Howls from the Scene of the Crime: A Crime Horror Anthology

by Jessica Peter (Editor), Timaeus Bloom (Editor), Cynthia Pelayo (Foreword)

A death row cell that recounts the dark stories of its inmates. An informant who consumes shards of crystallized skulls to see the past. A world where to speak of the dead is a violation of an unjust society’s rules. Heists, drugs, cults, detectives, murder, monsters, revenge.

Commit yourself to Howls from the Scene of the Crime, an anthology of crime horror laced with blood, secrets, and occult compulsions from some of the best established and emerging horror authors writing today. Featuring a foreword by Bram Stoker Award® winning crime horror author, Cynthia Pelayo.

“Motive Factor X” by Joseph Andre Thomas
“In the Shadow of Stars” by R.H. Newfield
“Around the River Bend” by C.B. Jones
“Unforeseen Parameters” by Ashe Olivier Deng
“A Fate Finer Than Death” by Michelle Tang
“Selling Drugs to the Funny Kids” by Nathan Schuetz
“The Rage at Being Born” by Christopher O’Halloran
“Black Lung, Black Heart” by L.T. Williams
“Chosen” by TJ Price
“The Speakeasy” by Carson Winter
“Old Joe’s Money” by Christopher Buehlman
“Break and Enter” by Mary Sanche
“Cartoons” by Donyae Coles
“Fuel and Fodder” by J.W. Donley
“I Told You Not to Look” by Peter Ong Cook
“A Private Detective’s Checklist for How Not to Die” by Gwendolyn Kiste
“Greyhounds and Grace” by Jennifer L. Collins
“Consummation” by RSL
“The Devil You Don’t” by Dustin Mendel
“A Rain of Ruin from the Air” by Lindsey Ragsdale
“Deathbed” by M. Halstead

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Adult, Fiction

Hardcover

Published May 14, 2024

About the author

Jessica Peter writes dark, haunted, and sometimes absurd short stories, novels, and poems. A social worker and health researcher, she lives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Her writing can be found in Apparition Literary, The NoSleep Podcast, and Cosmic Horror Monthly, among other places. She is co-editing Howls from the Scene of the Crime: An Anthology of Crime Horror (May 2024). You can find her on Twitter @jessicapeter1, @jessicapeter.bsky.social, or at www.jessicapeter.net.

Reviews

[Horror Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This thrilling anthology contains stories that combine crime with horror. The stand out thing is that they are all vastly different and unique.

Sometimes in a themed anthology it can feel like reiterations of the same story. I'm very happy that this one sets itself apart because of how these authors left their own style in each one. And the stories are damn good.

Each one contains a crime with some horrific consequences. Some are subtle, some are speculative, some creep around the edges, and some are right in your face with the scares. You would have to make an effort to NOT find several favourite in here.

There are several stories that I would love to see in longer form. Worlds that I'd like to go back to and find out more, characters that immediately captured my imagination, and terrifying encounters I want more of.

A case in point would be the story by Carson Winter called The Speakeasy. In my opinion, a novella or novel length book set in that world would be fire! I loved it.

And I'm sure you'll find yours as well. The ones you can't get enough of so you'll pester that author or authors on social media until they say yes lol. BTW, that was a joke. Don't harass the writers!

This is a fantastic anthology that you won't want to put down until each story is read. Then you can go back and read them again because they're that good. I highly recommend it.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every story in this brilliant crime horror anthology is so unique, so creative, and not a single one of them glorifies cops.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allow me to begin by stating that the stories in 'Howls from the Scene of the Crime,' while no doubt seriously flirting with both horror and crime fiction, manage to reach beyond these easy categorizations, and offer some of the most inventive (and macabre, and disturbing) weird stories there are! This is an anthology that not only broadens the genre, but also gives it purpose, beyond mere entertainment. Most of the stories deserve to be novellas or even novels; others read like short films; one has a sinister prison cell as a narrator, a cell that takes itself for a confessional, while another has a lonely house begging to be broken into. So many original ideas, so much talent and absolute mastery of storytelling skills. And the illustrations rock as well!

I enjoyed all the stories, however four of them stood out for me, and I'd recommend them highly to all readers craving to lose themselves in the kind of horror story that's also a unique literary experience: "Deathbed" by M. Halstead, the volume's closing story, drags you into the world of death row convicts and their own stories, offering a tale of sweet creepiness on the supernatural significance of capital punishment; Christopher Buehlman's "Old Joe's Money" turns the story of the local boogeyman into a heart-breaking love story, though certainly not in the way anyone can predict - a terrific, horrifying story about how crime doesn't pay; Lindsey Ragsdale's "A Rain of Ruin From the Air," a short transcript of the conversation among the pilots of a iconic plane; and "Break and Enter" by Mary Sanche, a short but atmospheric meditation on how, under the right circumstances, crime may sometimes offer welcome relief to longing and solitude.

A wonderful anthology! You should read it.

[Ai Jiang]

My blurb for the anthology below!! I big thank you to the editor for sending an early copy along!

HOWLS FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME is a thrilling and tense anthology that reads like your favourite true crime podcast blended with a wide range of speculative elements and subgenres such as small town western, sci-fi horror, body horror, the cosmic and inexplicable, the occult, among others. With morally grey situations and characters who often have good intentions attached to terrifying actions, these stories explore possession, lost traditions and cultures, revenge, grief and loss, cycles of violence, the grotesque and monstrous as a part of us rather than as separate, the dead and undead, and the way when the living fail the dead, the dead must rely on one another. What strikes me most is the way many of these stories criticize the systems of law and justice that fail us, the emergence of vigilantes due to this lack, and comments on incarceration—the wrongly convicted and the wrongly freed. And beneath the search for justice, there is the underlying darkness of how sometimes crime is glorified and how horrific that reality is—how villains become idolized and swarmed with admirers that can’t seem to understand their monstrosities, of crime becoming entertainment rather than danger.

[Chelsea Pumpkins]

Howls from the Scene of the Crime illuminates the often-unexamined facets of crime. While cross-examining suspect, motive, victim, and transgression, these stories, above all, give voice to the enduring trickle of impact. Of cycles of injustice, of long-guarded curses and cults. Of unmoored rage and insatiable revenge. All buried within the uncanny and inexplicable, inflicting fear in the familiar and the unknown alike.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one! Finished on my birthday!

I’m a huge true crime, thriller, police procedural and horror girl so this was right up my alley.

All the stories were unique and tied to crime, whether it be criminals, police or private detectives, and I enjoyed them all.

My favorite was Deathbed by M. Halstead, the last story.

Dystopian but also seemed like a direction we are currently headed, this is from the point of view of a sentient prison cell. The prison cell feeds on the emotions of the prisoners so we get to hear the stories of each prisoner. As we hear their stories,the crimes get increasingly uncomfortable, culminating in a huge miscarriage of justice.

So good!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOWLS delivers yet another fine anthology. There’s a little something for everyone, with the ominous tent revival in “Around the Riverbend” by C.B. Jones and the gritty-but-surreal party scene of “Selling Drugs to the Funny Kids” by Nathan Schuetz. Gwendolyn Kiste delivers perfectly executed deconstructive noir with “A Private Detective's Checklist for How Not to Die.” Donyae Coles delivers community decay and gentrification with “Cartoons.” I also love how this anthology provides room for flash stories to shine - both “Chosen” by TJ Price an “Break and Enter” by Mary Sanche punch above their weight class.

[David Cluck · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGHLY recommend the audiobook.

[Mary Touchtone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Howels From the Scene of the Crime
Edited: Jessica Peter and Timaeus Bloom
Crime Horror Anthology
3.5 out of 5

Hotels From the Scene of the Crime is short stories from numerous authors that range from a detective making a list of how not to die, to bodies, and something else found under a cop's house.
I found most of the stories to be OK to good. Some of my favorites are: In the Shadow of Stars and I Told You Not to Look.
If you like short stories, crime, and horror, this could be for you.

[Wind Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some things are more horrific than others. I enjoyed the tastes of various authors' works throughout, and really enjoyed the audiobook presenters. My only suggestion is that the story told in the thick Scowse(?) accent would have been a lot better if I could have understood it - perhaps a bit TOO thick for this North American reader.

[Arwyn Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of stories is really well curated. From cults to disturbed clients and more, each story I enjoyed.
My favorite is “Around the Riverbend” by C.B. Jones but they are all worth a read.

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Millie Abecassis · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4. Like most anthologies, some stories I enjoyed and some I ended up skipping as they didn't hold my interest. I was going to give it a 3, but there were some really good stories in this anthology, especially toward the end, so here I am rounding it up to 4.