When Robert and Judith Farrell divorced, the court awarded custody of the four children to their father instead of their flighty, self-centered mother. But the eldest boys, Kester and Michael, have remained close to their mother - perhaps sometimes too close - and have never given up hope of their parents' reconciliation. Until their fantasy is shattered by their father's engagement to his new girlfriend Netta. When Robert leaves town and Netta stays behind with the children, the boys decide to play a little game with her. A game that soon gets horribly, unspeakably out of hand ... From the author of horror classics like The Godsend, Sweetheart, Sweetheart, and The Reaping comes this nerve-rackingly suspenseful page-turner of filial love gone terribly awry. First published in 1988 and filmed in 1993 starring scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, Bernard Taylor's classic thriller returns to print at last to unsettle a new generation of readers. "Fast pacing, savage...

When Tom Rigby is commissioned to paint a young woman's portrait at Woolvercombe House, the offer is too lucrative to refuse. But from the moment of his arrival at the secluded country mansion strange and inexplicable events begin to transpire. Soon he is drawn into an impenetrable maze of horror, and by the time he discovers the role he is intended to play in a diabolical design, it will already be too late. For the seeds of evil have been sown, and the time to reap their wicked harvest is nigh!The classic third novel by '70s and '80s horror master Bernard Taylor, The Reaping (1980) returns to print at last in this edition featuring a new introduction by Will Errickson and the original cover painting by Oliver Frey.'Move over, Stephen King!' – New York Daily News'Draws the reader into a web that grows gradually tighter with each turn of the page!' – Booklist'Taylor works wizardry again!' – Publishers Weekly

The complete short fiction of a master of modern horror fictionIn 'Out of Sorts', things get hairy for a man's wife and his mistress when he begins to feel unwell on the night of a full moon. In 'Travelling Light', a traveller is obliged to share a room with a strange man who seems to know a little too much about a series of bizarre murders in which wives have been slain by their husbands. A tourist fascinated by the serial killer John Reginald Christie undergoes an uncanny and horrific experience on a trip to London in 'Forget-Me-Not'. And in 'Samhain', marital strife threatens to turn deadly when a witch turns to black magic to do away with her pathetic husband.The thirteen stories collected here represent the complete short fiction of Bernard Taylor, one of the bestselling horror authors of the 1970s and '80s, author of The Godsend and Mother's Boys, both adapted for film, and Sweetheart, Sweetheart, hailed by Charles L. Grant as the...

David Warwick, an Englishman living in New York, has a sudden premonition that his twin brother, Colin, is in danger. He returns to England and learns the shocking truth: both Colin and his young bride Helen have died ghastly deaths - deaths that no one in the village wants to talk about.  Now David has inherited his brother's home, Gerrard's Hill Cottage, a lovely house with a lush garden that seems to promise peace and comfort to all who dwell there. But as David tries to unearth the facts of what really happened to his brother and his wife, he has no idea of the horror and evil that surround him or the terrible fate that may be in store ...  A chilling story that builds slowly and inexorably towards its shocking climax, Bernard Taylor's Sweetheart, Sweetheart (1977) has been recognized as one of the finest horror novels ever written. This edition features a new introduction by Michael Rowe.

Alan and Kate Marlowe are a typical, loving, middle-class couple, with four small children. But they wish they had just one more, a beautiful baby daughter. So when a strange young woman abandons her infant at their house, they view it as a blessing—a godsend—and adopt little Bonnie as their own. But not long after Bonnie's arrival, terrible things begin to happen to the Marlowes, starting with the death of their son Matthew. As the tragedies mount, Alan suspects that Bonnie is somehow responsible. Is he losing his grip on sanity? After all, surely this angelic child could not be responsible for such horrors . . . ? The classic first novel by Bernard Taylor, The Godsend (1976) earned widespread critical acclaim on its initial publication and was the basis for a 1980 film. This edition features a new introduction by Mary Danby. Taylor's chilling novels Sweetheart, Sweetheart and The Moorstone Sickness are also available from Valancourt.

In 1887, Elizabeth Berry, an attractive young nurse from the grim Oldham workhouse, found notoriety throughout the nation after the death of her daughter, perceived by many to be the cruellest of murders - performed with an ice-cold callousness that was almost beyond belief. There were many who protested her innocence in the affair, but there were also suspicions surrounding another death related to the nurse: that of her mother. Suddenly Elizabeth Berry's dark story began appearing darker still. Was she in fact a coldblooded serial killer? In his new book celebrated crime author Bernard Taylor, investigates the disturbing life of Elizabeth Berry endured during an era of grinding poverty when Victorian England was obsessed with the exploits of murderers and forensic science was in its infancy. He takes a fresh look at the demise of Berry's husband and two other young children, deaths that for a long time were considered to be of natural causes. For the first time we discover the...