May the Dead Keep You

A house’s dark past seems determined to repeat itself in this nightmarish gothic horror novel from Baguchinsky (So Witches We Became). Seventeen-year-old Catie East lives in the Heights, a half midcentury mansion, half medieval-castle keep that sits on 200 acres of private redwood forest in Ellis Pass, Calif. Built in the 1950s by reclusive architect Patrick Earnshaw for his wife and daughter, the house now belongs to Catie, her laid-back older brother Leigh, and their pharmaceutical company CEO mother. Loner Catie regards the family’s forest as her sanctuary, so she initially bristles when her mom invites redwood scientist Dr. Solis to stay in the guest cottage for a six-month research endeavor. Then Catie meets and falls for Dr. Solis’s teen son, Hunter. As Catie and Hunter’s romance blooms, the Heights is plagued by strange happenings, whose explanations lie in the house’s dark history. Baguchinsky peppers Catie’s first-person narration with Earnshaw ephemera—including articles and diary entries as well as illustrations of old photographs, rendered in grayscale by Heidersdorf (Odd Occurrences)—which reveal the family’s tragic tale and connect it to the Heights’ present-day haunting. While a necromancy subplot feels somewhat shoehorned in, it paves the way for uniquely terrifying imagery, and the tale’s intersectionally diverse characters are richly wrought. Ages 14–up. Author’s agent: Eric Smith, PS Literary. (Apr.)