Mary Monster

by Matt Ingwalson

Manchester, 1976. A small boy finds a body in an alley behind a legendary music hall. Forty-one years later, he hears reports of another murder, the victim covered in the same ritualistic markings. Is it the work of a cult? A coincidence? Or is Otis Oliver's memory simply playing tricks on him? His investigation leads him away from his comfortable life into a world ruled by a woman he will come to know as Mary Shelley. And soon he will find himself in the middle of an immortal conflict between Mary and her stepsister, the devilish Claire Clairmont.

Mary Monster is not a book for everyone. It's a mashup of Gothic horror and noir mystery, riddled with hundreds of references to Romantic poetry and New Wave music. It's populated by pop idols and undead artists. And it's written in a purposefully artificial mashup of Mancunian, Manhattan and Elizabethan slang. But for a select group of readers, this is the first book in a series of supernatural thrillers that will blow you away. It's simply one of a kind.

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2019

About the author

I write all sorts of thrillers - police procedurals, occult horror and absurdist noir. Where to start?

If you're into tricky mysteries without too much violence, give the Owl and Raccoon detective series a try. If you'd prefer to dive into something darker, try Sever and Camille. These two books together tell a nostalgic story full of witchcraft and serial killers. Mary Monster is my most challenging book, a stylized, literary take on gothic noir.

Reviews

[Ellen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young boy wandering the streets of Manchester, the alley yield a body of a woman, the holes and color one never forgotten. Name was in paper a few days later as parents read the paper, it was not spoken aloud. As he grew, his love for rock and roll endured. The women were to young, maybe time to act his age, and try writing his own song. There are things that play in our mind, becoming bigger. A murder once before, the sounds, and smells, are they the same. Different writing them his other books he has written. This read more of an autobiography of a boy then a story. Given ARC for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

[Matt Ingwalson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it. Then again, I wrote it. I'd love to know what you think.