Widow's Point

Richard Chizmar and Billy Chizmar

Twice a day, I drive by the New London Harbor Lighthouse, and twice a day, I glance out at the Sound and the New London Ledge Light. The latter is, of course, haunted, and — because I'm me — I want the former to be haunted, too. This creepy novella by father-and-son Chizmars uses the "found-voice recorder" as narrative propulsion: Renowned ghost hunter/bestselling author Thomas Livingston has arranged to spend a weekend locked inside the notorious titular lighthouse in Nova Scotia — site of numerous murders, disappearances and suicides. Big mistake. Yes, there are a lot of precedents for this setting and idea, but the story's great and spooky fun and the illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne are properly atmospheric. Chizmar the elder heads up Cemetery Dance publications (the Paris Review of dark fiction) and has collaborated with Stephen King. "Widow's Point" is expensive ($25 trade hardcover), but Cemetery Dance is a collectors house that makes beautiful books. Plus, it's also available in an eBook edition. Visit cemeterydance.com