GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE – coming 11/14/23

I’m so excited to share the gorgeous cover for my next novel, GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE, coming 11/14/23! More info to follow in the coming months, including a mini (very mini! It was all we could put together before the holidays!) U.S. book tour, maybe a festival appearance or two, and some fun giveaways. In the meantime, enjoy the cover and a special sneak peek of Chapter 1, plus lots of links to preorder.

If you follow any author on social media then you already know that preorders are extremely important. Publishers use preorders to decide their print runs for books, which impacts bookstore sales and exposure. Preorders can help determine if a book is ordered and shelved by your local bookstore or not (which is why it’s really important to order from your local store, if you’re able. Stores will frequently order and extra copy or two if they think there is demand). Preorders affect bestseller lists, because all preorders count toward first-week sales. Preorders can even impact whether or not an author gets a new contract, because publishers gauge interest for that author’s work through sales.

If you can’t preorder for any reason, though, don’t stress! You can still support your favorite author by liking and reposting/retweeting links on social media, telling your friends about your favorite books, and most importantly – asking your library to carry those books. So many books come out every year, and librarians don’t always know if there’s demand for every title. Requesting a copy at your local library increases visibility for authors and helps them find new readers.

All that said, here’s the cover and back cover copy for GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE!

A sharp-edged, supremely twisty thriller about three women who find themselves trapped inside stories they know aren’t their own, from the author of Alice and Near the Bone.

Celia wakes up in a house that’s supposed to be hers. There’s a little girl who claims to be her daughter and a man who claims to be her husband, but Celia knows this family—and this life—is not hers…

Allie is supposed to be on a fun weekend trip—but then her friend’s boyfriend unexpectedly invites the group to a remote cabin in the woods. No one else believes Allie, but she is sure that something about this trip is very, very wrong…

Maggie just wants to be home with her daughter, but she’s in a dangerous situation and she doesn’t know who put her there or why. She’ll have to fight with everything she has to survive…

Three women. Three stories. Only one way out. This captivating novel will keep readers guessing until the very end.

GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE is published by Berkley Books in the U.S.

Add GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE to your Goodreads list here

Grab the U.S. edition from your favorite bookseller or one of these retailers:

Anderson’s Bookshops

Barnes & Noble

The Book Cellar

Bookmarks

Books-a-Million

BookPeople

Bookshop

Bucket O Blood Books and Records

Indiebound

Kobo

Mysterious Galaxy

RoscoeBooks

Third Place Books

Three Avenues Bookshop

Unabridged Bookstore

Volumes

Women & Children First

Audible

Amazon

SNEAK PEEK OF CHAPTER 1 OF GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE

PART I – CELIA

CHAPTER ONE

mysterybkluv: who else here loves cozy mysteries best?

poirotsgirl: cozies are my fave, esp if they have recipes in the back

mysterybkluv: ngl it would be great to live in a small town where there are lots of low-stakes murders and I could solve them while working in my family restaurant

tyz7412: lol living the dream

“Mom.”

“Earth to Mom. Come in, Mom.”


“Mom, I’m going to be late for the bus!”


Celia shook her head. The small person beside her was blurry, out of focus. Did she need glasses now?


And why was this person calling her “mom”?


Celia blinked hard, once, twice, and the little person came into focus. A girl—maybe ten, eleven years old?—staring at her expectantly, holding an open backpack.


“What?” Celia asked.


“My lunch,” the girl said. “I need my lunch. Did you drink enough coffee this morning?”

Celia looked down. In front of her, on a white countertop, was an open cloth lunch bag. Inside it there was already a plastic bag of sliced apples, a bag of all-natural puffed corn snacks (cheese flavored), and a chocolate soy milk.


A piece of waxed paper lay unfolded on the counter. What is all this disposable packaging? I would never buy things like this.


“Mom!” The little person was getting really insistent now. “Sandwich!”

Celia couldn’t think. She needed this small girl to leave so she could organize her thoughts.

Why does she keep calling me “Mom”? I don’t have any children.

“Two minutes!” the girl screeched.

There was a loaf of wheat bread and a package of cheese from the deli next to the waxed paper. Celia took out two pieces of bread.

“One piece in half! Mom, what’s wrong with you today?”

“Sorry,” Celia said, cutting the single slice of bread in half. “How much cheese?”

“Two pieces! Come on, come on!”

You’re old enough to do this yourself, Celia thought as she folded the bread around the cheese, wrapped the sandwich in waxed paper and shoved everything in the lunch bag. The girl grabbed it, stuffed it in her pack and sprinted toward the door.


“Bye, love you!” she said as she threw the door open, then slammed it shut behind her.

Celia walked like a sleepwalker to the window next to the door and peered out. The little girl was running down a long inclined driveway toward what appeared to be a country road. Across the street there was nothing to see except trees, tall trees that looked like older-growth maple, oak and ash.

The little girl reached the end of the drive just as a yellow school bus pulled up in front of the mailbox. She clambered onto the bus and it pulled away.

She’s gone. Now I can think.

Footsteps sounded overhead and Celia glanced up at the ceiling in alarm. The steps moved across the floor, and a moment later Celia heard someone large coming down the stairs. She couldn’t see the stairs from where she stood. The kitchen was attached to a dining room on one side and a hallway on the other. Celia peered into the hall. The bottom of the stairs was at the far end.

A strange man rounded the banister and headed toward her, frowning at his cell phone as he walked. Celia backed away from him, her heart pounding. Her butt bumped into the edge of the counter. She scrambled around it and positioned herself close to the door so she could run if she needed to do so. She looked down at her feet. Socks. Not even slippers. There was a pair of low shelves positioned next to the door with shoes neatly arranged on them. One of those pairs should be hers. But would she have time enough to figure out which pair, put them on and get out the door?

“Hey, babe, I’ve got a ton of meetings this morning,” the man said. “I’ll stop by the restaurant at lunchtime.”

Who is he?

The man was very tall, at least six inches taller than herself, and she wasn’t a small woman. He had dark hair cut in what she thought of as “millennial fund manager” style and wore a well-tailored gray suit. He had a gym-toned look about him and altogether gave the impression of someone who belonged in a city. This impression was reinforced when he pulled on an expensive-looking wool overcoat. His shoes, Celia noted, were very shiny.

He leaned close to her and kissed her cheek absently, still looking at the phone so he didn’t notice the way she inched backward. She caught a whiff of his aftershave, something musky and heavy. Her nose twitched.

“See you later,” he said, and disappeared out the same door as the little girl.

Celia went to the window and pulled one blind up to peek out. The man who’d called her “babe,” the man who’d kissed her goodbye, had gotten into a black Audi SUV that was parked at the top of the driveway. He backed down the drive and pulled out onto the road, heading in the opposite direction of the bus.

An Audi. City guy, she thought again, and then wondered why she thought this.

Because I live in a city and I see those kinds of guys all the time, she thought, but the thought was like a stabbing pain in her head. She looked around the kitchen, then out the window once more.

Clearly, she did not live in a city. Why did she think she lived in a city?


I’m Still Here

Hello, dear readers and friends. If you checked up on this page at any time in 2022 you probably wondered if I had fallen off the face of the earth. The answer: kinda?

If you follow me on any social media channels you may have seen from my intermittent posting there that I’ve been dealing with an ongoing, undiagnosed illness since late 2020 that occasionally prevents me from doing anything at all. While my condition is still undiagnosed and I continue to have issues, I’ve now got some medication that helps with some aspects of my illness and makes life a little more bearable. It also makes me more functional so I’m hoping to return to in-person events this year – more info on that to come!

I did sign a contract for two new books to be published with Berkley/Penguin Random House – GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE, which will be out in November of 2023, and BRIGHT HORSES, which will be out some time next year. GOOD GIRLS DON’T DIE is in the copyediting stage, and BRIGHT HORSES has been sent to my editor for revisions. When I have cover info and preorder links I’ll share those here and on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

In the meantime, I’m still here.

News and new releases

Some quick release news for all of you – LOOKING GLASS, the final volume in The Chronicles of Alice, is now available! If you haven’t been able to get out to your local bookstore because of shelter-in-place orders, now is a great time to browse your local shop and pick up a few books. If they don’t have a copy of LOOKING GLASS in stock they can always order it for you.

Many local businesses have been hard hit by COVID-related lockdowns and bookstores need your support more than ever.

If you don’t have a local shop in your area a great alternative is Bookshop.org. Books ship directly from the distributor and the profits are distributed to local bookstores. You can check out their mission statement here.

In other news, the release date for THE GHOST TREE has been moved up to September 8, 2020. I’m so excited for all of you to read this book, which is very close to my heart. More information about THE GHOST TREE can be found here.

I’m extremely sorry that my U.K. tour for LOOKING GLASS with Tim Lebbon was cancelled due to the COVID epidemic. I hope to see all of you in the future.

Be safe, stay healthy and happy reading.

U.S. edition published by Berkley Publishing, an imprint of Penguin Random House

To add LOOKING GLASS to your Goodreads list click here

Grab the U.S. edition from your favorite bookseller:

57th Street BooksA

Anderson’s Bookshops

Barnes & Noble

The Book Cellar

Bookmarks

Books-A-Million

Bookshop

Bucket o’Blood Books and Records

Indiebound

Kobo

Mysterious Galaxy

RoscoeBooks

Unabridged Books

Volumes Bookcafe

Women and Children First

U.K. edition is published by Titan Books

Grab the U.K. edition from your favorite bookseller:

Amazon U.K.

The Beckenham Bookshop

Big Green Bookshop

The Book Shop

Five Leaves Bookshop

Forum Books

Foyles

Mr. B’s Emporium

Hive

Literally Productions

The Mainstreet Trading Company

Max Minerva’s

The Portobello Bookshop

Topping & Company Booksellers

Transreal Fiction

Waterstones

WriteBlend


C2E2 schedule, Australian book tour and U.K. book tour!

I’ve gathered all the information for my upcoming appearances in this post, so read on!

I’ll be a literary guest at C2E2 in Chicago on February 29th and March 1st! There’s an amazing lineup of authors this year and I’m so excited to be participating. My publisher has generously provided a limited number of LOOKING GLASS arcs to Anderson’s Bookshop, the retailer at the autographing area. The arcs will be given as a bonus to anyone who purchases one of my titles, so it’s two books for one and you get an early copy! Panel and signing information below:

Saturday, February 29 12:30 pm- 1:30 pm Room S405a

AUTHORS ON THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT – Join authors Terry Brooks (The Shannara Chronicles), Rae Carson (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), Christina Henry (The Chronicles of Alice), Zack Jordan (The Last Human), Josh Malerman (Bird Box), and Sam Sykes (Seven Blades in Black,) as they talk about the best writing advice they ever got, and what advice they would give to an aspiring writer.

Saturday, February 29 1:45 pm- 2:45 pm Autographing at Autograph Table 4

Come meet Terry Brooks, Rae Carson, Christina Henry, Zack Jordan, Josh Malerman, and Sam Sykes (all at Table 4)!
Items will not be provided, but books will be available for purchase at the signing from Andersons, the official bookseller of C2E2. Author signings are free and first come first served.

Sunday, March 1 1:45 pm- 2:45 pm Room S504

TODAY’S VOICES IN CONTEMPORARY HORROR WRITING: Join Josh Malerman (Bird Box), Joe Hill (Horns, Heart-Shaped Box), Daniel Kraus (The Shape of Water, Bent Heavens), and Christina Henry (The Chronicles of Alice) as they discuss how to build terror and deliver expertly crafted chills and thrills in horror fiction.

Sunday, March 1 3:00 pm- 4:00 pm Autographing

Come meet Joe Hill (Table 1), Josh Malerman (Table 2), Christina Henry and Daniel Kraus (Table 4)!
Items will not be provided, but books will be available for purchase at the signing from Andersons, the official bookseller of C2E2. Author signings are free and first come first served.

I’m also extremely excited to announce all the details for my upcoming Australian tour from March 6-March 14. I’ll be a guest at Supanova in Melbourne and the Gold Coast, and in between I’ll have several bookstore appearances in and around Sydney. For more information on Supanova panels and signings, check here. For bookstore stops, please check out the graphic below. Further information can be found by contacting the bookshops.

And last but not least, I’ll be appearing at StokerCon UK in Scarborough from April 16th – April 19th, 2020. More information plus weekend memberships and single-day tickets can be found here.

I’ll be doing a short bookshop tour of the UK following StokerCon with the wonderful Tim Lebbon. Tickets and more information can be found on the Waterstones event page here. For all of our tour stops, see below!

I hope to see you out there!

New books, new gig and upcoming appearances!

I’ve got lots of news to share this week, so read on for info about new books, upcoming appearances and my brand-new gig as a podcast host.

The news is now official so I can announce that I’ll be writing two more books for Berkley – NEAR THE BONE, a horror novel about a woman who lives on a mountain with her abusive husband and discovers there’s more than one kind of monster in the woods, and HORSEMAN, a dark reimagining of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Release dates, covers and more info to come!

In the meantime I’ve got a novella collection, a novel and a short story coming out this year, so there’s plenty to keep you busy until NEAR THE BONE and HORSEMAN are released.

First up is my short story “As Red As Blood, As White As Snow” in the CURSED anthology, edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane. There’s a fantastic lineup of authors in this anthology, including M.R. Carey, Neil Gaiman, Charlie Jane Anders, Jane Yolen, Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon and more. If you love dark fairy tales you won’t want to miss this! CURSED will be released on March 3rd, 2020 and you can preorder now at any bookstore.

LOOKING GLASS, a collection of four novellas set in the ALICE universe, releases April 21, 2020. For more info you can read an excerpt here.

Finally, THE GHOST TREE, a horror novel about a Midwestern town under a curse, releases October 6th, 2020. I’m so excited for all of you to read this one – this book is really close to my heart. Here’s the back cover copy:

“When people go missing in the sleepy town of Smith’s Hollow, the only clue to their fate comes when a teenager starts having terrifying visions, in a chilling horror novel from national bestselling author Christina Henry.

When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won’t find the killer. After all, the year before her father’s body was found with his heart missing, and since then everyone has moved on. Even her best friend, Miranda, has become more interested in boys than in spending time at the old ghost tree, the way they used to when they were kids.

So when Lauren has a vision of a monster dragging the remains of the girls through the woods, she knows she can’t just do nothing. Not like the rest of her town. But as she draws closer to answers, she realizes that the foundation of her seemingly normal town might be rotten at the center. And that if nobody else stands for the missing, she will.”

One of my favorite hobbies is to watch movies and talk about movies, and my pals Jeff and Jim gave me a chance to do this for a wider audience on their podcast T.M.I. – Confessionals of the Nerd Kind by making me an official member of T.M.I.! If you love movies as much as we do give us a listen on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Last week we had a very impassioned episode discussing PARASITE and THE HOST, two masterpieces by Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho. You can listen here or on your favorite podcast app.

If you enjoy that episode and are looking for more Korean films to try, check out my list of Five More Korean Films For Fans of PARASITE.

I’m so pleased to announce that I’ll be a literary guest at C2E2 in Chicago on February 29th & March 1 2020. For more information about the convention and my panels and signings you can click here.

I’ve got some really exciting news for my U.K. fans – I’ll be attending StokerCon in Scarborough from April 16th to April 19th, and I’ll be touring the U.K. the following week! My publisher is still finalizing dates and locations (and that information will be announced here when I have it), but I look forward to seeing you all at bookstores around the U.K. in April!

C2E2 schedule!

Headed to C2E2 this weekend? So am I! I have panels and signings on Friday and Sunday, and my publisher will be giving away early copies of THE GIRL IN RED as a gift-with-purchase for anyone who buys one of my books at the signing. I hope to see some of you there!
 
Friday, March 22
1:45 PM – 2:45 PM: Panel in Room S405a
Once Upon a Time (But Also Different)
 
Think you know what’s really over the rainbow? Or the true story behind Alice’s adventures in wonderland? Come hear from authors and comic creators that are flipping your favorite fairy tales and iconic stories on their heads with delicious twists, turns and remixes that’ll keep fans turning the page!
 
 
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Autographing at Tables 41 & 42
 
SCHEDULE
Sunday, March 24
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM: Panel in Room S405a
 
Twists, Turns & Screams
Do you have a secret? Do you need answers! Put your detective’s hat, follow the clues and the things that go bump in the night to this can’t miss panel featuring a bevy of mystery, thriller and horror writers! What makes a compelling mystery? What will keep your readers on the edge of their seat till the very last page?
 
 
3:45 PM – 4:45 PM: Autographing at Tables 41 & 42
 

Denver Comic-Con!

It’s finally June and THE MERMAID will be out eight days from now – June 19th, 2018! You can check out a sample chapter and preorder your copy here

I’ll be at Denver Comic-Con from June 15th-June 17th. I’ve got multiple panels and signings, so I hope to see you there! My schedule is as follows:

Friday, June 15______________________________________________________

11:30am—12:20pm: BEST BADDIES ARE MORE THAN THE HERO OF THEIR OWN STORY (ROOM 405)
When developing a villain, how does a creator navigate making them powerful, yet flawed, charming, yet diabolical? Bring your favorite antagonists and the panel will break down the strengths and weaknesses that went into building memorable characters.

Panelists: Scott Beckman, Scott Bergstrom, Peter V. Brett, Betsy Dornbusch (Moderator), Travis Heerman, Christina Henry

1:00pm—2:00pm: PRH BOOTH SIGNING (BOOTH #509)

3:30pm—4:25pm: SOLO SIGNING (AUTHOR SIGNING BOOTH 1)

In Booktopia on the Show Floor – near upper entrance to Hall F.

6:00pm—6:50pm: AVOIDING CARDBOARD VILLAINS: HOW TO WRITE VILLAINS THAT ENGAGE & INTRIGUE READERS (ROOM 406/407)

Great protagonists are only as memorable as the antagonists they must defeat! Instead of making all murderers crazy psychopaths and all adversaries driven by revenge, let’s discuss easy, practical ways to build villains that are as complex and formidable as our heroes.

Panelists: Terry Brooks, Kristi Charish, Delilah Dawson, Christie Golden, Liv Hadden (Moderator), Christina Henry, Aaron Mahnke

 

Saturday, June 16____________________________________________________

11:00am—11:50am: SOLO SIGNING (AUTHOR SIGNING BOOTH 5)

In Booktopia on the Show Floor – near upper entrance to Hall F.

12:00pm—12:50pm: WORLDBUILDING AND STORYTELLING (KEYSTONE CITY ROOM – MILE HIGH BALLROOM DCCP4)

Every story has a beginning and an ending. How do you start to fill out the culture, laws and rules of conduct? Building a world to explore takes time and thought. Interact with the panel as we discuss how they go about creating a world to put their characters in.

Panelists: Robert Jackson Bennett, Peter V. Brett, Kristi Charish, Christina Henry, Naomi Novik. Jeffrey Twohig (Moderator)

2:00pm—2:50pm: ONE DAY, YOU WILL BE OLD ENOUGH TO READ FAIRYTALES AGAIN (ROOM 406/407)

You’re never too old – or young – to read fantasy fiction, as this all-star cast of authors proves. They’ll discuss why the modern fairytale resonates with them and readers, where they find their inspiration. They may even solve the time-worn question of whether vampires, werewolves, dragons, and trolls are really monsters.

Panelists: Jacqueline Carey, C. Robert Cargill, Emily Hash (Moderator), Christina Henry, R. F. Kuang, Melissa Jane Osborne

3:30pm-4:00pm: PRH BOOTH SIGNING (BOOTH #509)

 

Sunday, June 17_____________________________________________________

10:15am-11:00am: PRH BOOTH SIGNING (BOOTH #509)

11:30am—12:20pm: IT’S A MYSTERY TO ME! (ROOM 402/403)

Mystery, horror and suspense writers – both fiction and non – will discuss their latest books, and why readers like to be scared, surprised, or even disgusted when they read.

Panelists: Katherine Arden, Marguerite Bennett, Kristi Charish, Emily Hash (Moderator), Christina Henry, Stephen Graham Jones, Caroline Kepnes

1:00pm—1:55pm: SOLO SIGNING (SIGNING BOOTH 2)

In Booktopia on the Show Floor – near upper entrance to Hall F.

U.K. Book Tour for THE MERMAID!

Hey, U.K. fans! Want to get your shiny new copies of THE MERMAID autographed? Come see me on my first ever U.K. tour! I’ll be touring with Sarah Maria Griffin, author of SPARE AND FOUND PARTS, for all dates. Two dates will also feature V.E. Schwab (A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC) and the London Picadilly date will feature Dhonielle Clayton (THE BELLES). I am so excited to meet all of you – hope to see you out on tour in late July/early August!

29th July

YALC – London, Olympia

 

30th July

Birmingham Waterstones, 6:30pm

24-26 High Street

 

31st July

Manchester Waterstones, 6:30pm

91 Deansgate

 

1st August

Newcastle Waterstones, 6:30pm

Emerson Chambers, Blackett Street

With A Darker Shade of Magic author V.E. Schwab

 

2nd August

Edinburgh Waterstones, 6:30pm

128 Princes Street

With A Darker Shade of Magic author V.E. Schwab

 

3rd August

London Piccadilly Waterstones, 6:30pm

203-206 Piccadilly Street

With The Belles author Dhonielle Clayton

 

4th August

London Forbidden Planet, 1-2pm

(signing only)

So many events!

I’ve got several appearances coming up in the next few months so I’m collecting them here for easy reference. Some of these appearances don’t have full programming details yet – I will add them in as I receive those. Hope to see many of you this year!

APRIL

April 07, 2018, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Room S405b
 
Engrossing stories, fully-realized fantasy worlds…and the bad ass female characters that inhabit them. Join a panel of authors for a lively discussion of resistance, rebellion and female characters who aren’t afraid to break the mold. Featuring Justina Ireland (Dread Nation, Promise of Shadows), Rebecca Ross (The Queen’s Rising), Christina Henry (The Mermaid, The Black Wings Series) and Sarah Beth Durst (The Queen of Sorrow, Vessel).
 
Signing: 3:00-4:00pm at tables #35 and #36 in the autographing area

MAY

  •  Signing at Barnes and Noble  – Des Moines, IA
    Wednesday May 2nd 6-8pm

Barnes & Noble
Shoppes At Three Fountains
4550 University Ave
West Des Moines, IA 50266

I’m so excited to be the Author Guest of Honor for Demicon 29! Full programming/signing details to come.

JUNE

I’m so pleased to announce that I’ll be appearing at Denver Comic Con for the first time! Full programming/signing details to come.
Wednesday June 20th 2018
7:30pm
Women & Children First
5233 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60640
773.769.9299

JULY

  • I can’t say anything official yet but if you’re in the U.K. STAY TUNED

Bookmarks Festival 2017 & Den of Geek Interview

Kayti Burt from Den of Geek interviewed me about LOST BOY, retellings and authentic characters. You can check that interview out here

Hey, North Carolina! I’ll be attending the Bookmarks 2017 Festival of Books and Authors in Winston-Salem on September 9th. I’ve got two panels and there will also be a book signing. Panel details below; signing information to come.

10:45am-11:45am
Mountcastle Forum
Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts
Fictional Retellings:
John Claude Bemis, Christina Henry, Charlie Lovett & Stephanie Powell Watts
2:45-3:45
Hanesbrands Theatre
209 North Spruce Street
Fantastical Characters:
Leigh Bardugo, Linnea Hartsuyker, Christina Henry & Sherrilyn Kenyon