Tag: novels

A F L S T

Stoker: More than Just the Author of Dracula

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Featured Horror Books

For fans of Bram Stoker, it’s no surprise that he wrote more than his infamous novel Dracula (1987); credited for being the major influence on popular vampire culture, Stoker was a master of Gothic horror. While not critically acclaimed in his day–even H.P. Lovecraft had critical words for some of his literature–Stoker was a successful author and did great work within the genre.

Leaving a Mark With Short Fiction

Authors like Bram Stoker had much more potential for short fiction works than they did in novel-length literature, at least in the opinion of this writer. While it’s true that Stoker is considered a master of the Gothic horror genre, his short stories were captivating and less drawn out. Below is a selection of just a couple of his short stories that are available on YouTube for public consumption.

Dracula’s Guest

This short story is an offshoot of Stoker’s famous novel, Dracula and proves to be an interesting side-plot of the story of our favorite evil blood-sucking fiend. Have a listen to this short story as it is narrated in a proper spooky fashion!

The Judge’s House

This classic ghost story as told by Bram Stoker is definitely one that people need to hear read aloud–listen here and enjoy!

Horror Novels by Bram Stoker

The Snake's Pass by Bram Stoker

The Snake’s Pass (1890)

Bram Stoker’s first full-length novel, The Snake’s Pass, is a story about Englishman Arthur Severn who inherits wealth and a title from an aunt who chose him as her heir, much to the chagrin of closer relations. What he inherits, is essentially the ability to become an adventurer and he seizes this opportunity as a man of leisure to tour western Ireland. A storm forces him to stop for the night in a mysterious village where Arthur hears the legend of “The Snake’s Pass,” which alludes to a hidden treasure hidden in the boggy hills near the village. This deadly bog, hidden treasure, and a sinister man from the village proved to give Arthur the adventure he sought after.

A free version of this public domain book is available on the Official Bram Stoker Website.

The Snake Pass GoodReads Listing

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula (1897)

By far the most famous of Stoker’s literary works, Dracula became the foremost authority on vampires within fiction. Where introduced to Jonathan Harker a solicitor from England who is sent to Transylvania to assist Count Dracula with who has a need for legal assistance regarding real estate. Dracula’s ultimate plan, of course, is to spread the curse of vampirism as much as possible while supplying himself with a fresh source of blood. Through the course of the book, we see the malignant plans of Dracula come to fruition and are introduced to Abraham Van Helsing, a character that would become part of modern folklore of vampires.

A free version of this public domain book is available on the Official Bram Stoker Website.

Dracula GoodReads Listing

The Mystery of the Sea by Bram Stoker

The Mystery of the Sea (1902)

The Mystery of the Sea tells the story of an Englishman living in Aberdeenshire, Scotland–he falls in love with an American heiress who has a special interest in the Spanish-American war. Over the course of the novel, we see elements of the supernatural with instances of second sight, and other thrilling aspects such as kidnapping, and cryptic codes. More of a political thriller than any of his other novels, the story explored themes important during his own time, such as the changing concepts of womanhood, and the uprising of feminism.

A free version of this public domain book is available on the Official Bram Stoker Website.

The Mystery of the Sea GoodReads Listing

The Jewel of the Seven Stars

The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903)

Written in a first-person narrative, we follow a young man by the name of Malcom Ross, a barrister. Summoned by Margaret, the daughter of a famous Egyptologist with whom he is enamored, to find that he had been called due to the strange sounds that were heard from her father’s room. When Margaret went to check on her father, she found he was bloodied and unconscious–as if in some type of trance–along with cryptic instructions to watch him, in case of his incapacitation, until he awoke.

A free version of this public domain book is available on the Official Bram Stoker Website.

The Jewel of Seven Stars GoodReads Listing

The Man by Bram Stoker

The Man (1905)

Strangely, for a book entitled The Man, this story is initially about a tomboy named Stephen (at the behest of her mother who died shortly after childbirth). Stephen grows to be an assertive, free-thinking child and becomes friends with Harold, the son of a friend of her father. After her father’s friend passes away, Harold becomes a ward of Stephen’s father. She and Harold pass the time visiting her family’s graveyard. After reaching adulthood romantic storylines enter into play, causing characters to suddenly disperse and then later and unexpectedly come together unwittingly. This tale is wrought with death and romance, key components to gothic horror, and Bram wrote it fantastically.

A free version of this public domain book is available on the Official Bram Stoker Website.

The Man GoodReads Listing

The Lady of the Shroud by Bram Stoker

The Lady of the Shroud (1909)

An epistolary novel, narrated primarily by the central character Rupert Saint Leger, the black sheep of his family. Rupert finds out that he is his uncle’s choice to inherit a large million-pound estate, under the condition that he lives in the castle of the Blue Mountains for a year before he can claim his fortune. Needless to say, this is his uncle’s way of testing him, to find if he can truly be worthy of such a grand fortune–little does Rupert know what awaits him in the castle of the Blue Mountains and how completely his life will change.

A free version of this public domain book is available on the Official Bram Stoker Website.

The Lady of the Shroud GoodReads Listing

The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker

The Lair of the White Worm (1911)

Based loosely upon the tale of The Lambton Worm, Stoker gave us a horror story based upon a giant white worm who has the ability to transform into a woman. The story revolves around the Australian-born Adam Salton, who receives word from an estranged uncle who wishes to make Adam his heir.

A free version of this public domain book is available on the Official Bram Stoker Website.

Bram Stoker’s twelfth and final novel before his death, The Lair of the White Worm (2011) is also sometimes titled as The Garden of Evil. Along with Dracula and The Jewel of Seven Stars, The Lair of the White Worm was actually one of Stoker’s most successful novels, which is interesting because the reception by the literary community was not entirely favorable. In 1988 it was adapted into a horror film, which starred Hugh Grant and Amanda Donohoe.

The Lair of the White Worm GoodReads Listing

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Stoking the Fire of Stoker’s Legacy

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Horror Books Lifestyle

Abraham “Bram” Stoker may not be the father of Gothic Horror like his predecessor Edgar Allan Poe, but this Irish author is known to have mastered the art of writing Gothic Horror in his lifetime. Known mostly for being the personal assistant of Sir Henry Irving, Stoker is probably one of the most underrated, yet famous authors of horror culture; known mostly for his 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula, he was actually a very prolific author throughout his lifetime.

He is tall and heavily built, with a sandy beard and good-natured blue eyes. Speaking of his rather striking name, he said: “I was named Abraham Stoker, but since my very young childhood I have been called Bram–and Bram I have let it remain.”

The Constitution, Atlanta, GA, January 26, 1896

Life Before His Writing Career

Born on November 8, 1847, on the north side of Dublin, Ireland in Clontarf to Abraham and Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley, Bram Stoker was the third child of seven. His father was a civil servant and his mother was a charity worker and writer, who told him horror stories as a child and may have been the first to influence his writing later on in life. During the majority of his childhood, Bram Stoker was bedridden with a still unknown illness until he started school at seven. When he finally started school, he made a complete recovery from his childhood illness and by that time had matured into a thoughtful young boy. In Stoker’s own words he was, “naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years.” Schooling during his youth was at a private school run by Reverend William Woods.

Despite his frailty as a child, after his recovery, he grew up without any other debilitating illness and even excelled in multiple sports later on during his university years. Bram attended Trinity College in Dublin from 1864 to 1870, when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, then later pursued a Master of Arts in 1875; his school portfolio shows he was the auditor of the College Historical Society and the president of the University Philosophical Society, where he wrote a paper titled Sensationalism in Fiction and Society.

The Legacy of Stoker’s Name

When Bram attended college he began working as an Irish civil servant and also picked up freelancing work in journalism and critiquing theatre. Not having predestined himself to become a writer Stoker was, at an early point in his career, highly interested in theatre. During the time in which he worked for the Irish Civil Service, he actually became a critic for the Dublin Evening Mail, which was co-owned by Sheridan Le Fanu who at the time was an author of Gothic tales.

Even though theatre critics were, at the time, not incredibly popular people, Stoker attracted the attention of people with the quality of his reviews. One fateful December day in 1876, after praising the performance of Hamlet by Henry Irving at the Theatre Royal in Dublin, he was invited to dine with Irving at the Shelbourne Hotel. This dinner marked the beginning of a prolific friendship between Stoker and Irving. Not long after becoming friends with Henry Irving, Stoker met and subsequently fell in love with his future wife, an aspiring actress by the name of Florence Balcombe. Florence was a celebrated beauty who had, at one point, been courted by Oscar Wilde. Wilde and Stoker had been classmates during their days at Trinity College; despite being upset with Balcombe’s decision to marry Stoker, the two men eventually resumed polite exchange.

Not many know how Mr. Bram Stoker came to be associated with the fortunes of Sir Henry Irving. It was in this wise, says a contemporary: Sir Henry , when on a visit to Dublin, was invited to a supper party, and during the course of the evening was induced to recite his in his thrilling way “The Dream of Eugene Aram.” One of his auditors, a young man with a brilliant reputation at Trinity College, was so affected by the tragedian’s delivery that he burst into tears. Henry Irving asked the young man to call on him the next morning, and then and there made him an offer, which was accepted to the mutual advantage of both. The young man was Mr. Bram Stoker.

The Leeds Times, Leeds, UK, July 13, 1985

The Lyceum Theatre

During the year 1878, Bram began working in London as Henry Irving’s secretary at the Lyceum Theatre. In December of that same year, Stoker and Balcombe were married and their nuptials were reported the next day on December 5, 1878, by The Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser. Four days later, on December 9, Stoker and his new bride moved to England to join Henry Irving, a man which he greatly idolized. After their move to London, Stoker accepted the offer to become the acting manager for Irving, then ultimately became the business manager of Irving’s Lyceum Theatre in London, a job which he held for twenty-seven years.

A little over a year later on December 31, 1879, Stoker and his wife had a child, Irving Noel Thornley Stoker, then Bram published his first book. Through Stoker’s work with Irving, he began to have access to London’s high society and made some of his most important professional acquaintances, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to whom he was distantly related. During his employment under Irving, who was the most famous actor at the time, he managed the most successful theatre in London and was consequently a quite well known, albeit busy man.

Despite having traveled the world with Irving as his manager, Stoker never once visited Eastern Europe, the place in which his most famous novel was set. Instead, he visited and thoroughly enjoyed the United States and accompanied Irving to the White House twice, where he met William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. As evidence of his appreciation of the United States, Stoker actually set two of his novels in the United State. He happened to have the opportunity to meet Walt Whitman as well, who he held great admiration for as a writer.

The Legend Started with Slains Castle in Cruden Bay

The magic happened when Stoker traveled to Cruden Bay, where the Slains Castle sits, it is rumored that this castle was actual the visual inspiration for Bram Stoker during this phase of his writing career. He began the early chapters of Dracula in Cruden Bay, in 1985 while in residence at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel, where his signatures in the guestbook from 1894 and 1895 are still present. Stoker also penned two other novels that were based on Cruden Bay, The Watter’s of Mou (1985) as well as The Mystery of the Sea (1902).

Portrait of Bram Stoker in 1906
Portrait of Bram Stoker in 1906

History As an Author

The writing career of Stoker will be something that we delve into greater detail in the next installment of our Dead Author Dedication for the month, but it’s worth noting that despite Stoker’s productive career as a writer, he’s really only known for his classic Dracula (1897). Upon the finality of his famous novel, Dracula, he dedicated it to one of his closest friends, by the name of Hall Cain, whom he had met in London. During the period in which he had started to write his novels, he was also a part of the literary staff of The Daily Telegraph in London. Other than his novel publications, after Henry Irving’s death in 1906, he ended up managing productions at the Prince of Wales Theatre.

At the End of His Life

Stoker finally succumbed to multiple strokes and died of exhaustion on April 20, 1912, at Number 26 St. George’s Square–although some biographers believe it also had something to do with tertiary syphilis. His ashes were placed on display at Golders Green Crematorium in Northern London

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The Life and Death of Richard Matheson

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Featured Horror Books
Richard Matheson Artistic Portrait
Photography by Kieran Guckian

Richard Matheson has been aptly described as, “the most famous horror writer that you’ve never heard of,” meaning that you know his body of work, you just never knew the face behind it. So here’s your chance to learn about one of the most prolific writers of the genre, with a career that spanned nearly seven decades.

The Early Years

Born in Allendale, New Jersey on February 20, 1926, Richard Matheson was the child of Norwegian parents and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. As a child he had his heart set on a musical career, but he stumbled upon his love of fantasy that sparked his creativity and imagination—by the time he was eight years old his stories had already appeared in a local newspaper called The Brooklyn Eagle. Transfixed by the earliest examples of Dracula on the big screen, he already had his idea for the vampire story I Am Legend (1954).

Introduction to Adulthood: His Time in World War II

Matheson graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943, during the late years of World War II, he was a hardworking student who planned to continue on his education in the field of engineering. Due to the timing of his graduation, he enlisted in Army Specialized Training at Cornell in order to go into the military as an engineer instead of being enlisted as an infantry soldier—as luck would have it, the program was canceled and he ended up in the infantry anyway. According to biographical sources, Matheson served in the Eight-Seventh Division of the U.S. Infantry—known as The Golden Acorn Division—in France and Germany until nearly the end of the war when he was medically discharged due to trench foot. In 1960 he published The Beardless Warriors which described his experiences through the eyes of a common soldier and was the first known instance where his style was captured—first-person narratives from male characters who were confused in ambiguous situations.

A Formal Education

Following his return from the war, Matheson lived with his mother while he sought advice on how to proceed with his career in life—a guidance counselor suggested the journalism program at the University of Missouri. By 1949, Matheson had earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and also published his first story, “Born of Man and Woman,” in the third issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from which he earned $25. Matheson often sent stories into this publication after reading the first issue and feeling as if it were one-of-a-kind, something that appealed to his eclectic writing style. After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1949, he moved to the west coast where he met his future wife, Ruth Ann Woodson on a beach in Santa Monica. They were married by 1952.

When his first story appeared in the summer of 1950, he was immediately contacted by an agent. In Richard Matheson’s Monsters: Gender in the Stories, Scripts, Novels, and Twilight Zone Episodes it was said that Matheson would regularly submit his stories to newer publications, to maximize his exposure, since he knew the importance of working with them. Later, when Matheson was ready to publish his first story collection, he dedicated it to William Peden at the University of Missouri, a man who had been his professor and someone who Matheson had considered his mentor.

A Literary Career

There are very few authors who, when truly recognized for their work in the horror and fantasy genre of the twentieth century, would be considered greater than Richard Matheson—while he’s known for many of his novels, such as I Am Legend as well as his work in television with sixteen of the original Twilight Zone episodes, and made-for-TV movie The Night Stalker, it’s only usually his work that is recognized and not his name. It’s truly a shame though, as he was a major influence on nearly every major writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy—including the greats like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Joe Hill as well as filmmakers such as Stephen Spielberg and J.J. Abrams.

With the type of legacy that Richard Matheson has left behind, it’s wonderful to know that he was around long enough for people to take notice of his talent–and this particular video was made for aspiring writers who would appreciate any advice from someone they might look up to.

His Final Years

Matheson passed away in June 2013 at the age of eighty-seven. As of this posting, it has been seven full years since Richard Burton Matheson passed away, but this prolific American writer of fantasy, horror, science fiction left behind a legacy of work that helped to shape the horror culture that we have today.

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The Literary Genius of H.P. Lovecraft

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Horror Books

H.P. Lovecraft was an underrated author of his time, not really gaining a following until long after his passing, during which time he gained a cult following. His writing has inspired generations of writers both in the fictional horror and science-fiction subgenres, and he was inspired by the greatest minds that preceded him. The worlds that he imagined have been given of life of their own, although there is an unfortunate lack of movies and other media that have expanded upon his work in order to bring more entertainment to those that follow the horror genre.

“Well—the train sped on, & I experienced silent convulsions of joy in returning step by step to a waking & tri-dimensional life. New Haven—New London—& then quaint Mystic, with its colonial hillside & landlocked cove. Then at last a still subtler magick fill’d the air—nobler roofs & steeples, with the train rushing airily above them on its lofty viaduct—Westerly—in His Majesty’s Province of RHODE-ISLAND & PROVIDENCE-PLANTATIONS! GOD SAVE THE KING!! Intoxication follow’d—Kingston—East Greenwich with its steep Georgian alleys climbing up from the railway—Apponaug & its ancient roofs—Auburn—just outside the city limits—I fumble with bags & wraps in a desperate effort to appear calm—THEN—a delirious marble dome outside the window—a hissing of air brakes—a slackening of speed—surges of ecstasy & dropping of clouds from my eyes & mind—HOME—UNION STATION—PROVIDENCE!!!!“

H.P. Lovecraft (Letter to Frank Belknap Long, 1 May 1926)

Even though Lovecraft was a legendary horror writer, he as actually quite varied on the subjects he tackled. At one point in time, Lovecraft much like his favorite author, Edgar Allan Poe considered himself primarily a poet. By the age of eight, he fell victim to his own mental turmoil, becoming overwhelmed by his own anxieties and intelligence by his early adulthood he had become a recluse. As an American author, he had the unfortunate fate of never having achieved fame for his works during his lifetime, but like many authors who came before him, the resources to spread his talent across the globe didn’t exist as they do today. Perhaps his most prolific writing venture was his habit of writing letters–it is estimated that he wrote over 100,000 letters within his lifetime. Lovecraft died, in effect, unknown to the world at large having only been published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, before he passed away, in financial ruin. His work stood the test of time, now being regarded as one of the most significant authors of his time within the horror genre.

Most of Lovecraft’s work is in the realm of the Public Domain, much of which can be found here–some of his most popular work has actually been made into audio recordings. YouTube has become an abundant resource on these public domain audiobooks, which means that much of what he has written in the way of fiction.

Take a look at what we’ve collected here for you!

The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft

The Dunwich Horror

The Dunwich Horror is a horror short story, written in 1928, published in the April 1929 issue of Weird Tales. It is considered one of the core stories of the Cthulhu Mythos.

The Dunwich Horror tells the tale of the isolated, desolate, and decrepit village (albeit fictional) village of Dunwich, Massachusetts. The story revolves around the strange events that surround the birth and development of Wilbur Whateley–the unsightly son of a deformed, insane albino woman and an unknown father.

Now within the Public Domain, you can download and read this for free!

The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft

The Shunned House

A fictional horror novelette, written between October 16–19, 1924. It was first published in the October 1937 issue of Weird Tales.

InThe Shunned House, Lovecraft presents the narrator as Dr. Elihu Whipple–the story follows Whipple and his uncle as they investigate an old dilapidated house with an alarming reputation for causing any occupants to either die a slow, wasting death–or go completely insane.

“On the northeast corner of Bridge Street and Elizabeth Avenue is a terrible old house—a hellish place where night-black deeds must have been done in the early seventeen-hundreds—with a blackish unpainted surface, unnaturally steep roof, and an outside flight of stairs leading to the second story, suffocatingly embowered in a tangle of ivy so dense that one cannot but imagine it accursed or corpse-fed. It reminded me of the Babbit House in Benefit Street…. Later its image came up again with renewed vividness, finally causing me to write a new horror story with its scene in Providence and with the Babbit House as its basis.“

H.P. Lovecraft in a letter on The Shunned House

Now within the Public Domain, you can download and read this for free!

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The Trials and Tribulations in the Life of Lois Duncan

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Featured Horror Books Women in Horror

We’re starting off July with a bang—and honoring one of Horror’s great women writers! Although she was best known for her work in young-adult novels, she is considered a pioneering figure in the development of the genre, specializing in the sub-genres of horror, thriller, and suspense. Lois Duncan, an author that throughout her life dealt with innumerable travesties and tragic turmoil that most of us only have nightmares about was a figure to be reckoned with. Despite all of the trials that Duncan faced during her lifetime, she somehow made it through as a celebrated author of young adult fiction and horror.

The Early Years of Lois Duncan

Born Lois Duncan Steinmetz on April 28, 1934, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Lois Duncan and Joseph Janney Steinmetz—she grew up with one younger brother, and parents who were professional photographers who worked for magazines taking pictures for the Ringling Brothers and the Barnum & Bailey Circus, as well as publications such as Life, The Saturday Evening Post, Time, as well as Town & Country. Growing up with photographers for parents, found her as the focus of their work on regular occasions, including when she appeared on the cover of Collier’s magazine in 1949.

Duncan knew at an early age that she wanted to be a writer and ended up submitting her first story to a magazine at the age of ten. When she was thirteen, ger first acceptance letter came, she had finally made her first sale to a magazine called Calling All Girls; this early accomplishment for Duncan inspired and motivated the young writer to continue on with her passion. To quote Duncan herself, “[she] could hardly wait to rush home from school each day to fling [herself] at the typewriter.” After spending much of her early years in Pennsylvania, she relocated to Sarasota, Florida later in her childhood where she spent her time amongst circus performers which influenced her picture books that she would write later in her career

A self-described “shy, fat little girl,” as well as a “bookworm and dreamer,” Duncan dreamed of being a writer for a living throughout found herself at home as a child playing in the woods. It makes sense that she, like most writers, would feel some type of insignificance during childhood and end up using it to fuel her passions throughout her life. She would graduate from the Sarasota High School in 1952 then enroll at Duke University that same year before she ended up dropping out in 1953 when she started a family with, Joseph Cardozo, a fellow student at the university.

A Full Career

Magazine Publications

After getting her first magazine publication at the age of thirteen, and dropping out of Duke University during the early, she continued to write and publish articles in magazines—eventually publishing over three hundred such articles in a variety of different magazines. In 1958, she ended up writing an incredibly successful short story in Seventeen magazine, titled Love Song for Joyce under the pen name of Lois Kerry—she nearly didn’t win the contest it was meant for because an underage boy was drinking a beer and it was considered inappropriate. When Seventeen asked her to change it to a Coke, she obliged and took home a thousand dollar prize. This helped her to secure her first young adult writing contract, from which she produced Debutante Hill in 1959.

After divorcing her first husband, Duncan moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1962 with her children and supported herself and her children by writing greeting cards and fictional confessionals for pulp magazines. Four years after relocating she published the novel Ransom, for which she earned herself the Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, which also marked her transition from romance fiction to more suspense-oriented works.

Teaching Work

During the early 1970s, Duncan was hired to teach journalism at the University of New Mexico, which she later confessed was a mistake on the part of the person who hired her—having been a friend—having overlooked the fact that she did not have a degree when she was chosen as a replacement, due to her extensive experience writing for magazines. To remedy the situation, Duncan earned her B.A. degree in English in 1977 while simultaneously teaching journalism.

Suspense and Horror Novels

Duncan had a personal interest in supernatural and speculative fiction, which inspired her to write a variety of suspense and horror novels that were aimed for teenagers, some of which were adapted for the big screen. In 1978, her novel Summer of Fear was adapted to film by Wes Craven, but her most famous example, by far, was the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer, which was adapted from her 1973 novel of the same name. It’s possible that much of the slasher horror craze was derived from Duncan’s novels, wherein she broke major ground by creating novels that didn’t capitalize on sex, drugs, and the bad-boy image of its characters, but more so on the ability of teenagers to be nasty and twist anything to justify their own means.

After the death of her youngest daughter in 1989 Duncan only wrote one more horror novel, titled Gallows Hill in 1997—since her daughter’s death marked a complete shift in her writing. In 1992 she penned a non-fiction account that detailed her daughter’s unsolved murder titled Who Killed My Daughter? but otherwise stuck to less dark material. Due to the own impact it had on her life, Duncan also founded a research center that was designed to help investigated cold cases, it would eventually evolve into a nonprofit Resource Center for Victims of Violent Deaths—this was in an effort to help anyone who had to deal with the trauma that she herself went through.

The Death of Her Daughter

July 16, 1989 marked a terrible day in the life of Lois Duncan—her eighteen-year-old daughter Kaitlyn Arquette was driving her car in Albuquerque, New Mexico was shot twice in the head. She was the victim of a drive-by shooting and she died the next day without ever waking up. The police investigation that ensued concluded that the death of Kaitlyn was the result of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Three men ended up being charged in the case of her death, but the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence. Duncan was never satisfied with the result of her daughter’s case—she ended up investigating on her own and discovered that her daughter’s boyfriend was involved in an insurance scam. She believed that her daughter had somehow uncovered the scam and ended up being the target of someone who had been involved—not necessarily by her daughter’s boyfriend, but by one of his associates—with someone who didn’t want her daughter to blow the whistle on their organized criminal activity.

The police stopped investigating the death of Kaitlyn and the crime was never solved, but in 1992 she finally published Who Killed My Daughter? She confessed that it was the most difficult book that she ever had to write, but being that it was a non-fiction book and about her own daughter’s murder, it’s no mystery as to why it would have been. Kaitlyn’s family continued to pursue the investigation of her death and new information continued to surface long after the case was closed. The case and subsequent book were regularly featured, with the hopes that it would help improve the situation, on shows like Good Morning America, Larry King Live, Unsolved Mysteries, Inside Edition, and Sally Jessy Raphael. Lois and her husband Don Arquette created an maintained the Real Crimes website in order to help other families who were experiencing similar situations. Lois would interview families of homicide victims whose cases were believed to have been improperly handled by law enforcement and Don would back any allegations to actual documentation that was released to the public, such as police reports, autopsy records, as well as crime scene photographs.

At the End…

Duncan passed away on June 15, 2016, as the result of a stroke and left behind a small army of devastated fans and people whose lives she had touched. Lois was survived by her husband Don Arquette, her four remaining children and six grandchildren.

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