Books and other writing

By Kat Richardson


 

Coming soon

Storm Waters novel cover: Above a sea green background the name "Kat Richardson" in Yellow deco-style font" with the title "Storm Waters" in white at the bottom and a quote from Cherie Priest saying "A pitch-perfect killer noir." Curling around three sides of the cover is a navy blue skeleton of some giant reptile lying beneath the water; a skeletal human hand reaches up from the creature, poised to snatch a small white speed boat from the surface as it races up the cover from the O in Storm toward the author's name above. at the very bottom of the cover are the words "A new thriller by the National Bestselling Author of Greywalker."

 

Storm Waters

First in a new series! Coming November 2024 from Fairwood Press. Click the cover image to pre-order.

A modern noir thriller with a paranormal twist set in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Prohibition has just ended, and the US is still struggling in the depths of the Great Depression. But for notorious playboy and ex-bootlegger Marty Storm, life couldn’t be better. Only his best friend knows about his knack for water magic—and for making “problems” disappear—though no one knows his family’s shipping business was built on sorcery and murder. When he’s accused of a gruesome killing, he knows he’s been framed, but corrupt cops and his conscience aren’t his only problem. Vengeful spirits, a little girl with a strange connection to the Los Angeles River, a crate full of trouble, and broken memories force him to unwind the horrifying secrets of his own past and return to the dark heart of his family in the bayous outside New Orleans. With some unlikely allies both new and old, Marty must confront the ugly source of his family’s fortune and power.

Murder, magic, love, death, and family: Marty Storm has come to the tipping point of his life, whether he knows it or not, and to control his destiny, he’ll take a desperate plunge into dark magic he swore he’d never use.

Novels

Blood Orbit

2019 Endeavour Award Winner. Pyr Books, May 2018, as “K.R. Richardson.”

This science fiction police procedural pairs an idealistic rookie with an officer who uses cybernetic implants to process forensics; in solving a mass murder, they will expose a planet’s most shocking secrets that could cost thousands of lives.

 

Indigo: a Mosaic Novel

Edited by Christopher Golden. Co-authors: Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden, Kelley Armstrong, Jonathan Maberry, Kat Richardson, Seanan McGuire, Tim Lebbon, Cherie Priest, James A. Moore, and Mark Morris.

St. Martin’s Press, June 2017—Out of Print

Investigative reporter Nora Hesper spends her nights cloaked in shadows. As Indigo, she’s become an urban myth, a brutal vigilante who can forge darkness into weapons and travel across the city by slipping from one patch of shadow to another. Children are being murdered in New York, and Nora is determined to make it stop,

Revenant

Greywalker #9. Roc, August 2014.

Turmoil, sickness, and destruction are sweeping through Europe—and their effects are being felt all the way across the world in Seattle. Harper Blaine and her lover, Quinton, suspect that Quinton’s father, James Purlis—and his terrifying Ghost Division—is involved.

Possession

Greywalker #8. Roc, August 2013.

Frustrated and frightened, a coma patient’s sister turns to Harper to discover who—or what—is occupying her sister’s body.

Harper discovers other patients struck with the same mystifying afflictions and a disturbing connection.

 

Seawitch

Greywalker #7. Roc, August 2012 .

A quarter century ago, the Seawitch cruised away from her dock and disappeared with everyone on board. Now the boat has mysteriously returned to her old berth in Seattle and the insurance company has hired Harper to find out what happened, but she’s not the only one investigating….

 

Downpour

Greywalker #6. Roc, August 2011.

While conducting an investigation in the Olympic Peninsula, Harper sees a ghostly car accident and finds a victim who insists he was murdered, blaming the nearby picturesque community of Sunset Lakes. Harper soon learns that a terrible power lies beneath the icy waters and some of the neighbors will do anything to control it. 

 

Labyrinth

Greywalker #5. Roc, August 2010.

To find the ghost of her killer—and rescue her father’s ghost—Harper Blaine will have to enter the deepest layers of the Grey. And with her growing powers pulling her deeper into that paranormal world, she’s afraid she may not be able to come back out.

 

Vanished

Greywalker #4. Roc August 2009. 

When Harper digs into her own past, she unearths some unpleasant truths about her father’s early death as well as a mysterious puzzle. Forced by some very demanding vampires to take on an investigation in London, she soon discovers her present troubles in England are entangled with her past back in Seattle—and her ultimate destiny as a Greywalker.

 

Underground

Greywalker #3. Roc, August 2008.

In the cold of winter, Pioneer Square’s homeless are being butchered, and zombies have been seen roaming the streets of the underground city buried beneath modern Seattle. Harper’s friend Quinton fears he may be implicated in the deaths and asks her to investigate. The pair discover that someone has unleashed a monster of ancient legend, and they’ll have to work fast to put a stop to its rampage.

 

Poltergeist

Greywalker #2. Roc, August 2007.

Harper’s been hired by a university research group that is attempting to create an artificial poltergeist. The head researcher suspects someone is faking the phenomena, but Harper’s investigation reveals something else entirely–they’ve succeeded. When one of the group is brutally murdered, Harper needs all the help she can get to determine whether the killer is the ghost itself, or someone all too human. 

 

Greywalker

Greywalker #1. Roc, October 2006.

After Seattle PI Harper Blaine is violently assaulted by a suspect, she begins to see and experience things that simply can’t exist—ghost, living mist, monsters, and strange portals within the fog. But Harper’s not crazy. Her “death” has made her a Greywalker-able to move between our world and the mysterious, cross-over zone where things that go bump in the night are very real.

Anthologies, Collections, Serials, and Others

 

Cthulhu F’Con

Edited by Esther and Peter Jones.

Impulsive Walrus, July 2024.

An insanely fun horror & dark humor short-story anthology featuring encounters between old gods and fans at a scifi-fantasy convention. Includes “Temp to Perm” by Kat Richardson.

 

Nevermore: Tales Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe

Edited by Misty Massey

Falstaff Books, April 2024

Eighteen original stories written by talented contemporary authors who have been inspired by Poe’s macabre, gothic style. Each story captures the essence of Poe’s work while offering a unique twist on his themes of horror, suspense, and the macabre. Includes “Peacock’s Purloined Monsters” by Kat Richardson.

 

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

Edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L P Kelner

Ace, October 2008, currently audio only from Tantor February, 2024

The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone—particularly lycanthropes…. Includes “The Werewolf Before Christmas” by Kat Richardson.

 

Unbreakable: a Joe Ledger Anthology

Edited by Jonathan Maberry and Bryan Schmidt

 JournalStone, November 2023.

Joe Ledger fans rejoice! Ledger returns with more dynamic adventures with his friends in the industry. 16 adventures edited by Jonathan Maberry and Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Includes the short story “Chasing Chimera” by Kat Richardson.

Ghost Image

Grifter’s Song, Chapter 25, Volume 8. Down & Out Books, May 2022.

Career con artist couple Rachel and Sam pose as a medium and her technician in an eerie lodge in the Pacific Northwest, as the pair target wealthy hotel owner Axel Strauss.

 

Through the Grey: A Short Fiction Collection by Kat Richardson

Falstaff Books, January 2022.

Ranging from harrowing to humorous, these ten tales from the imagination of best-selling author Kat Richardson travel into the realms of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and more.

A Bag of Dick's Anthology Front cover

 

A Bag of Dick’s (A 509 Anthology)

Edited by Colin Conway.

Original Ink Press, November 2021.

The allure of a Get Out of Jail Free card attracts the smart, the cunning, and the stupid. An all-out scavenger hunt is underway in Spokane’s criminal underworld. Includes the story “Finger Food” by Kat Richardson.

 

A Beast Without a Name: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Steely Dan

Edited by Brian Thornton

Down & Out Books, October 2019.

Includes “Kid Charlemagne” by Kat Richardson.

 

Blood Business: Crime Stories from This World and Beyond

Edited by Mario Acevedo and Joshua Viola.

Hex Publishers November 2017.

Includes “Card Sharp” by Kat Richardson.

 

The Death of All Things

Edited by Kat Richardson and Laura Anne Gilman

Zombies Need Brains LLC, September 2017

Lie. Cheat. Bargain. Fight. Accept. Bribe. Conquer. Evade. No matter what humanity tries, Death always wins. Or does it? Discover the answer in The Death of All Things, where twenty-two writers take their shot at the Grim Reaper with explorations of the mythical, fantastical, and futuristic bonds between life and death….

 

Upside down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling

Edited by Jaym Gates and Monica Valentinelli.

Apex Book Company, November 2016.

Includes “Drafty as a Chainmail Bikini” by Kat Richardson.

 

Shadowed Souls

Edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes.

Roc November 2016.

A dark and gritty “must-read anthology for UF fans”(RT Book Reviews) proves that nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil… Includes “Peacock in Hell” by Kat Richardson.

 

Fast Women and Neon Lights

Edited by Michael Poole

Short Stack Books, November 2016.

A wild criminal romp inspired by eighties crime movies and television shows, as well as the wacky, over-the-top eighties style and aesthetic. Includes “Valley Girl” by Kat Richardson.

 

Urban Allies

Edited by Joseph Nassise

Harper Collins, July 2016.

Ten collaboarative stories from 20 masters of Urban Fantasy. Includes “Spite House” by Kat Richardson and C E Murphy.

 

Unbound

Edited by Shawn Speakman.

Grim Oak Press, December 2015.

Like Unfettered before it, the contributing writers of Unbound were allowed to submit the tales they wished fans of genre to read—without the constraints of a theme. Includes “Heart’s Desire” by Kat Richardson.

 

 

ChemoTherapy

Limited Edition Chapbook—Out of Print

March 2016

Special, updated edition of “Chemotherapy” produced for Bellingham Comic Con. Layout and design by Vladimir Verano. Harper Blaine takes on a case of murder when the victim starts haunting her office.

 

Clockwork Fairy Tales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables

Edited by Stephen L. Antczak and James C. Bassett.

Ace, June 2013.

Timeless fairy tales combined with elements of steampunk wizardry. Includes “Hollow Hounds” by Kat Richardson.

 

Murder and Mayhem in Muskego: 2012 Muskego Public Library Anthology

Edited by Jon and Ruth Jordan.

Down & Out Books, October 2012.

Collection of crime short stories to benefit the Muskego Public Library. Includes the original version of “Chemotherapy” by Kat Richardson.

 

Damn Near Dead 2: Live NOIr or Die Trying

Edited by Bill Crider.

Busted Flush Press, November 2010

Senior citizens kick ass in this wildly original hard-boiled sequel to Busted Flush Press’ first award-winning “geezer noir” anthology, Damn Near Dead. Includes “Cutlass” by Kat Richardson.

 

Mean Streets

Edited by Anne Sowards.

Roc, January 2009—Out of Print.

Four bestselling fantasy authors present a collection of novellas about dark nights, cruel cities, and paranormal P.I.s. Includes “The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog” by Kat Richardson.