LGBTQ Literature and Film: Mystery & Horror

Moon Basin has been haunted for as long as anyone can remember. It started when an explosion in the mine killed sixteen people. The disaster made it impossible to live in town, with underground fires spewing ash into the sky. But life in New Basin is just as fraught. The ex-mining town relies on its haunted reputation to bring in tourists, but there's more truth to the rumors than most are willing to admit, and the mine still has a hold on everyone who lives there. Clem and Nina form a perfect loop--best friends forever, and perhaps something more. Their circle opens up for a strange girl named Lisey with a knack for training crows, and Piper, whose father is fascinated with the mine in a way that's anything but ordinary. The people of New Basin start experiencing strange phenomena--sleepwalking, night terrors, voices that only they can hear. And no matter how many vans of ghost hunters roll through, nobody can get to the bottom of what's really going on. Which is why the girls decide to enter the mine themselves.

Muir's "Gideon the Ninth" unveils a solar system of swordplay, cutthroat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy. Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won|t set her free without a service. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon|s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die. Of course, some things are better left dead.

Finch Chamberlin is the newest transfer student to the ultra-competitive Ulalume Academy... but she's also not what she seems. Months before school started, Finch and her parents got into an accident that should have left her dead at the bottom of the river. But something monstrous, and ancient, and terrifying, wouldn't let her drown. Finch doesn't know why she woke up after her heart stopped, but since dying she's felt a constant pull from the school and the surrounding town of Rainwater, like something on the island is calling to her. Selena St. Clair sees right through Finch, and she knows something is seriously wrong with her. But despite Selena's suspicion, she feels drawn to Finch and has a sinking feeling that from now on the two will be inexplicably linked to one another. One night Finch, Selena, and her friends accidentally summon a carnivorous creature of immense power in the depths of the school. It promises to grant every desire the girls have kept locked away in their insecure hearts--beauty, power, adoration--in exchange for a price: human body parts. But as the cost of their wanting becomes more deadly, Finch and Selena must learn to work together to stop the horror they unleashed, before it consumes the entire island.

Genderqueer fourteen-year-old Z Chilworth has to adjust quickly to their new status as a zombie after waking from death from a car crash that killed their parents and sisters. Always a talented witch, Z now can barely perform magic and is rapidly decaying. Faced with rejection from their remaining family members and old friends, Z moves in with Mrs. Dunnigan, an elderly witch and befriends Aysel, a loud would-be-goth classmate who is, like Z, a loner. As Z struggles to find a way to repair the broken magical seal holding their body together, Aysel fears that her classmates will discover her status as an unregistered werewolf. When a local psychiatrist is murdered by what seems to be werewolves, the town of Salem, Oregon, becomes even more hostile to "monsters," and Z and Aysel are driven together in an attempt to survive a place where most people wish that neither of them existed.

Five friends take a trip to a cabin. It's supposed to be one last getaway before going their separate ways-a chance to say goodbye to each other, and to the game they've been playing for the past three years. But they're all dealing with their own demons, and they're all hiding secrets. And as they start to play the murder mystery game that brought them together in the first place, the lines between the game and reality blend, with deadly consequences. Someone knows their secrets. Someone wants to make them pay. Soon, it's a race against time before it's game over-forever. Are you ready to play?

The car Natasha's sister was driving was found abandoned on the edge of a local nature preserve known as the Bend. Della's family has channeled magic from the Bend for generations, providing spells for the desperate. When Natasha turns up on her doorstep, Della knows it will take more than a potion to help her. She's hiding a secret: the beast responsible for the disappearances is her own mother, who was turned into a terrible monster by magic gone wrong. Now they are each other's only hope.

Marianne's parents have finally split up; and her mother has checked herself into the hospital. Marianne's own life hasn't been the same since she quit dancing. Then she start losing time, doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close. Something is after her ... and the only one who seems to believe her is the daughter of a local psychic. When their first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing's rage, it demands Marianne give back what she stole. And if the nightmare takes what it thinks it's owed, Marianne will be trapped in the darkness of the other side.

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him--the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world's population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can't get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC's leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji's darkest secret: the cult's bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick's terms...until he discovers the ALC's mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

With a touch, Lexi can sense how and when someone will die. Some say it's a gift. But to Lexi it's a curse--one that keeps her friendless and alone. All that changes when Lexi foresees the violent death of a young woman, Jane, outside a club.

Jane doesn't go to the afterlife quietly. Her ghost remains behind, determined to hunt down her murderer, and she needs Lexi's help. In life, Jane was everything Lexi is not--outgoing, happy, popular. But in death, all Jane wants is revenge.

Lexi will do anything to help Jane, to make up for the fact that she didn't--couldn't--save Jane's life, and to keep this beautiful ghost of a girl by her side for as long as possible.

Sam Sylvester has long collected stories of half-lived lives--of kids who died before they turned nineteen. Sam was almost one of those kids. Now, as Sam's own nineteenth birthday approaches, their recent near-death experience haunts them. They're certain they don't have much time left. . . .

But Sam's life seems to be on the upswing after meeting several new friends and a potential love interest in Shep, their next-door neighbor. Yet the past keeps roaring back--in Sam's memories and in the form of a thirty-year-old suspicious death that took place in Sam's new home. Sam can't resist trying to find out more about the kid who died and who now seems to guide their investigation. When Sam starts receiving threatening notes, they know they're on the path to uncovering a murderer. But are they digging through the past or digging their own future grave?

Sixteen-year-old friends Red, Leo, Rose, and Naomi are misfits; still figuring out who they are and who they want to be. Life isn't perfect, but music unites them, and they're excited about what the future holds for their band, Mirror, Mirror. That is until Naomi vanishes before being pulled unconscious out of the river. She's left fighting for her life in a coma. The police claim it was a failed suicide attempt, but her friends aren't convinced. Will Naomi ever wake? What -- or perhaps who - led her to that hospital bed? How did her friends fail to spot the warning signs? While Rose turns to wild partying and Leo is shrouded by black moods, Red sets out to uncover the truth. It's a journey that will cause Red's world to crack, exposing the group's darkest secrets. Nothing will ever be the same again, because once a mirror is shattered, it can't be fixed.

When Corey moves away from Lost Creek, Alaska, she makes her friend Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return. Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she's a stranger. With every hour, Corey's suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets--but piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter.

Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking question he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up. All eyes are on Flynn--as January's boyfriend, he must know something.

But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.

Ten years ago Delia 'Dee' Skinner witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. She told the police everything she remembered, but it wasn't enough. Sibby was never seen again. Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them. When another little girl goes missing in the town, it appears the case is linked to Sibby's disappearance. Dee calls on her virtual detectives for help-- but how much is she willing to reveal about herself in order to uncover the truth?

When sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis finds the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James outside the gates of an exclusive resort, she teams up with Ashley's older sister Nora to find the killer, and she is thrown into a world of unimaginable wealth and privilege--and the fight for her life.

When her beloved father, the only psychiatrist in their small Ohio town, dies in a mysterious car accident, high school outcast and lonely lesbian Sydney investigates the death, starting with why homecoming queen June attended his funeral.

Flora Calhoun has a reputation for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong-- like stumbling upon a classmate's body years ago. When she gets a midnight call from Ava, who had ignited Flora's heart last summer, she arrives just in time to witness Ava bleed out in a dark alley. Now Flora is set on a path of rage and vengeance for all the dead girls whose killer is never found. She begins uncovering ugly secrets that are hidden for a good reason-- and puts her on the murderer's hit list.

Jason is sure his sister, Becca, was murdered, but he's the only one who thinks so. After finding a photograph Becca kept hidden, he decides to infiltrate a boxing gym to prove that she didn't die accidentally. As a transgender kid, Jason's been fighting for as long as he can remember, and those skills are going to come in handy as he investigates. Quickly invited into the inner circle, Jason must balance newfound friendships with the burning hate that drives him. Jason soon feels torn between two worlds, determined to discover what happened to his sister but struggling with the fact that this is the first time he's ever felt like he belonged somewhere.

WWSD becomes queer high-school freshman Huck’s guiding acronym when his favorite teacher, Ms. Gregoire, gives him a copy of The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Wouldn’t you know it, soon thereafter Huck is presented with a puzzling mystery of his own and wonders, What Would Sherlock Do? The mystery involves his wannabe-boyfriend Win, who has applied for admission to Hero High, Huck’s exclusive private school. The plot thickens when it appears that Win has sent a letter withdrawing his application and then Win’s iLive page starts containing cruel, snarky remarks about friends. Win denies any involvement, maintaining that the letter and posts are forgeries. Only stalwart Huck believes him and vows to solve the puzzle of this whodunit.

After Sophie Winters survives a brutal attack in which her best friend, Mina, is murdered, she sets out to find the killer. At the same time she must prove she is free of her past Oxy addiction and in no way to blame for Mina's death.