Summer 1988, Maryland. The mutilated bodies of several missing girls have been found. Evidence suggests to police they’re dealing with a serial killer, but soon rumors spread that the stalker might not be entirely human. The local authorities, as well as some in the FBI, fully believe they are dealing with a living madman, someone clever and sneaky who’s playing games with them.
Just as a curfew is put in place, Richard Chizmar comes back to his hometown after graduating college. As he’s about to get married and begin his writing career, Richard finds himself in a real-life horror story. Drawing inspiration from those terrifying events, Richard puts his personal account of the serial killer’s reign over his town on paper, completely unprepared for how those events will continue to haunt him for the rest of his life.
Why we’re excited about this book:
Richard Chizmar is one of the most respected names in the world of horror fiction. Owner of Cemetery Dance Publications, his press has produced books from some of the best writers in horror past and present, including Ray Bradbury, Rick Hautala, Jack Ketchum, Richard Matheson, Peter Straub, and Stephen King, and Cemetery Dance magazine is one of the premier periodicals of award winning short horror fiction. Richard is the author of The Girl on the Porch, A Long December, The Long Way Home, Widow’s Point (with Billy Chizmar), and the popular Gwendy’s Button Box books (the first one co-written with Stephen King). With his latest, Chizmar himself is the main character, presenting us with a horrifying true-crime story you won’t want to read in the dark. Clay McLeod Chapman (The Remaking, Whisper Down the Lane) says: “Chizmar’s Chasing the Boogeyman has been written upon missing person flyers and published on telephone poles. HAVE YOU READ THIS STORY? For your own safety, you should … The Boogeyman will soon enter the pantheon of suburban legends that fill our backyards like summer fireflies, his name whispered into ears all over. Pray you keep yours.” and Josh Malerman (Birdbox, Goblin) says: “Hammer in hand, Richard Chizmar’s come to shatter the idea that everything’s already been done. An absolutely chilling mash-up of styles, media, biography, and legend. Elastic, unsettling, brilliant. And here you thought you knew the names of every genre.”
Releasing 17 August 2021 from Gallery Books, Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA