Saturday, October 10, 2026

Twelve creepy small town horror novels

Richard Chizmar is the author of New York Times bestselling novels Chasing the Boogeyman, Becoming the Boogeyman, Memorials, and Widow’s Point: The Complete Haunting (cowritten with son, W.H. Chizmar), and coauthor (with Stephen King) of the New York Times bestselling novella Gwendy’s Button Box, the novel Gwendy’s Final Task, and the solo novella Gwendy’s Magic Feather. His short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, most recently, the bestselling anthology, The End of The World as We Know It: New Stories of Stephen King’s The Stand.

Chizmar's new novel is Killing the Boogeyman.

At People magazine the author tagged twelve top creepy small town horror novels, including:
The Haunting Of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste

The most recently published entry on my list, The Haunting of Velkwood is as fine of a modern ghost story as I’ve read. And with that lofty praise, the less I reveal about the storyline the better. Pick up a copy, avoid the jacket description, and dive right in.
Read about another title on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Haunting of Velkwood.

Q&A with Gwendolyn Kiste.

--Marshal Zeringue