Susan Hill Books In Order

Simon Serrailler Books In Publication Order

  1. The Various Haunts of Men (2004)
  2. The Pure in Heart (2005)
  3. The Risk of Darkness (2006)
  4. The Vows of Silence (2006)
  5. The Shadows in the Street (2010)
  6. The Betrayal of Trust (2011)
  7. A Question of Identity (2012)
  8. A Breach of Security (2014)
  9. The Soul of Discretion (2014)
  10. Hero (2016)
  11. Old Haunts (2018)
  12. The Comforts of Home (2018)
  13. The Benefit of Hindsight (2020)
  14. A Change of Circumstance (2021)

The Woman in Black Books In Publication Order

  1. The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story (1983)
  2. The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (By:Martyn Waites) (2013)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. The Enclosure (1961)
  2. Do Me a Favour (1963)
  3. Gentleman and Ladies (1968)
  4. A Change for the Better (1969)
  5. Strange Meeting (1971)
  6. The Bird of Night (1973)
  7. In the Springtime of the Year (1975)
  8. Air and Angels (1991)
  9. The Mist in the Mirror (1992)
  10. Mrs. deWinter (1993)
  11. The Service of Clouds (1998)
  12. The Man in the Picture (2007)
  13. The Beacon (2008)
  14. The Battle for Gullywith (2009)
  15. The Small Hand (2010)
  16. A Kind Man (2011)
  17. Dolly Signed (2012)
  18. From the Heart (2017)

Short Stories/Novellas In Publication Order

  1. The Custodian (1972)
  2. The Albatross (1973)
  3. The Elephant Man (1975)
  4. Crystal (2012)
  5. Black Sheep (2013)
  6. Hunger (2013)
  7. Printer’s Devil Court (2013)
  8. Irish Twins (2014)

Short Story Collections In Publication Order

  1. The Albatross and Other Stories (1971)
  2. A Bit of Singing and Dancing and Other Stories (1973)
  3. The Cold Country, And Other Plays For Radio (1975)
  4. Stories from Codling Village (1990)
  5. The Christmas Collection (1994)
  6. Listening to the Orchestra (1996)
  7. The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read and Other Stories (2003)
  8. Farthing House and Other Stories (2006)
  9. The Woman in Black and Other Ghost Stories (2015)
  10. The Travelling Bag And Other Ghostly Stories (2016)

Children’s Books In Publication Order

  1. I’m The King Of The Castle (1970)
  2. The Glass Angels (1991)
  3. Friends Next Door (1992)
  4. A Very Special Birthday (1992)

Picture Books In Publication Order

  1. One Night at a Time / Go Away Bad Dreams (1985)
  2. Mother’s Magic (1988)
  3. Can It Be True? (1988)
  4. Suzy’s Shoes (1989)
  5. I Won’t Go There Again (1990)
  6. Septimus Honeydew (1990)
  7. Pirate Poll (1991)
  8. Beware Beware (1993)
  9. King of Kings (1993)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. The Magic Apple Tree (1982)
  2. Through the Kitchen Window (1984)
  3. Through the Garden Gate (1986)
  4. The Lighting of the Lamps (1987)
  5. Shakespeare Country (1987)
  6. Lanterns Across the Snow (1987)
  7. The Spirit of the Cotswolds (1988)
  8. Family (1989)
  9. The Spirit of Britain (1995)
  10. Reflections from a Garden (1997)
  11. Howards End is on the Landing (2009)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. New Stories 5: An Arts Council Anthology (1980)
  2. People (1983)
  3. The Parchment Moon (1990)
  4. The Random House Book of Ghost Stories (1990)
  5. The Walker Book of Ghost Stories (1990)
  6. The Penguin Book of Modern Women’s Short Stories (1992)
  7. Contemporary Women’s Short Stories (1995)
  8. The Second Penguin Book of Modern Women’s Short Stories (1997)
  9. The Library Book (2012)

Simon Serrailler Book Covers

The Woman in Black Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Short Stories/Novellas Book Covers

Short Story Collections Book Covers

Children’s Book Covers

Picture Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Susan Hill Books Overview

The Various Haunts of Men

When Susan Hill first introduced us to the city of Lafferton, to its meticulously crafted cast of characters, and to its chief police inspector Simon Serrailler, readers went wild. When it was released in hardcover, The Various Haunts of Men was named a BookSense Pick and was immediately on the must read list of every mystery fan. Now out in paperback, Hill’s intricate and pulse pounding novel will reach an even wider audience. As the story begins, a lonely woman vanishes while out on her morning run. Then a 22 year old girl never returns from a walk. An old man disappears too. When fresh faced policewoman Freya Graffham is assigned to the case, she runs the risk of getting too invested too involved in the action. Alongside the enigmatic detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrallier, she must unravel the mystery before events turn too gruesome. Written with intelligence, compassion, and a knowing eye in the tradition of the fabulous mysteries of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James The Various Haunts of Men is an enthralling journey into the heart of a wonderfully developed town, and into the very mind of a killer.

The Pure in Heart

The Pure in Heart continues the story of Simon Serrailler, the Detective Chief Inspector to whom readers were introduced in The Various Haunts of Men. Simon is on vacation in Venice, trying to come to terms with the brutal murder of a young woman who had been in love with him. But soon a telephone call summons him home. The Various Haunts of Men met with such a response that Overlook is publishing this second Simon Serralier mystery as quickly as possible to satisfy Susan Hill’s new fans and to attract even more readers to her particular brand of ghastly enterprise. A little boy is snatched as he stands with his satchel at the gate of his home, waiting for his lift to school. A severely handicapped young woman hovers between life and death. And an ex con finds it impossible to go straight. The Pure in Heart is a crime novel arising from character and circumstances, about the psychology of crime, something more enthralling than plain thrillers or whodunits. In Lafferton, Serralier’s town, Susan Hill has brilliantly created a community with detail so sharp and true to life that readers feel that these people are their own neighbors and friends. But there is terror and evil in their very midst. There are no easy answers in The Pure of Heart, a magnificent novel about the realities of police work and the sometimes desperate humanity of family. Haunting and truthful, gripping and convincing, it is a thrilling achievement.

The Risk of Darkness

Simon Serailler is back in this pulse pounding, wrenching novel of action, love and loss. We met Simon Serailler first in The Various Haunts of Men and got to know him better in The Pure in Heart. Susan Hill is not afraid to tackle difficult themes, always prepared to face up to the dark realities in everyday lives and even the terrors of the real world. Her third crime novel, The Risk of Darkness, perhaps even more compulsive and convincing than its predecessors, explores the crazy grief of a widowed husband, a derangement that turns into obsession and threats, violence and terror. Meanwhile, handsome, introverted Simon Serrailler, whose cool reserve has broken the hearts of several women, finds his own heart troubled by the newest recruit to the Cathedral staff: a feisty female Anglican priest with red hair. With the complexity and character study that got raves for The Pure in Heart, and with the relentless pacing and plot twists of The Various Haunts of Men, The Risk of Darkness is truly the work of a writer at the top of her form.

The Vows of Silence

‘They shall griow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.’ It is late October, and the inhabitantsof the Cathedral town of Lafferton are getting ready for the Remembrance Day parade. This year will be grander than usual because of a VIP visitor. Leonard Cramm is preparing himself, as he always does; his grandfather was a hero of the First World War, his father a hero of the Battle of Britain. But then a couple walking their dogs go into a copse on the outskirts of the town, and one of them breaks an ankle after falling over something deep in the undergrowth. Remembrance takes on a different aspect, and Simon Serrailler recently promoted to Detective Chief Superintendent faces a terrifying situation, in which a great many lives are threatened, not least his own.

The Shadows in the Street

Simon Serrailler is back in the fifth installment of this extremely popular series. Simon Serrailler has just wrapped up a particularly exhausting and difficult case for SIFT Special Incident Flying Task force and is on a sabbatical couple of months on a far flung Scottish island, Tallansay, walking, drawing, relaxing, and having a pleasant no ties fling with the hotel barmaid, Kirsty. He is called back just before his leave is due to end by Paula Devenish the Chief Constable, when two local prostitutes go missing and are subsequently found strangled. By the time he gets back, another girl has disappeared. So, a vendetta against prostitutes by someone with a warped mind? A series of killings by an angry punter? But then the wife of the new Dean of St Michael’s Cathedral goes missing, followed by another respectable young married woman, on her way to the early shift at the print works. Is this all the work of one serial killer? The murders all take place in and around the canal area, near the footbridge. From the Hardcover edition.

The Betrayal of Trust

Susan Hill’s readers met the enigmatic and brooding Simon Serrailler in The Various Haunts of Men and got to know him better in the four mysteries that followed. In The Betrayal of Trust, she has written the most chilling and unputdownable book yet. Freak weather and flash floods have hit southern England. The small cathedral town of Lafferton is underwater, and a landslip on the moor has closed the roads. As the rain slowly drains away, a shallow grave and a skeleton are exposed; twenty years on, the remains of missing teenager Joanne Lowther have finally been uncovered. The case is reopened and Simon Serrailler is called in as Senior Investigating Officer. Joanne, an only child, had been on her way home from a friend’s house that night. She was the daughter of a prominent local businessman, and her mother had killed herself two years after she disappeared, unable to cope. Cold cases are always tough, and in this latest mystery in the acclaimed series from Susan Hill, Simon Serrailler is forced to confront his most grisly, dangerous, and complex case yet.

The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story

What real reader does not yearn, somewhere in the recesses of his or her heart, for a really literate, first class thriller one that chills the body with foreboding of dark deeds to come, but warms the soul with perceptions and language at once astute and vivid? In other words, a ghost story by Jane Austen. Austen we cannot, alas, give you, but Susan Hill’s remarkable Woman In Black comes as close as the late twentieth century is likely to provide. Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated causeway, the story has as its hero one Arthur Kipps, an up and coming young solicitor who has come north to attend the funeral and settle the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. The routine formalities he anticipates give way to a tumble of events and secrets more sinister and terrifying than any nightmare: the rocking chair in the nursery of the deserted Eel Marsh House, the eerie sound of pony and trap, a child’s scream in the fog, and, most dreadfully, and for Kipps most tragically, the woman in black. The Woman In Black is both a brilliant exercise in atmosphere and controlled horror and a delicious spine tingler proof positive that that neglected genre, the ghost story, isn’t dead after all.

Gentleman and Ladies

Faith Lavender’s funeral and the arrival of a stranger upsets the balance of Haverstock. Undercurrents of fierce emotion reach the surface, while the tensions rise and the ladies of Haverstock find their actions motivated by mutual suspicion and fear. By the author of ‘Strange Meeting’.

Strange Meeting

A heart rending tale of friendship in wartime that deserves a place on the shelf beside the great books of wartime literature. The trenches of the Western Front are the setting for this story of the extraordinary devotion that develops between silent, morose John Hillard, full of war’s futility, and his as yet unscathed trench mate, David Barton. The lyrical beauty of Hill’s narrative draws the reader in and doesn’t let go. This little novel is a gem, compelling and moving, a treat for all readers of fiction.

In the Springtime of the Year

Set in a rural English village, In the Springtime of the Year is an astonishingly acute novel built around young Ruth Bryce’s struggle to deal with the sudden and accidental death of her husband, Ben. Suddenly alone, Ruth must cope not only with Ben’s death but also with his family who view her with suspicion and hostility. Her sole companion is Ben’s fourteen year old brother who understands Ruth’s quiet determination to emerge from this tragedy with her integrity and independence intact.

A young woman’s ability to collect herself, by herself, in the face of oppressive circumstances, is the force behind this novel. Told in a voice that is both honest and unsparing, it is an important addition to the oeuvre of a writer of real scope and power.

Air and Angels

Celibate, irreproachable and distinguished, Thomas Cavendish is in his mid fifties and the obvious man to become Master of his college. But, walking by the river, Thomas sees a young girl standing on the bridge. It is an apocalyptic vision, one that alters Thomas’s life irrevocably and tragically, but with the beauty of joy of a love neaver previously imagined.

Mrs. deWinter

Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, the modern masterpiece of romantic suspense, has been a bestseller since it was first published in 1938. But when the story ended with their beloved Manderley in ruins, millions of readers were left to wonder whatever became of the de Winters. Had Maxim and his young wife truly managed to exorcise Rebecca’s haunting spirit? Now, at the request of the du Maurier estate, the renowned novelist Susan Hill has taken up the story of the de Winters. In this stunningly crafted sequel to the classic gothic tale, she takes us back to the hauntingly beautiful world of Rebecca, in a compelling and magnificent novel that will have us all dreaming once again of Manderley.

The Man in the Picture

An extraordinary ghost story from a modern master, published just in time for Halloween. In the apartment of Oliver’s old professor at Cambridge, there is a painting on the wall, a mysterious depiction of masked revelers at the Venice carnival. On this cold winter’s night, the old professor has decided to reveal the painting’s eerie secret. The dark art of the Venetian scene, instead of imitating life, has the power to entrap it. To stare into the painting is to play dangerously with the unseen demons it hides, and become the victim of its macabre beauty.

By the renowned storyteller Susan Hill whose first ghost story, The Woman in Black, has run for eighteen years as a play in London’s West End here is a new take on a form that is fully classical and, in Hill’s able hands, newly vital. The Man in the Picture is a haunting tale of loss, love, and the very basest fear of our beings.

The Battle for Gullywith

An extraordinary ghost story from a modern master, published just in time for Halloween. In the apartment of Oliver’s old professor at Cambridge, there is a painting on the wall, a mysterious depiction of masked revelers at the Venice carnival. On this cold winter’s night, the old professor has decided to reveal the painting’s eerie secret. The dark art of the Venetian scene, instead of imitating life, has the power to entrap it. To stare into the painting is to play dangerously with the unseen demons it hides, and become the victim of its macabre beauty.

By the renowned storyteller Susan Hill whose first ghost story, The Woman in Black, has run for eighteen years as a play in London’s West End here is a new take on a form that is fully classical and, in Hill’s able hands, newly vital. The Man in the Picture is a haunting tale of loss, love, and the very basest fear of our beings.

I’m The King Of The Castle

‘I didn’t want you to come here.’ So says the note that the boy Edmund Hooper pas*ses to Charles Kingshaw upon his arrival at Warings. But, young Kingshaw and his mother have come to live with Hooper and his father in the ugly, isolated Victorian house for good. To Hooper, Kingshaw is an intruder, a boy to be subtly persecuted, and Kingshaw finds that even the most ordinary object can be turned by Hooper into a source of terror. In Hang Wood their roles are briefly reversed, but Kingshaw knows Hooper will never let him be. Kingshaw cannot win, not in the last resort. He knows it, and so does Hooper. And the worst is still to come…
This extraordinary, evocative novel boils over with the terrors of childhood and won the Somerset Maugham Award. ‘Hill’s exploration of a juvenile ghoul and his natural prey is a brilliant tour de force’ ‘Guardian’.

One Night at a Time / Go Away Bad Dreams

Tom’s mother helps him get rid of his bad dreams one night at a time.

Mother’s Magic

When things go wrong, Lottie’s mother can always make them better by using her special ‘magic.’

I Won’t Go There Again

An account of a boy’s first days at nursery school. Age group 3 plus.

Septimus Honeydew

Hill tells the amusing story of a toddler who won’t stay in his own bed. Age group 3 plus.

King of Kings

Living alone and lonely since the death of his wife, elderly Mr. Hegarty spends his Christmases quietly, until one extraordinary Christmas Eve a faint mewling like a lost kitten and a special discovery bring new warmth to his life.

The Magic Apple Tree

Looking out from Moon Cottage, Susan Hill records the sights and smells, the people, gardens, animals, births, festivals and deaths that mark the changing seasons in the small Oxfordshire community.

Lanterns Across the Snow

As an old woman, Fanny looks back to the country Christmas she had in England when she was nine and realizes the moment when she left her childhood behind her.

The Spirit of the Cotswolds

The author describes and celebrates her favourite places in the Cotswolds. As well as exploring popular centres like Broadway, Cirencester and Winchcombe, she discovers villages such as Bagendon, Oddington and Sheepscombe.

Family

The author has written many books, including ‘I’m the King of the Castle’ which won the Somerset Maugham Prize and ‘The Bird of Night’ which won the Whitbread Award. This is the true story of her quest for motherhood, and the death of her daughter, at five weeks old.

Howards End is on the Landing

‘Hill provides us with a reading list the equal of any degree course.’ The Times LondonIn pursuit of a book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year long voyage through her books in order to get to know her own collection again. Susan Hill is the winner of numerous prestigious literary awards. She is the author of a highly successful crime series as well as the famous The Woman in Black.

The Random House Book of Ghost Stories

Illustrated in full color. ‘Who’s that tapping at my window?’ This classy collection and gorgeous gift volume of seventeen modern ghost stories is a refreshing antidote to all the gross and gory books presently on the market. Discriminating horror fans won’t be able to put down these spooky tales written by contemporary American and British authors. The tales are devilishly diverse, ranging in mood from haunting humor to spine tingling terror. Our original edition of The Random House Book of Ghost Stories quickly vanished, selling out of its first printing, but was never reprinted. Now, with the explosion of the horror/Halloween market, it seems the perfect time to resurrect Ghost Stories.

The Walker Book of Ghost Stories

Beautifully illustrated by Angela Barrett. Barnes and Noble Edition.

The Library Book

‘Hill provides us with a reading list the equal of any degree course.’ The Times LondonIn pursuit of a book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year long voyage through her books in order to get to know her own collection again. Susan Hill is the winner of numerous prestigious literary awards. She is the author of a highly successful crime series as well as the famous The Woman in Black.

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