Cupboard of Skeletons

Can Miranda trust her hypnotist ? Can a family avoid being split by the paranoia of one ? Can an unexpected romance survive ? There is a sense of 'presence' of ghosts, but the 'Cupboard of Skeletons' houses people with dark secrets which haunt and test their lives, those who challenge fate and, against all odds, can find something of their dreams.

The stories reflect a whole spectrum of emotions ; from tenderness to private anguish, from outward normality to the inwardly dysfunctional and the endangered relationship. But always - at the core - the themes reach out to those left lonely within a crowd; they alone who know that, for the moment, their brave face is a veil.

Raymond Nickford has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from University College of North Wales. Troubled souls, the lonely, his inspiration.

Some of the themes :

Psychological suspense, dysfunctional relationships, love, tenderness, atmospheric, ghosts, literary fiction.

Other titles :

Twists in the Tale

Schizophrenic Sam Baldock 'hears' Beethoven calling him. For therapy, his doctor and daughter Joanne accompany Sam to the Beethoven Museum in Vienna where the composer once scored piano sonata Les Adieux, The Farewell. Will Joanne at last get closer - to her Dad ?

Winner of the Harper Collins Gold Star award May 2010 :

"A Child from the Wishing Well"

Gerard's only wish is to escape the dark of chronic paranoia to be closer for his lonely daughter. He accompanies Rosie to violin lessons with friendly but eccentric tutor Miss Stein. Could the old spinster's often foul-smelling "wishing" well really be a place for his wish ?

Sunday Times best selling author, Barbara Erskine, comments

'Atmospheric, intriguing, beautifully observed characters'

Editorial reviews :

"All the characters are built up so stealthily we fail to notice that odd behaviour could develop into obsession and dark foreboding secrets."

Daniel Manning - author of No Compatibility

" Atmospheric, vibrant, spooky page-turner. "

Reay Tannahill - historian, novelist and author of The Seventh Son.

" The sense of atmosphere and place developed is exquisitely detailed. "

Jack Hughes - author of Dawn of Shadows
"The meticulous, obsessive nature of paranoia is beautifully depicted."

Jann King - author of Making Connections

Family Tree: Stories of Love Beyond the Grave

The stuttering and already deeply anxious teenager, Eddy, is grieving for his mother, her decomposing body found entangled in fungus-laden roots of the ancient yew on the cemetery side of the Glossop family's garden fence. At nights, could Eddy really "hear" the tree "speaking" to him of his mother, beckoning him to sneak out, down the garden, then climb over the family fence, to the cemetery side? Or was the verdict as his father had told him, simply death by misadventure, as the autopsy stated?

Mister Kreasey's Demon

Broken by his street-hardened London students, reduced to chronic paranoia, can Amy's teacher stop himself losing she, alone, he might have trusted, might have loved ?