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And then he's gone.

  “You okay?” Brad asks.

  “I'm fine,” I reply, turning to him. “It was just a magpie.”

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE MURDER AT SKELLIN COTTAGE

  Skellin Cottage is an oasis of peace and tranquillity. Miles from the nearest town, nestled far out in the English countryside, it's the perfect place for visitors who want to get away from the world for a while. And then one morning the cottage's latest tenant, Deborah Dean, is found brutally murdered.

  After several months of police inactivity, the cottage's owner Lord Martin Chesleford decides to take matters into his own hands. Hiring former police officer Joanna Mason, who now works alone as a private investigator, he demands that Deborah's murderer is brought to justice.

  But while Deborah had tried to isolate herself at Skellin Cottage, she'd already begun to attract attention. Terrified of her own past, Deborah lived a life of fear, desperately afraid that the truth would one day be revealed. And as the ongoing investigation uncovers old secrets and new rivalries, another murder is right around the corner.

  Also by Amy Cross

  PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS

  AND OTHER STORIES

  A husband waits until his wife and children are in bed, before inviting a dangerous man into their home...

  A girl keeps hold of her mother's necklace, as bloodied hands try to tear it from her grasp...

  A gun jams, even as its intended victim begs the universe to let her die...

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Amy Cross. Some of the stories take place in seemingly ordinary towns, whose inhabitants soon discover something truly shocking lurking beneath the veneer of peace and calm. Others show glimpses of vast, barbaric worlds where deadly forces gather to toy with humanity. All the stories in this collection peel back the face of a nightmare, revealing the horror that awaits. And in every one of the stories, some kind of monster lurks...

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories contains the new stories Perfect Little Monsters, I Hate You, Meat, Fifty Fifty and Stay Up Late, as well as a revised version of the previously-released story The Scream. This book contains scenes of violence, as well as strong language.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE BRIDE OF ASHBYRN HOUSE

  “I have waited so long for your return.”

  In the English countryside, miles from the nearest town, there stands an old stone house. Nobody has set foot in the house for years. Nobody has dared. For it is said that even though the lady of the house is long dead, a face can sometimes be seen at one of the windows. A pale, dead face that waits patiently behind a silk wedding veil.

  Seeking an escape from his life in London, Owen Stone purchases Ashbyrn House without waiting to find out about its history. As far as Owen is concerned, ghosts aren't real and his only company in the house will be the thin-legged spiders that lurk on the walls. Even after he moves in, and after he starts hearing strange noises in the night, Owen insists that Ashbyrn House can't possibly be haunted.

  But Owen knows nothing about the ghostly figure that is said to haunt the house. Or about the mysterious church bells that ring out across the lawn at night. Or about the terrible fate that befell the house's previous inhabitants when they dared defy the bride. Even as Owen starts to understand the horrific truth about Ashbyrn House's past, he might be too late to escape the clutches of the presence that watches his every move.

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House is a ghost story about a man who believes the past can't hurt him, and about a woman whose search for a husband has survived even her own tragic death.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF

  “We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”

  When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.

  A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.

  The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.

  Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?

  The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.

  OTHER BOOKS

  BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE

  Horror

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House

  The Body at Auercliff

  B&B

  Laura

  Asylum

  Meds (Asylum 2)

  Annie's Room

  The Farm

  The Curse of Wetherley House

  The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel

  The Haunting of Blackwych Grange

  The Ghosts of Hexley Airport

  The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal book 1)

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories

  Twisted Little Things and Other Stories

  The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories

  The Disappearance of Katie Wren

  The Horror of Devil's Root Lake

  The Printer From Hell

  The Nurse

  American Coven

  Eli's Town

  The Night Girl

  Devil's Briar

  The Cabin

  After the Cabin

  Last Wrong Turn

  At the Edge of the Forest

  The Devil's Hand

  The Ghost of Shapley Hall

  The Death of Addie Gray

  A House in London

  The Blood House

  The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)

  Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)

  The Border

  The Lighthouse

  3AM

  Tenderling

  The Girl Clay

  The Prison

  Ward Z

  The Devil's Photographer

  Thrillers

  The Murder at Skellin Cottage

  The Return of Rachel Stone

  The Girl Who Never Came Back

  Other People's Bodies

  Dystopia / Science Fiction

  The Dog

  The Island (The Island book 1)

  Persona (The Island book 2)