Strand Magazine: Haunted Houses

Home. The word conjures up a place of love and security, relaxing in front of the fire after a long commute, the relief of a lazy weekend after an endless working week, a place for family, a place where you can close the front door and forget the stresses of the world.

But sometimes, home can be a place of dread, where bad things can happen behind that closed front door. Home can be a place where a creaking floorboard or a cold draft can send shivers down your spine.

In fiction, that cold draft can mean more than a dodgy window frame. In fiction, it can be the cold breath of a ghost on your neck. In fiction, more than the living can be resident in the home. In fiction, a member of the family can be the monster and the walls can hold memories of terrible things.

But the home doesn’t have to be haunted: it can be the crime scene or the catalyst for a crime. Yes, home can be where the heart is. But home is sometimes where the dismembered heart beats under the floorboards….

So here are ten homes (I’m reluctant to call it a Top Ten because my original list was well over double that number) in crime and horror fiction that stand out as more than just somewhere to live…

Read the full article here…