Claire Ladds
ALLi Author Member
Location: United Kingdom
Genres: Literary Fiction, Short/Flash Fiction Collection, Contemporary Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Historical Fiction
Claire Ladds is a UK-based author of character-driven literary fiction. Her work is a mixture of heartfelt, melancholy and unsettling. She also writes psychological suspense and other dark-edged fiction, all with an emotional pull. She revels in writing about people with all-consuming, sometimes ominous, obsessions, exploring the morally grey areas of the heart, and between innocence and the murky depths of the psyche and the dark thoughts that even seemingly harmless people can harbour in the dark recesses of their minds and hearts. Her books force the characters confront their own realities and never wraps up the world in a neat bow. Claire is the author of a number of novels, including The Secrets That Haunt Us, as well as The Reason for Everything, a short story collection housing a number of her prize- and competition-winning stories. Claire's short fiction has been published in literary and commercial magazines, and in anthologies. Her short stories have won prizes and have been published in anthologies and in literary and mainstream magazines in the UK, US, and Australia. When she’s not writing, you’ll find Claire curled up with a book and cup of tea. Find out more about Claire Ladds at https://claireladds.com
Claire Ladds' books
Genres: Crime, Thriller, Suspense
Formats: E-Book
Age Groups: 18+
IF YOU INVITE A STRANGER INTO YOUR HOME, YOU’D BETTER HAVE NO SECRETS... There’s an argument. A moan. Ella is too scared to wait and see what’s happened. But the next morning, her landlord has vanished, leaving her alone with Miriam, her cruel and abusive landlady. If Ella hadn’t run away years ago, she wouldn’t be stuck here now. Miriam wakes. She’s not in bed; she's on the kitchen floor, cold and confused. Then she finds a knife next to her – and it’s soaked in blood, just like her husband’s bed sheets. When Miriam advertises for a tenant two months later, one comes knocking. While Miriam can’t wait to install new tenant, Maya, into her missing husband’s single bedroom, Ella knows there’s more to this new paying guest than she’s letting on. Because Ella knows exactly who she is. But is Maya an ally – or an enemy? Revenge...
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Thriller, Suspense
Formats: E-Book
Age Groups: 18+
TEMPTATION CAN BE IRRESISTIBLE. BUT IT CAN ALSO BE DEADLY... A twisty, dark psychological thriller. “Let me ask you: if you received a message, and you had no clue who sent it, would you reply? What if you got more and more of them, and not just messages, either, would you reply then? But what if you knew exactly who it was – and you and he had unfinished business – what then? Would you be tempted? I was.” Eva Sewell is struggling to manage her life: a troubled, on-off relationship with her ex-husband, an intolerable work situation, and a tempestuous relationship with her sister. And all of it is made worse by the knowledge that her beloved dad is dying. When she gets a message from an unknown number, she’s almost tempted to answer it, just for someone to vent to. But she’s not stupid. She doesn’t reply to...
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Thriller, Suspense
Formats: E-Book, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 18+
COULD YOUR SECRETS BE THE DEATH OF YOU? A twisty psychological thriller. To the neighbours, Lucy and Andy are an ordinary couple with good jobs and a quiet life. But they’re hiding a dark secret. And it’s tearing them apart. Seven years ago, you took my life away. And I want it back. Life as Andy’s wife isn’t what Lucy thought it would be. Andy has become obsessive. It’s as if she’s a prisoner. Their secret has turned Andy into a manipulative control freak, and Lucy stays in hiding, inside the house. Her business will fall apart if she doesn’t do something, and she’s mortified by Andy’s serial philandering since their secret took hold of them in its vice-like grip. So, when a leaflet arrives for a hotel designed for struggling creatives, Lucy is desperate to persuade Andy that going there, for a break and to give her a chance...
Genres: Crime, Thriller, Suspense
Formats: E-Book
Age Groups: 18+
DARK MINDS ARE AT WORK. SOMETIMES IT TAKES A DARKER ONE TO STOP THEM... This digital boxset brings together three standalone suspense novels of murder, mystery, secrets and dark lies from the Darker Minds Crime and Suspense series. If you love psychological suspense and tension-filled suspense thrillers all tinged with the gothic then this is for you. Show Me Dead THE DEEPER YOU GO, THE DARKER YOU GET. THE STAGE IS SET… Ripped away from her circus family and kidnapped, Angel finds herself the unwilling ‘guest’ in a dilapidated theatre, belonging to a man who calls himself the Puppet Master. She’s not the only captive, either. All of the broken and terrified people below ground are forced to perform for a very darkly discerning audience. When performers begin to go missing, no one knows why, or who will be next. Fear is growing and Angel intends to ensure one thing...
Genres: Crime, Thriller, Suspense
Formats: E-Book, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 18+
A family with dark secrets. Will someone kill to keep them? Neve Eldritch is pregnant, happy, and has one wish - to get her husband, Harry, to reconnect with his family. Neve has never met them - and with good reason. Now there’s a chance to move into the family home and heal a long-standing rift. Going home can’t be that bad. Can it? But something feels wrong from the moment they arrive. When you’ve avoided the problem for so long, it’s bound to rear its ugly head. All Harry ever wanted was to be worthy in his dad’s eyes. There’s a secret to success, one his dad has taunted him with as a boy, but now he’s gone to drastic lengths to stop Harry getting hold of it. Desperate to prove himself, Harry takes matters into his own hands - with deadly results. But Harry isn’t prepared for what...
Genres: Crime, Thriller, Suspense
Formats: E-Book, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 18+
Three people. One killer. And a picture that someone will die for. When Vicky meets Anthony, she sees him as a happy distraction from her claustrophobic relationship with her housemate and self-appointed guardian, Fran. Anthony already knows Vicky because he has been following her every move. She is perfect for what he needs - a model for the ultimate photo of his life's work - and he will do anything it takes to get that shot. But Fran is not so easy to get rid of. Haunted by the disappearance of her sister, and blaming herself, she is desperate not to make the same mistakes again with Vicky. And when push really comes to shove, she has other ideas about that killer image. Beneath obsession lurks something more deadly… This book is part of the Darker Minds crime and suspense thriller series: Dark minds are at work. Sometimes it takes...
Genres: Crime, Thriller, Suspense
Formats: E-Book, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 18+
THE DEEPER YOU GO, THE DARKER YOU GET. THE STAGE IS SET… Ripped away from her circus family and kidnapped, Angel finds herself the unwilling ‘guest’ in a dilapidated theatre, belonging to a man who calls himself the Puppet Master. She’s not the only captive, either. All of the broken and terrified people below ground are forced to perform for a very darkly discerning audience. When performers begin to go missing, no one knows why, or who will be next. Fear is growing and Angel intends to ensure one thing - that it won’t be her. What is happening here? Just who is the Puppet Master, and what does he want with her? Angel may well wish that she'd never found out. But is he really the one pulling the strings? To save them all and get to the truth, Angel has to perform the darkest show of all. But...
Genres: Commercial Fiction, Historical Fiction, Womens Fiction
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+
SOME SECRETS CAN'T BE FORGOTTEN. CAN THEY BE FORGIVEN? Saturday, 6th March, 1971. As women from all social backgrounds descend on London’s Hyde Park, preparing to protest together for equal pay, abortion rights, education and childcare, heavily pregnant Julia boards a train from the north heading to the capital, and to the love of her life. At the same time, her mother, Emmeline, named after the famous suffragette, Mrs Pankhurst, is alone in London to face her own memories, regrets – and the man who has threatened to destroy her daughter. While Julia’s husband, David, is left alone at home to unearth a Pandora’s Box of secrets long buried, another man waits patiently to play his destructive endgame. All he needs now is for the woman who broke his heart to come to him. A family fractured by unspoken secrets and heartbreaking memories which are coming back to haunt them....
Genres: Commercial Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Short/Flash Fiction Collection
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Age Groups: 18+
A short story collection full of the emotion, darkness and the unnerving parts of human existence we often prefer to keep hidden - even from ourselves. Everyone has something that drives them. Terrifies them. Pushes them to extremes. Everyone has something that eats into their existence. Women whose domestic struggles hide much deeper concerns and dangers. An undertaker who goes to great lengths to preserve life as she wants it. A young woman in red who discovers a wolf with a terrible tale to tell. An affair revealed amid night-time tension and the wielding of a cheese knife. Men and women who have to battle the most dreadful parts of existence in silence. Love, hate, fear, guilt and regret all rear their heads amid the backdrop of apparently ordinary lives, in this emotive and often dark and unnerving collection which houses a number of prize-winning tales, together with never before...