‘Twin Peaks’ Meets Shirley Jackson in Todd Brown’s Southern Gothic Novel ‘When Shadows Burn’

Some houses whisper. The one in When Shadows Burn screams.

The 312-page Southern Gothic psychological thriller will be published on October 14 via Koehler Books.

Described as “Twin Peaks meets Shirley Jackson,” it marks the debut novel of computational sociologist Todd Brown.

In the heart of Raven’s Cross, Virginia, the decaying Scott house looms. Its broken-window eyes watch a town desperate to forget. When Roxy, a teenage girl, vanishes into a sweltering night, long-buried fears erupt, and suspicion turns savage. The townspeople turn on the newcomers, blaming them for what they refuse to face in themselves. As polite smiles crack and old grudges resurface, Raven’s Cross’s genteel mask begins to slip, revealing the rot beneath.

Timothy Michaels came to town chasing a story. A true crime podcaster investigating the haunted legacy of the Scott house, he never expected to be pulled into something so immediate-and so dangerous. Alongside unexpected allies, Tim begins to unearth a legacy of complicity and cruelty-one the town would kill to keep buried. Because, in Raven’s Cross, the shadows don’t just linger. They burn.

Brown explains, “I wrote When Shadows Burn because I kept watching queer people, trans people, neurodivergent people be erased from the stories that claim to represent ‘real’ America. What’s happening in small towns right now isn’t subtle.”

He continues, “We, as a country, have weaponized nostalgia to pretend harm never happened. I realized horror wasn’t just a genre, it’s a reality for too many. This story isn’t about the darkness; it’s about what happens when people stop seeing each other, and how silence can protect the wrong people.”

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