Recs if you like The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett...

are you sick of being recommended stephen king when you ask for a horror novel? have you picked up a book expected to be scared, but the scariest thing about it was a woman being needlessly tormented and gaslit? have you read 4627473 books about a man in a haunted house and need something different?

if so, this list is for you :)

a masterlist of horror by anyone who isn't a straight cis white man, started in 2022 and brought to pb in 2026.

books where women eat or think about eating other people

these books include themes of class relations and cannibalism. sometimes the rich eat you, sometimes you eat the rich.

Books with titles or plots where you begin to suspect the author might have been a musical theatre kid. Gimme them musical theatre recs. We are specifically looking for "the musical came first" here.

books where there's gay people and cannibalism

historical fiction novels that also have cannibalism in them

creeping vines, twisting thorns, bleeding hearts and rotted bones...

Goth books, watch out though, some might crossover into Vampire territory!

books where there's cannibalism. this is it, folks: this is tea's finalized and confirmed cannibalism fiction recommendations. more explanation in the comments

Created from the list on Goodreads by Cybil and Sadie Hartmann (September 29, 2025)

horror novels published in canada with a particular emphasis on Indigenous authors and indie press publications! I'm currently in a publishing program learning about how in danger the canadian publishing industry is and how rarely book reading in canada actually highlights our own authors so one could say this list is a cope and an attempt to add that to ways i'm diversifying my reading. obv disclaimer that canada is. yikes. but this is in the context of mainly american books being platformed

I wish we could make communal lists, because this would be a helpful one to be able to ask others to contribute to

reworks of classic sci-fi, horror, gothic, or mystery tales

sometimes a completely different genre than the original

Women who consume, cannibalistic divas (Also let me know ones to add - I'd love some recs)

My Personal Culinary Cozy Mystery & Adventure Collection

My most anticipated new releases for 2025. I will add as I discover them!!