Winter can make us more reflective and susceptible to hauntings, old memories, places, and long-forgotten deeds of the past. In this episode, Math looks at the haunted side of winter with ghosts both real and imagined as explored through three engrossing books.

He begins with Miranda Corcoran’s Haunted States (Repeater Books, 2024), which, with its blend of travelogue, history, and cultural criticism, takes us on a journey across America to explore the American Gothic and how its stories and monsters help shape the American landscapes and cultural consciousness.

We then delve into the realms of the ghost story anthology and look at two fairly recently published collections: Ghosts of Christmas Past (John Murray, 2017), where tales both humorous and dark give us time for fearful, quiet reflection during those long winter nights.

And closing with The Haunting Season (Sphere, 2021), a modern collection of atmospheric, Victorian-inspired gothic tales that explore our darkest traits and fears amid supernatural landscapes and haunted buildings where confinement marries with isolation.

In this Halloween-themed episode, Math delves into two haunting tales, Ray Bradbury’s The October Game and Edith Wharton’s All Souls, and explores Halloween’s long-standing tradition of spine-tingling stories that probe our deepest fears.

Part 3 of a special three-part series exploring the core of UK crime fiction in the turbulent, transformative 1970s. The 70s in the UK were a time of economic struggles, political unrest, and cultural shifts. The crime fiction from this decade, and the ones that followed, not only entertain but also serve as a mirror and a critique of these transformations, making it a significant and thought-provoking genre.

In Part 3, Math shifts his focus to contemporary crime fiction set in the 1970s. In this final episode of this special three-part series, he explores how one modern author has revisited and reimagined the decade, weaving historical accuracy with modern sensibilities and also takes an in-depth look at his own 1970s-based crime novel, Welcome to Holyhell.