Enjoying The Fall of the House of Usher? Then you’ll love these books

Edgar Allan Poe fans can rejoice this October, as The Fall of the House of Usher - a horror/drama miniseries based on the works of Poe, including The Raven - has dropped in the last week on Netflix. 

The series, directed by Mike Flanagan, the creator of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, follows the Usher family as they navigate a court case against their successful pharmaceutical business. But along with greed and gluttony, death and disease follow the Ushers closely…

As the spooky season is well and truly underway, we have the perfect list of equally atmospheric books. For fans of classic literature, who love a reimagined story with new twists for modern audiences, we have a host of books you’ll absolutely love. 

The Mansfield Park Murder by Lynn Shepherd - Based on Mansfield Park by Jane Austen 

A Jane Austen heroine murdered. A literary villain turned hero. And an investigator between it all.

The year is 1814 when Fanny Price is found murdered in Mansfield Park. Once a rich heiress who was spoiled, condescending, and generally hated throughout the county. But her death is none-the-less haunting.

It then takes Mary Crawford, who is now as good as Fanny was bad, to team up with a thief-taker, Charles Maddox, from London to solve the brutal crime. But with dramatic confrontations comes consequences… some even deadly.

A twisted take on Mansfield Park, Shepherd brings a brilliantly entertaining novel that offers Jane Austen fans an engaging new heroine – and mystery laced in every chapter.

Order now: https://geni.us/iAY2m

The Man in Black by Lynn Shepherd - Based on Bleak House by Charles Dickens 

‘A grisly period detective story.’ The Times

London, 1850: The Dickensian streets grow darker by the day.

Private investigator Charles Maddox is surprised when he is approached by Edward Tulkinghorn for help. The feared and shadowy attorney offers Charles a handsome price he can’t refuse to do some sleuthing for a client. Charles learns that Sir Julius Cremorne has been receiving threatening letters, and now Tulkinghorn wants him to find and stop whoever is responsible.

But what starts as a simple, open-and-shut case swiftly escalates into something bigger and much darker. As he cascades toward a collision with powerful forces, Charles will need all the assistance he can get…

The Man in Black takes a classic Charles Dickens novel and plummets readers into a newly reimagined and mysterious world. Fans of The Confessions of Frannie Langton and Stacey Halls will love this.

Order now: https://geni.us/WIbph

The London Vampire by Lynn Shepherd - Based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula 

The horrors linger beyond the castle walls…

When Detective Charles Maddox is requested to look into the mysterious Baron Von Reisenberg, he welcomes the chance to trade London streets for a castle in the Viennese countryside.

Though the Baron is the subject of macabre legends, Maddox doesn’t care for supernatural beliefs. That is, until the foreboding shadows of the castle haunt him with nightmares and he is plagued by a series of disturbing incidents…

Back home, London is on the verge of widespread panic. Greeted with a string of grisly murders committed by a killer branded the Vampire, Maddox believes he knows who is behind the attacks. In a battle against time, Maddox must finally end the Vampire’s terror…before more blood is spilled.

In a darkly twisted tale based on Bram Stoker’s legendary Dracula comes a murder mystery set in the heart of Victorian London.

Order now: https://geni.us/23wMuc6

The Frankenstein Monster by Lynn Shepherd - Based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 

Not all monsters remain fictional…

Percy Shelley’s legendary poetry lives on long after his death in 1850s England. But when his son and famed widow, Mary, are approached by a stranger offering to sell rare papers allegedly by Percy, Charles Maddox is called to look at the suspicious texts.

But the case is not as simple as it appears, with Mary’s bitter stepsister, Claire Clairmont, also on the scene. As the investigation grows more disturbing, shocking evidence of foul play is discovered, leaving Maddox hunting for an even darker truth…

Taking inspiration from Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein, Lynn Shepherd turns a literary legend into an otherworldly tale.

Order now: https://geni.us/CCBZtu 

Estella’s Expectations by Barbara Havelocke - Based on Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 

You know Miss Havisham.

The world’s most famous jilted bride.

This is her daughter’s story.

Raised in the darkness of Satis House where the clocks never tick, the beautiful Estella is bred to hate men and to keep her heart cold as the grave.

She knows she doesn’t feel things quite like other people do but is she evil, or is this the natural result of her strange childhood?

As she watches the brutal treatment of women around her, hatred hardens into a core of vengeance and when she finds herself married to the abusive Drummle, she is forced to make a deadly choice: should she embrace the darkness within her and exact her revenge?

Coming May 2024.