*Note: This book was an advanced reader’s copy from Net Galley. It will be published on October 4, 2022, and is available for order on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Malice-House-Megan-Shepherd-ebook/dp/B09VHD298B/
****4 stars
Malice House by Megan Shepherd
If you’re looking for a new Halloween read, look no further. The premise of this book is a curse on a family that allows them to bring alive monsters from their writing and artwork.
Haven Marbury, a children’s book illustrator, is the daughter of bestselling author Amory Marbury. When he dies, she goes to his secluded home in the small town of Lundie Bay to clear it out.
While going through her father’s papers, Haven finds an unpublished manuscript that was written while her father suffered from dementia. Unlike his award-winning style, the manuscript appears to be a horror novel featuring an assortment of monsters. Haven adds her own drawings of the monsters to the manuscript, hoping to sell it. She shares the unpublished book and her artwork with the members of the Ink Drinkers, a literary club of which her father was a member and who work in a nearby bookstore. The club members reject her drawings, but one of them, a young woman named Kylie, befriends her..
As strange murders occur in town, including that of her father’s housekeeper, an officer suspects Haven may be involved, as the killings are like those in one of her father’s books. Haven grows close to her father’s neighbor, Rafe, an heir to a peanut butter fortune until she discovers some grisly items that he’s hiding.
This book is a perfect October/Halloween read. The monsters are well depicted, and there are quite a few twists to satisfy a reader. I would recommend, however, not to read it at night with the light off.
Ruff Drafts 