackte Fälle. Zudem fühlt sie sich beschützt von ihrem neuen Begleiter Ruby - der ist zwar tot, aber wen stört das schon.

Seit dem Tod seiner Frau und den ewigen Streitereien mit seinem Sohn vertreibt Cathal Flood jeden, der sich ihm nähern will. Einst Antiquitäten- und Kuriositätenhändler ist er längst zum Messie verkommen. Sein Sohn hofft, ihn auf Dauer in ein Altenheim verfrachten zu können. Die Neueste in der Riege erfolgloser und unterbezahlter Sozialbetreuer, die Cathal zur Räson bringen soll, ist Maud Drennan. Unter den wüsten Beschimpfungen des Alten zieht sie beherzt gegen Dreck und Müll zu Felde. Doch trotz aller Unerschrockenheit ist ihr Bridlemere unheimlich.

Die Tradition, zur kalten Jahreszeit Spukgeschichten zu lesen, hat sich über die Jahrhunderte hinweg bewährt. Denn was gibt es Schöneres, als es sich an langen, dunklen Winterabenden bei Kerzenlicht mit Geistergeschichten gemütlich zu machen? In ›Wintergeister‹ hauchen sechs hochgelobte...

Der charmante Gelegenheitsdieb und Hippie Mahony glaubte immer, seine Mutter habe ihn aus Desinteresse 1950 in einem Waisenhaus in Dublin abgegeben. Sechsundzwanzig Jahre später erhält er einen Brief, der ein ganz anderes, ein brutales Licht auf die Geschichte seiner Mutter wirft. Mahony reist daraufhin in seinen Geburtsort, um herauszufinden, was damals wirklich geschah. Sein geradezu unheimlich vertrautes Gesicht beunruhigt die Bewohner von Anfang an.

From the bestselling author of Things in Jars and The Night Ship comes a spellbinding gothic novel in which lifelike machines walk, old bones lie buried beneath the marsh grass, and a young woman born crackling with power confronts the terrible truth of her origins. A secret cannot stay locked...

'Kidd has imagination to die for.' The Guardian A secret cannot stay locked away forever Bodkin Bell, orphan, pickpocket and survivor, doesn't know where she came from, but she knows she's different. Gaslights flare as she walks past. Cutlery spins. Shocks fly from her fingertips. For years, she...

Based on a real-life event, an epic historical novel from the award-winning author of Things in Jars that illuminates the lives of two characters: a girl shipwrecked on an island off Western Australia and, three hundred years later, a boy finding a home with his grandfather on the very same...

From the award-winning author of Himself comes a spellbinding and “magically entertaining read” (Good Housekeeping, UK) about a lonely caregiver and a cranky hoarder with a house full of secrets that “will appeal to fans of Tana French and Sophie Hannah, as it charms and unsettles in equal...