How to Sell a Haunted House

Grief is messy. Family can be, too. When thirty-something Louise Joyner returns to Charleston after her parents are killed in a car accident, she’s ready to settle arguments, clean out the house, and get back to her daughter. But the old brick ranch on McCants hides decades of secrets, a hoarder’s load of puppets and dolls from her mother’s church ministry, and a brother, Mark, who won’t stop poking at old wounds.

The house won’t let them finish anything. TVs switch on by themselves. A hammer is never where it should be. Dolls move. And then there’s Pupkin, the bright red-and-yellow hand puppet that taught Bible stories to kids, tucked Louise in at night, and made her feel watched. It turns out Pupkin never grew up — and he holds a grudge. As a childhood accident rises from the past and the siblings are dragged from denial through anger and bargaining toward a terrible truth, the haunting gets personal.

This isn’t “sell the house, sage the rooms, and leave.” It’s a heart-pounding fight to free a sick family story from the walls, rescue a child, and finally bring home a boy who never made it to his grave. Grady Hendrix turns a haunted-house tale into a relentless, moving story about shame, love, and the cost of pretending nothing bad ever happened.

• Horror fans who want real heart with their hauntings
• Readers who like family dramas and complicated siblings
• Anyone curious how grief can twist a house and a story
• Book clubs ready to talk about secrets, shame, and forgiveness
• Listeners who love Southern settings and gallows humor

Grady Hendrix is a New York Times bestselling author known for blending horror with humor and heart. His novels include Horrorstör, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, We Sold Our Souls, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and The Final Girl Support Group. He also wrote the Bram Stoker Award–winning Paperbacks from Hell, a loving history of the 1970s–80s horror paperback boom. He lives to make you laugh a second before you scream.