The Inhabitants
Coming in September 2024 from Regal House Publishing. Preorder the book here.
Sometimes, horror is too close to home.
Artist Nilda Ricci could use a stroke of luck. She seems to get it when she inherits a shadowy Victorian, built by an architect whose houses were said to influence the mind—supposedly, in beneficial ways. At first, Nilda’s new home delivers, with the help of its longtime housekeeper. And Nilda falls for a handsome neighbor, a chemist whose herbal tonics boost her creativity. But Nilda starts having strange experiences, making her wonder whether her house is haunted, or whether its architect’s intentions were less than benevolent. She also comes to suspect that her new love interest—and her housekeeper—aren’t quite what they seem.
Advance praise:
“Take the classic Gothic element of a spooky old house, add a dash of modern #MeToo seasoning, and let everything simmer in the warmth of timeless maternal love, and you have Beth Castrodale’s deliciously clever new novel. The Inhabitants, dream-drenched and mysterious, tantalizes and satisfies to the final pages. A remarkable read.”
—Chauna Craig, author of The Widow’s Guide to Edible Mushrooms and Wings & Other Things
“The deceptively innocuous spell cast by The Inhabitants is like walking in a pleasant wood and encountering a coiled rattlesnake. This well-crafted book is highly recommended for those who love tales of the supernatural. The otherworldly elements are finely blended with life’s challenges, the lure of romance, magic potions, and the life-altering presence of evil.”
—Morgan Howell, author of The Moon Won’t Talk
“Beth Castrodale’s wonderful new novel is an engaging read that incorporates art, architecture, herbal medicine, #MeToo, and the supernatural. After breaking up with her longtime partner, Nilda Ricci embarks on a new life when she and her daughter move into an architecturally significant house with its own history and secrets. There, Nilda, a painter, encounters an attractive, intriguing neighbor who might not be what he seems; unsolved issues from the past; the resurfaced traumas of a childhood friend; and mysterious apparitions. The result is a page turner of a novel about deciding what’s real or imagined, making sense of the past, and looking to the future. Richly grounded in physical details and keen psychological insights, this superbly crafted novel delivers on many levels.”
—Jan English Leary, author of Thicker Than Blood, Skating on the Vertical, and Town and Gown
“Beth Castrodale’s moody and atmospheric new novel, The Inhabitants, will have you looking twice at gifts from neighbors and considering locks for your closet doors. The protagonist and her daughter arrive at Farleigh House, the eccentric construction of a nineteenth-century architect, for a new beginning. Instead, they’re met by mysterious forces from the past—a fireplace that erupts in faces, an unseen weight at the foot of a bed, and a wave of rage on a feeding frenzy. THE INHABITANTS, a modern-Gothic novel, reminds us not only that there is a place for the past in the present but also that going back must often precede moving forward.”
—Cynthia Newberry Martin, author of The Art of Her Life, Love Like This, and Tidal Flats
“In her beautifully paced new novel, Beth Castrodale gives us a fresh take on the classic haunted-house tale. The Inhabitants guides Nilda Ricci, a newly single mother, and her daughter through the strange and disconcerting Farleigh House, into which the two of them have recently moved, and also through the corridors of the past—through fear, regret, and memory that sit in the quietly beating hearts of not only the house but also in sculptures and paintings and even lullabies. Eventually, all these passageways converge, with Nilda at the epicenter, in a way that is both inevitable and surprising. Ultimately, The Inhabitants asks which is more terrifying: the spirits and the strange house they haunt, or the monsters that walk among us every day? Masterfully told and beautifully balanced, The Inhabitants is a terrific read.”
—Jim Naremore, author of American Still Life and The Arts of Legerdemain As Taught By Ghosts
“From the idiosyncratic house the novel’s artist-mother heroine, Nilda, inherits, to the mysterious housekeeper she also inherits, to the eccentric neighbor who invents ‘creativity’ tonics for Nilda, to the revelation that the man whose portrait Nilda is commissioned to paint poses a danger that must be stopped, dread and fascination permeate Beth Castrodale’s fiercely feminist modern-Gothic novel. But while The Inhabitants is heady and menacing, it’s also a tender story about the undying devotion of motherly love.”
—Michelle N. Ross, author of They Kept Running, Shapeshifting, and There’s So Much They Haven’t Told You
I Mean You No Harm
(For a book trailer, excerpt, purchasing details, and more, visit this link. You can also check out a video of the author reading from and discussing the novel.)
The enemy of my enemy is my sister.
Career criminal Vic Doloro isn’t the kind of guy you’d send a card to on Father’s Day. Layla Shawn never has. She’s spent most of her thirty-two years estranged from her father and haunted by the mysterious death of her mother.
Then Vic dies, leaving Layla—an unemployed artist—a tempting inheritance of ill-gotten money. Urging her to take the money is Vic’s other daughter, Bette, with whom Layla shares a troubled past. On a cross-country road trip, the two women mend fences, but Layla finds herself caught in the middle of an unsettled and lethal score between her father and a man who knows more than he should about her mother’s death.
As Layla zeroes in on the truth and wrestles with her own demons, she finds herself face to face with a killer.
Praise for the book:
“I Mean You No Harm is many things: murder mystery, adventure tale, page-turning thriller. But at its heart, the story is a tender exploration of family, betrayal, and self-discovery. Ms. Castrodale seamlessly unites all these elements for a fast-paced, unforgettable read.” –Amanda Skenandore, author of The Undertaker’s Assistant and Between Earth and Sky
“Beth Castrodale slowly builds suspense while drawing compelling characters in I Mean You No Harm. The mystery at the novel’s center is intriguing, but what keeps you reading is compassion for the main character and her tragic, intricate past. This exploration of family and murder delves deep into the very heart of loss.” –Heather Skyler, author of Vegas Girls and The Perfect Age
“A gripping, heartfelt thriller about identity, family ties and a legacy of crime. Thought-provoking and propulsive, with a set of complex, intriguing characters, I Mean You No Harm kept me reading long past my bedtime.” –Daniela Petrova, author of Her Daughter’s Mother
“Nothing is quite what it seems in Beth Castrodale’s deeply satisfying thriller. It’s all about family, and the lies and elisions that can pull family together or splinter it into fragments beyond repair. I applaud her deft pacing, and the accumulated street wisdom and store of memorable characters that make this not just a highly entertaining read, but one with a profound emotional core.” –Valerie Nieman, author of To the Bones
“Beth Castrodale brings her considerable talent for prose to crime fiction in a novel layered with insight about the human experience. This fast-paced and expertly plotted literary thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat. You’ll continue to think about the richly drawn characters who inhabit the story, particularly the estranged sisters whose relationship sits at the core of the novel, long after you read the final sentence. Tense, exciting, and full of heart, I Mean You No Harm will keep you turning pages long into the night!” –Edwin Hill, Edgar- and Agatha-nominated author of Watch Her
“Filled with quiet humor and keen observations, this novel turns up the heat page by page, pushing the protagonist to her limits.” –Audrey Schulman, author of Theory of Bastards and The Cage
“Part on-the-road story, part whodunnit, and part family drama, I Mean You No Harm deposits readers in the back seat of Layla Shawn’s truck and carries us across the country, dodging pursuing gangsters and the long reach of memory. Fast-paced yet introspective, this book draws its stalkers, innocent children, and secretive women with the assured brush strokes of an Impressionist painting. A vivid contribution to contemporary literature.” –Brett Riley, author of Comanche, Lord of Order, and Freak
“I Mean You No Harm simmers with tension. It’s expertly paced and marvelously written, chock full of twists and turns that surprise and titillate.” –Chris McGinley, author of Coal Black
“A tautly paced, often elegiac novel about family ghosts, sisterly tension, and the legacies we leave behind, I Mean You No Harm is a unique crime thriller that you’ll never forget.” –Nick Kolakowski, author of Boise Longpig Hunting Club and Rattlesnake Rodeo
In This Ground
(The print book and ebook are available through Amazon. Here’s a sample chapter.)
Just as his indie-rock band was poised to make it big, Ben Dirjery traded it all in for fatherhood and the stability of a job at Bolster Hill Cemetery. Now closing in on fifty, the former guitarist finds himself divorced and at loose ends, and still haunted by the tragic death of his former band’s lead singer, who is buried, literally, under Ben’s feet.
These aren’t Ben’s only troubles. A court-ordered exhumation of a nineteenth-century vagabond has protesters rallying at the cemetery’s gates. Ben’s boss is blocking his push for green burials, which he hopes to offer in time for a dear, dying friend. And a new gravedigger is pressuring Ben to bring his guitar out of the closet to accompany him at an open-mike performance.
Meanwhile, Ben’s daughter, an aspiring musician, discovers his band’s music and begins questioning a past he has tried to bury. If he can face her questions, he might finally put to rest his guilt over his band mate’s death, and bring music back into his life.
Praise for the book:
“Sharp writing and an unconventional plot make for a darkly enjoyable read.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“In This Ground brings both music and joy to an otherwise mournful landscape. Castrodale challenges us to come to terms to what is important in our lives by confronting the inevitability of death, and she does so with such frankness and grace that we are compelled to embrace, rather than fear, the unknown.”
—Wendy J. Fox, author of The Pull of It and The Seven Stages of Anger
“Castrodale makes a cemetery not only come to life but also become a central character. [D]eep in the soil of this unlikely ground, [she] has buried great heart. She channels Richard Russo in her ability to command a large cast of characters about whom we care greatly.”
—Jen Michalski, author of The Summer She Was Under Water
“That a graveyard can be a stage for so much vigorous, multilayered life is one of the many surprises in Beth Castrodale’s warm and wonderful novel. The paths of vividly drawn characters intersect to create a vibrant canvas of uncommon richness and breadth. With the deftness of a magician and uncanny insight, Castrodale weaves together the present moment with its contending dramas and the past with its tragedies in this moving and deeply satisfying novel that illuminates how hearts break and how they mend.”
—Lynn Sloan, author of This Far Isn’t Far Enough and Principles of Navigation
“This novel possesses a mythic sweep. Yet the characters are so sharply drawn, so intimately detailed, they feel like people we all know—people who, while full of regret and self-deception, hidden pain and longing, still manage to find a bittersweet redemption in living. In This Ground shows Beth Castrodale to be a writer well attuned to the music of the human heart.”
—Jeff Fearnside, author of Making Love While Levitating Three Feet in the Air
“If I didn’t already love hanging out in cemeteries, In This Ground would prompt me to take a sudden field trip to my local graveyard, to stalk plotted rows with a fresh perspective, one that discerns the politics of burial and exhumation, and the complexity of death. But even more compelling is the novel’s compassionate treatment of the living. Park your car in the upper lot and prepare yourself for all that unfolds when unexpected alliances form under the luminescence of mushrooms and moonlight.”
—Jodi Paloni, author of They Could Live with Themselves
Marion Hatley
(The ebook, print book, and audiobook are available through Amazon.)
In February of 1931, Marion Hatley steps off a train and into the small town of Cooper’s Ford, hoping she’s left her big-city problems behind. She plans to trade the bustling hubbub of a Pittsburgh lingerie shop for the orderly life of a village schoolteacher. More significantly, she believes she’ll be trading her reputation-tainting affair with a married man for the dutiful quiet of tending to her sick aunt. Underpinning her hopes for Cooper’s Ford is Marion’s dream of bringing the daily, private trials of all corset-wearing women—especially working women—to an end, and a beautiful one at that.
Instead, she confronts new challenges: a mysteriously troubled student; frustrations in attempts to create a truly comfortable corset; and, most daunting, her ailing aunt. Once a virtual stranger to Marion, her aunt holds the key to old secrets whose revelation could change the way Marion sees her family and herself.
As her problems from Pittsburgh threaten to resurface in Cooper’s Ford, Marion finds herself racing against time to learn the truth behind these secrets and to get to the bottom of her student’s troubles. Meanwhile, Marion forms a bond with a local war veteran. But her past, and his, may be too much to sustain a second chance at happiness.
Praise for the book:
“Like Marion Hatley’s own creations, Beth Castrodale’s debut novel is sewn, sentence by elegant sentence, with exquisite care and beauty. With clear-eyed assurance it explores the burden of secrets, the virtue of perseverance, and the joys of renewal. As a portrait of a community—and life itself—it is deeply compassionate and utterly wondrous.”
—David Rowell, author of The Train of Small Mercies
“A reflective, compassionate, and gracefully written tale.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A beautiful story, beautifully told. Marion Hatley’s skills at creating women’s underthings designed to free them from the constrictures of the past are emblematic of the freedom she ultimately achieves.”
—Lee Jacobus, author of Hawaiian Tales, Crown Island, and The Romantic Soul of Emma Now
“An evocative portrait of a woman both sinned against and sinning.”
—Paula Bomer, author of Inside Madeleine
“Marion Hatley reminds us of women’s struggle to escape society’s corseting and pursue opportunities we take for granted today.”
—Nan Cuba, author of Body and Bread
“An expert and articulate historical novel. The period details, class protest, and feminist protest are particularly engaging, as is the central character, Marion, whose resourcefulness recalls that of Zola’s Denise Badu in The Ladies’ Paradise. In Marion’s case, her redesign of conventional corsets speaks to humanizing social constrictions for women as well as easing physical ones.”
—DeWitt Henry, founding editor of Ploughshares, Emerson Professor Emeritus, and author of The Marriage of Anna Maye Potts
“Through her own trials and the trials of others she grows close to, Marion Hatley finds the heart within human frailty. . . . A thoroughly rewarding read.”
—Gilmore Tamny, author of My Days with Millicent
“Marion Hatley is as smooth to step into as the Whisper Lifts that Marion sews for her customers. The plot flows like silk, supporting her search for identity, honor, and love.”
—Audrey Schulman, author of The Cage, Swimming with Jonah, A House Named Brazil, and Three Weeks in December
“Castrodale offers profound insights into the characters who populate a Depression-era town—from women struggling for personal and financial independence to a soldier who has returned in body but not in spirit from World War I.”
—Grace Talusan, essayist and fiction writer
Gold River
(Available for free)
About the book: In the summer of her seventeenth year, Kit Mabek visits the site of a legendary healing river. Her mission: to find out what happened to her desperately ill mother, Ava, who vanished during Kit’s infancy. New clues suggest that Ava was drawn to the river, in search of a cure.
Kit soon becomes entangled in the history of the riverside town, where she’s first seen as the ghost of Helen Wheeler, a young woman killed there years before. With the help of an old friend of Helen’s who is still haunted by her loss, Kit begins to unravel the mystery behind her mother’s disappearance. Ultimately, she discovers unsettling powers that connect her to the town’s “original water healer,” the leader of a controversial nineteenth-century commune founded at Gold River.
Praise for the book:
“Gold River shines like the gold it is from the first page. The story will hook you, and the writing shimmers.”
—Audrey Schulman, author of The Cage, Swimming with Jonah, and Three Weeks in December
