Murder & Attempted Murder – Page 239 – Trigger Warning Database

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to Mister, a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister’s letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Racism & racial slurs
Cultural appropriation, specifically Native American culture
Domestic violence
Physical, verbal & emotional abuse, including gaslighting
Rape, statutory rape & rape of a child
Incest (father-daughter)
Pregnancy, result of rape & incest
Forced estrangement
Cheating
Self-harm
Disordered eating (bingeing)
Alcohol consumption
Female genital mutilation mentioned
Emesis
Lynching recounted
Murder
Gun violence mentioned
Death of a mother
Death of an infant

Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace

Breezy remembers leaving the party: the warm, wet grass under her feet, her cheek still stinging from a slap to her face. But when she wakes up, scared and pulling dirt from her mouth, a year has passed and she can’t explain how.

Nor can she explain the man lying at her grave, dead from her touch, or why her heartbeat comes and goes. She doesn’t remember who killed her or why. All she knows is that she’s somehow conscious—and not only that, she’s able to sense who around her is hiding a murderous past.

Haunted by happy memories from her life, Breezy sets out to find answers in the gritty, threatening world to which she now belongs—where killers hide in plain sight, and a sinister cult is hunting for strange creatures like her. What she discovers is at once empowering, redemptive, and dangerous.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Ableism & ableist language
Racism
Victim blaming
Domestic abuse
Attempted suicide
Self-harm
Murder
Kidnapping
Stalking
Cults

Lover Awakened by JR Ward

Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion, and terror is his only passion—until he rescues a beautiful aristocrat from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for one another begins to overtake them both, Zsadist’s thirst for vengeance against Bella’s tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now, Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past, and find a future with her…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Misogyny
Slavery & sex slavery
Rape
Domestic violence recounted
Nonconsensual drugging
Pregnancy
Blood depiction, including blood-drinking
Kidnapping & captivity
Torture
Murder
Gun violence
Whipping
Bullying

Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

Growing up poor in rural Georgia, Bree Cabbat was warned by her single mother that the world was a dark and scary place. Having married into a family with wealth and connections, Bree now has all a woman could ever dream of: a loving lawyer husband, two talented teenage daughters, a new baby boy, a gorgeous home, and every opportunity in the world.

Until the day she awakens and sees an old gray-haired woman peering into her bedroom window who vanishes as quickly as she appears. She spies the old woman again, in the parking lot of her daughters’ private school . . . just minutes before Bree’s infant son, asleep in his car seat only a few feet away, vanishes. There is a note left in his place, warning her that she is being is being watched; if she wants her baby back, she must not call the police or deviate in any way from the instructions that will follow.

To get her baby back, Bree must complete one small—but critical—task. It seems harmless enough, but her action comes with a devastating price, making her complicit in a tangled web of tragedy and shocking secrets that could destroy everything she loves.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Slut shaming
Rape
Incest
Nonconsensual pornography
Substance addiction
Overdose
Poisoning
Infanticide, attempted and threats of infanticide, central theme
Drugging of infants
Drowning of an infant
Bombs
Gun violence
Kidnapping and child abduction
Blackmail

King of Fools by Amanda Foody

King of Fools by Amanda Foody

On the quest to find her missing mother, prim and proper Enne Salta became reluctant allies with Levi Glaisyer, the city’s most famous con man. Saving his life in the Shadow Game forced Enne to assume the identity of Seance, a mysterious underworld figure. Now, with the Chancellor of the Republic dead and bounties on both their heads, she and Levi must play a dangerous game of crime and politics…with the very fate of New Reynes at stake.

Thirsting for his freedom and the chance to build an empire, Levi enters an unlikely partnership with Vianca Augustine’s estranged son. Meanwhile, Enne remains trapped by the mafia donna’s binding oath, playing the roles of both darling lady and cunning street lord, unsure which side of herself reflects the truth.

As Enne and Levi walk a path of unimaginable wealth and opportunity, new relationships and deadly secrets could quickly lead them into ruin. And when unforeseen players enter the game, they must each make an impossible choice: To sacrifice everything they’ve earned in order to survive…

Or die as legends.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Drug abuse
Murder

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody

Sixteen-year-old Sorina has spent most of her life within the smoldering borders of the Gomorrah Festival. Yet even among the many unusual members of the traveling circus-city, Sorina stands apart as the only illusion-worker born in hundreds of years. This rare talent allows her to create illusions that others can see, feel and touch, with personalities all their own. Her creations are her family, and together they make up the cast of the Festival’s Freak Show.

But no matter how lifelike they may seem, her illusions are still just that—illusions, and not truly real. Or so she always believed…until one of them is murdered.

Desperate to protect her family, Sorina must track down the culprit and determine how they killed a person who doesn’t actually exist. Her search for answers leads her to the self-proclaimed gossip-worker Luca, and their investigation sends them through a haze of political turmoil and forbidden romance, and into the most sinister corners of the Festival. But as the killer continues murdering Sorina’s illusions one by one, she must unravel the horrifying truth before all of her loved ones disappear.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Chronic illness
Death of a family member
Murder

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And Other Questions About Dead Bodies by Caitlin Doughty

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And Other Questions About Dead Bodies by Caitlin Doughty

Everyone has questions about death. In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, best-selling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers the most intriguing questions she’s ever received about what happens to our bodies when we die. In a brisk, informative, and morbidly funny style, Doughty explores everything from ancient Egyptian death rituals and the science of skeletons to flesh-eating insects and the proper depth at which to bury your pet if you want Fluffy to become a mummy. Now featuring an interview with a clinical expert on discussing these issues with young people—the source of some of our most revealing questions about death—Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? confronts our common fear of dying with candid, honest, and hilarious facts about what awaits the body we leave behind.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Suicide mentioned
Graphic dead bodies, central theme
Funeral-related preperation of bodies discussed in detail
Medical conditions discussed
Medical procedures discussed
Death, central theme
Murder mentioned
Torture mentioned
Death by drowning mentioned
Animal death
Graphic animal dead bodies
Death of a pet discussed
Animal testing and other animal cruelty mentioned
Grave desecration

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

The battle on Sharr is over. The dark forest has fallen. Altair may be captive, but Zafira, Nasir, and Kifah are bound for Sultan’s Keep, determined to finish the plan he set in motion: restoring the hearts of the Sisters of Old to the minarets of each caliphate, and finally returning magic to all of Arawiya. But they are low on resources and allies alike, and the kingdom teems with fear of the Lion of the Night’s return.

As the zumra plots to overthrow the kingdom’s darkest threat, Nasir fights to command the magic in his blood. He must learn to hone his power into a weapon, to wield not only against the Lion but against his father, trapped under the Lion’s control. Zafira battles a very different darkness festering in her through her bond with the Jawarat—a darkness that hums with voices, pushing her to the brink of her sanity and to the edge of a chaos she dare not unleash. In spite of the darkness enclosing ever faster, Nasir and Zafira find themselves falling into a love they can’t stand to lose…but time is running out to achieve their ends, and if order is to be restored, drastic sacrifices will have to be made.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Grooming
Coerced sexual assault*
Child abuse
Parental abuse
Starvation mentioned
Eye horror
Gore depiction
Murder
Imprisonment
Mind control
War themes
Chemical warfare

*Kissing under the disguise of someone else

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya–but neither wants to be. War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableism & misogyny
Child emotional and verbal abuse & neglect
Blood, gore & injury depiction including dead bodies
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother & father
Death of a child
Death of a friend
Death of a cousin
Murder & attempted murder
Torture
Imprisonment & captivity
Kidnapping & blackmail
War themes discussed
Animal death & hunting

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town. Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under. Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into. Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Ableist language
Misogyny & slut-shaming
Persecution for witchcraft
Dubious consent scenes & sexual assault (non-consensual kiss) (on-page)
Suicide & self-sacrifice (on-page, discussed)
Alcohol consumption
Injury & gore depiction including dead bodies
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a brother
Death of a father & husband
Death of a fiancé
Murder & kidnapping
Drowning (multiple scenes, on-page & recounted)
Fire

Context : The protagonist lies to her love interest about her identity and they have sex (on-page).