The Haunting of Leigh Harker
From bestselling gothic horror author Darcy Coates comes a chilling story of a quiet house on a forgotten suburban lane that hides a deadly secret...
Leigh Harker's quiet suburban home was her sanctuary for more than a decade, until things abruptly changed. Curtains open by themselves. Radios turn off and on. And a dark figure looms in the shadows of her bedroom door at night, watching her, waiting for her to finally let down her guard enough to fall asleep.
Pushed to her limits but unwilling to abandon her home, Leigh struggles to find answers. But each step forces her towards something more terrifying than she ever imagined.
A poisonous shadow seeps from the locked door beneath the stairs. The handle rattles through the night and fingernails scratch at the wood. Her home harbors dangerous secrets, and now that Leigh is trapped within its walls, she fears she may never escape
Sneak Peek the first chapter of The Haunting of Leigh Harker here.
Pre-order a copy today! The Haunting of Leigh Harker on sale September 7, 2021
The Whispering Dead,
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Darcy Coates is the USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen horror and suspense titles. She lives on the Central Coast of Australia with her family, cats, and a garden full of herbs and vegetables. Darcy loves forests, especially old-growth forests where the trees dwarf anyone who steps between them. Wherever she lives, she tries to have a mountain range close by.
VISIT DARCY ONLINE: www.darcycoates.com |
ALSO BY DARCY COATES:
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The Haunting of Blackwood House
How long could you survive?
As the daughter of spiritualists, Mara’s childhood was filled with séances and scam mediums. Now she’s ready to start over with her fiancé, Neil, far away from the superstitions she’s learned to loathe...but her past isn’t willing to let her go so easily. And neither is Blackwood House. When Mara and Neil purchased the derelict property, they were warned that ever since the murder of its original owner, things have changed. Strange shadows stalk the halls. Doors creak open by themselves. Voices whisper in the night. And watchful eyes follow her every move. But Mara’s convinced she can’t possibly be in danger. Because ghosts aren’t real…are they? |
The Haunting of Rookward House
She's always watching...
When Guy finds the deed to a house in his mother’s attic, it seems like an incredible stroke of luck. Sure, it hasn’t been inhabited in years and vines strangle the age-stained walls, but Guy’s convinced he can clean the building up and sell it. He’d be crazy to turn down free money. Right? Rookward House may be hours away from its nearest neighbor, but he can’t escape the feeling that he’s being watched. Still, he decides to camp in the crumbling old mansion while he does repairs. Surely nothing too bad can happen in the space of a week. But there’s a reason no one lives in Rookward House, and the dilapidated rooms aren’t as empty as they seem. Forty years ago, a deranged woman tormented the family that made Rookward its home. Now her ghost clings to the building like rot. She’s bitter, obsessive, and fiercely jealous… and once Guy has moved into her house, she has no intention of letting him go. |
Craven Manor
Some secrets are better left forgotten...
Daniel is desperate for a fresh start. So when a mysterious figure slides a note under his door offering the position of groundskeeper at an ancient estate, he leaps at the chance, even though it seems too good to be true. Alarm bells start ringing when he arrives at Craven Manor. The abandoned mansion’s front door hangs open, and leaves and cobwebs coat the marble foyer. It’s clear no one has lived here in a long time...but he has nowhere else to go. Against his better judgment, he moves into the groundskeeper’s cottage tucked away behind the old family crypt. But when a candle flickers to life in the abandoned tower window, Daniel realizes he isn’t alone after all. Craven Manor is hiding a terrible secret… One that threatens to bury him with it. |
The Carrow Haunt
The dead are restless here...
Remy is a tour guide for the notoriously haunted Carrow House. When she’s asked to host guests for a week-long stay in order to research Carrow’s phenomena, she hopes to finally experience some of the sightings that made the house famous. At first, it’s everything they hoped for. Then a storm moves in, cutting off their contact with the outside world, and things quickly take a sinister turn. Doors open on their own. Séances go disastrously wrong. Their spirit medium wanders through the house at night, seemingly in a trance. But it isn’t until one of the guests dies under strange circumstances that Remy is forced to consider the possibility that the ghost of the house’s original owner—a twisted serial killer—still walks the halls. And by then it’s too late to escape… |
The House Next Door
No one stays here for long.
Josephine began to suspect something was wrong with the crumbling gothic monstrosity next door when its family fled in the middle of the night, the children screaming, the mother crying. They never came back. No family stays at Marwick House for long. No life lingers beyond its blackened windows. No voices drift from its ancient halls. Once, Josephine swore she saw a woman’s silhouette pacing through the upstairs room… but that’s impossible. No one had been there in a long, long time. But now someone new has moved next door, and Marwick House is slowly waking up. Torn between staying away and warning the new tenant, Josephine only knows that if she isn’t careful, she may be its next victim... |
The Folcroft Ghosts
Every family has its secrets.
When their mother is hospitalized, Tara and Kyle are sent to stay with their only remaining relatives. Their elderly grandparents seem friendly at first, and the rambling house is full of fun nooks and crannies to explore. But strange things keep happening. A bedroom remains locked at all times. Doors slam and curtains shift when no one is inside. And there are whispers of a sister who drowned in the lake long ago. Something is being hidden away, kept safely out of sight...and the children can’t shake the feeling that it’s watching them. When a violent storm cuts off their only contact with the outside world, Tara and Kyle must find a way to protect themselves from their increasingly erratic grandparents…and from the ghosts that haunt the Folcrofts’ house. But can they ever hope to escape the unforgivable secret that has ensnared their family for generations? |
Hunted
Her disappearance wasn't an accident.
Her rescue will be a mistake. Five days after twenty-two-year-old Eileen Hershberger went missing on a hike through the remote Ashlough Forest, her camera was discovered washed downriver, containing bizarre photos taken hours after her disappearance. But with no body and no additional clues, finding Eileen in the dark and winding woods seems next to impossible. Chris wants to believe his sister is still alive. When the police search is abandoned, he and four of his friends vow to scour the mountain range until they find Eileen and bring her home. But as the small group strays further from the trails and the unsettling discoveries mount, they begin to realize they’re not alone…and Eileen’s disappearance was no accident. But by then, it’s already too late. |
House of Shadows
She'll never escape this shadow...
Sophie's world is shattered when disaster bankrupts her family. She's still reeling when she's offered an unexpected solution: Mr. Argenton, a wealthy stranger, has asked for her hand in marriage. Marrying Mr. Argenton will save her family, but it condemns Sophie to a life in Northwood, a vast and unnaturally dark mansion situated hours from civilization. Still, she has no choice but accept the offer and hope the darkness won't swallow her whole. It's a struggle to adjust to her new position as mistress over the desolate house. Mr. Argenton's relatives are cold, and Mr. Argenton himself is keeping secrets. Even worse, the house is more than it seems. Doors slam. Inhuman figures slink through the surrounding forest. A piano plays itself in the middle of the night. Blood drips a macabre warning down the walls. Day by day, Sophie is inevitably pulled towards the terrifying truth at the heart of this gothic mystery: Northwood's ancient halls are haunted, and the man she married―the man she's coming to love―is hiding an unforgiveable truth about his ancestral home...and the spirits that now haunt them both |
House of Secrets
She’ll never survive these secrets…
Sophie and Joseph Argenton have survived the impossible this house of ghosts… for now. But their escape from Northwood is short-lived. The sinister shadow that haunted their ancestral home survived, and has attached itself to Joseph’s young cousin. Desperate, they travel to meet her father at Kensington, a long-abandoned mansion overlooking a dead town. The house offers a small hope: its original owner had dedicated her life to researching the monster that now possesses Elise. There’s a chance that here they will find a way to kill the creature without harming the girl. But Kensington has its own dangers, and once it has Sophie and Joseph within its grasp, it may never let them leave. Trapped inside the ancient building’s collapsing walls, Sophie and Joseph are forced to confront the horrors that hide within. Shrouded figures stalk them from the shadows. Whispers echo through the night. Unmarked graves dot the property. And the dead are not as restful as they seem… |
GET TO KNOW THE AUTHOR
Want to know more about the rising queen of atmospheric horror? Check out our interview with Darcy Coates.
- What is your writing Kryptonite?
The internet. I absolutely have to get somewhere with no wi-fi if I’m going to write for more than a few minutes, otherwise I’m too easily distracted. - If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Hmm… I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I don’t know that I would change any of it. I gave up on writing for a few years. It took me way too long to internalize the difference between “farther” and “further”. And I spent months on silly novels that will never see the light of day (including a paranormal romance parody featuring a mummy as the love interest. His catch phrase was “Let’s wrap this up”.) Sometimes you need to fall over a few times to figure out how to walk, and I’m not sure I’d be the same person now if I hadn’t. - What was an experience where you learned that language had power?
As a child, spending an entire day consuming a book until my eyes were blurred and headachy. I’d put the story down to eat dinner and felt like I was stepping into a different world. As though I hadn’t just imagined what had happened on those pages, but like I’d truly been there. - What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
Beth Massie’s Homeplace revitalized my love of the gothic horror genre. The opening scene features strange sounds coming from a well, and I’ve spent the last ten years trying to find a novel that gives me the same chills as those pages did. - As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
Aha, a cat! Constantly napping, loves being bundled up and warm on a cold day, and occasionally hit by a burst of wild motivation at 11pm. - How do you select the names of your characters?
Very randomly! I’ve borrowed friends’ names, street names, and even used baby name books. My family’s accountant had a signed rugby sweater framed in his office, and I couldn’t stop staring at it during an especially long meeting. One player name fascinated me enough to be used in my first haunted house story: Gillespie. - What is your favorite childhood book?
The Chronicles of Narnia: it had the perfect amount of magic and adventure. I still can’t look at large wooden wardrobes without thinking of it. - What’s your favorite movie which was based on a book?
The Secret of Nimh. I adored it (and was terrified of it) as a child, and only recently re-watched it as an adult. I can’t believe how well it stood the test of time! It’s just as beautiful and as intense as I remember. The scenes I recall most vividly—the owl, the rats’ underground domain, the mice’s sinking home—are just perfect.
A close second is the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice series; perfect casting, beautiful (and accurate!) wardrobes, and great music really bring the story to life. - What weather inspires you the most, in terms of bringing out your literary best?
I’d have to opt for rainy weather. Not light sprinkles, but thick, drumming rain that makes the yard soggy and turns the sky black. I love how comforting it is, and I love how clean the world feels afterwards. - Who’s your childhood literary superhero?
Neil Gaiman. His Coraline stands out as a beautifully creepy story for children who want something more intense than Goosebumps. It’s been an experience to graduate into his adult fiction. - Have you ever turned a dream or a nightmare into a written piece?
Plenty! My white cat, Sophie, sleeps on my bed but likes to go roaming in the early hours of the morning, so I leave my door propped open so that she can let herself in and out. That eight-inch gap in the doorway has infiltrated my dreams a few times, and in turn it’s been recycled into books. It’s really awful to see a thin stretch of hallway when it’s too dark to properly see it. Anything could be out there.
(But it’s still better than being poked in the face at 5am by a bored cat.) - What is your favorite thing to do in your spare time?
I love film, horror movies especially. We’re in a kind of golden age for them. The Conjuring series, The Witch, Hereditary, Us. Even “bad” movies like Unfriended and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged are endless fun on the big screen. - What fictional place would you most like to go?
Mm… maybe Hobbiton? Rolling hills, parties, second breakfasts, and occasionally a wizard visits to let off fireworks.
WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN PREFERENCES, WHAT ARE YOURS?
- Coffee or tea?
Tea! Herbal. Or even just a mug of hot water. An old family friend used to ask for just hot water when he visited us. I used to think it sounded awful, but I tried it once and now I have become the very thing I scorned. - Early bird or night owl?
Night owl, definitely. Mornings feel like a chore. Have you noticed how loud morning radio is? The hosts are trying their hardest to pump you up for the day, but it just sounds like a lot of yelling interspersed with party songs. If I ever have to drive early in the morning, I try to find the classical music station. No ads. No yelling. Just dulcet, soothing voices sharing trivia about the concerto they’re about to play.
Oh no. When did I get so old?? - Chocolate or vanilla?
Vanilla is so often ignored for being “basic” or “plain”, but it is delicious. I will happily eat anything with vanilla in it. - Rural or urban?
Rural. Lots of space, lots of nature, and everyone seems a little friendlier. - Comedy or mystery?
I’ll take both! If I had to choose, a good mystery will always make me happy. - Smile or game face?
I’m a compulsive smiler. I’d be awful at poker. - Numbers or letters?
Letters. There are only twenty-six of them, but they’re so versatile! - Detailed or abstract?
I’m a detail-oriented person. It helps when tying together lots of little plot threads, but sometimes it makes it harder to get a clear overview of a story. - Adventurous or cautious?
I wish I could say I was adventurous, but I always order the same meal any time I eat out so I suspect I’d be over-selling myself! - Pen & Paper or computer?
There’s nothing like the feeling of slightly rough paper and the glide of a good pen, but… I would still have to pick the computer. I can only write on paper for about a page before my hand begins to cramp and my writing turns into a scrawly mess, ha!
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