Tag Archives: Murder & Attempted Murder

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of murder and attempted murder.

See also Genocide and mass murder, and War themes & military violence.

Flight of Magpies by KJ Charles

Flight of Magpies by K.J. Charles

With the justiciary understaffed, a series of horrifying occult murders to be investigated, and a young student flying off the rails, magical law enforcer Stephen Day is under increasing stress. And the strain is starting to show in his relationship with his aristocratic lover, Lord Crane. Crane chafes at the restrictions of England’s laws, and there’s a worrying development in the blood-and-sex bond he shares with Stephen. A development that makes a sensible man question if they should be together at all. Then a devastating loss brings the people he most loves into bitter conflict. Old enemies, new enemies, and unexpected enemies… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder

Youngblood by Sasha Laurens

Youngblood by Sasha Laurens

Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school that’s secretly vampires-only, she knows her fortune is about to change… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Lesbomisia
  • Blood depiction
  • Nonconsensual blood-drinking
  • Murder
  • Loss of autonomy (glamouring)

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing– a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto. But what… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Panic attack, on-page
  • Self-sacrifice, on-page
  • Suicide of a friend mentioned
  • Suicide by overdose recounted
  • Suicidal ideation, on-page & mentioned
  • Minor self-injury for blood magic
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence & stabbing
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Fire
  • Drowning, on-page (two scenes)
  • Battle scenes

So Happy for You by Celia Laskey

So Happy for You by Celia Laskey

Robin and Ellie have been best friends since childhood. When Robin came out, Ellie was there for her. When Ellie’s father died, Robin had her back. But when Ellie asks Robin to be her maid of honour, she is reluctant. A queer academic, Robin is dubious of the elaborate wedding rituals now sweeping the nation, which go far beyond champagne toasts and a bouquet toss. But loyalty wins out, and Robin accepts. Yet, as the wedding weekend approaches, a series of ominous occurrences lead Robin to second-guess her decision. It seems that everyone in the bridal party is out to get… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Queermisia
  • Abortion mentioned
  • Attempted murder
  • Animal death

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of other contemporary masters of supernatural fiction. In her masterpiece, The Bloody Chamber—which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves—she spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape, martial rape & rape by coercion
  • Paedophilia
  • Bestiality
  • Necrophilia
  • Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping

Valiant Ladies by Melissa Grey

Valiant Ladies by Melissa Grey

By day Eustaquia “Kiki” de Sonza and Ana Lezama de Urinza are proper young seventeeth century ladies. But when night falls, they trade in their silks and lace for swords and muskets, venturing out into the vibrant, bustling, crime-ridden streets of Potosí, in the Spanish Empire’s Viceroyalty of Peru. They pass their time fighting, gambling, and falling desperately in love with one another. Then, on the night Kiki’s engagement to the Viceroy’s son is announced, her older brother―heir to her family’s fortune―is murdered. The girls immediately embark on a whirlwind… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Lesbomisia
  • Misogyny
  • Suicide
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood & injury depiction including body horror
  • Death of parents
  • Murder
  • Explosion
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping

Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy

Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy

To the outside world, they look like American royalty, giving to charities, feeding the homeless, and rebuilding the city. But behind closed doors is a constant battle for dominance between two bosses, cultures, and hearts. Ruthless People is a romantic crime fiction set in modern day Chicago and follows the life and marriage of Melody Giovanni and Liam Callahan – rivals by blood and leaders through fear. Theirs is an arranged marriage with the goal of ending years of bloodshed between the Irish and the Italians. Liam assumes he’s getting a simple-minded wife, one he can… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Arranged marriage
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Neglect & abandonment
  • Nyctophobia
  • Substance addiction
  • Drugging
  • Miscarriage
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Hospitalisation
  • Needles mentioned
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Gun violence
  • Knife violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Plane crash

Falling Embers by Catherine Cowles

Falling Embers by Catherine Cowles

I loved Calder Cruz from the moment he taught me to fly. He might’ve been my brother’s best friend but he was my everything. The only who understood me. My safest place. My person. Until one night changed it all and we became strangers in a single breath. Now, years later, I see him every day at the fire station. I watch him raise adorable twin girls as a single dad. But he has no idea how hard it was to see him move on without me. How much I still burn for him. A twist of fate changes everything. When my life is on the line… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Attempted murder
  • Knife violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Car accident
  • Fire
  • Cyberbullying & doxxing

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke – until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighbourhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Racism mentioned
  • Ableism (r slur), on-page
  • Sexual assault mentioned (groping)
  • Child abuse and neglect recounted including a mention of child sexual assault
  • Spousal abandonment
  • Abusive relationship (scs)
  • Cheating
  • Sex work, on-page
  • Familial estrangement mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption, on-page
  • Alcohol abuse (implied)
  • Recreational drug use, on-page
  • Chronic leg injury
  • Grief and loss depiction
  • Death of a girlfriend from an oxycontin overdose mentioned
  • Death of a husband and a pet dog in a car accident recounted
  • Death of a sister from drowning recounted
  • Murder by drowning
  • Murder by gun violence
  • Murder by poisoning
  • Stalking
  • Animal dead body mentioned (seagull)

A Girl Called Corpse by Reece Carter

A Girl Called Corpse by Reece Carter

With a body made of wax, seaweed for hair and polished abalone shells for eyes, Corpse is bound to haunt the Witches’ sea shack forever. She has no memory of the kid she was before she was snatched and ended up on the rock-that-doesn’t-exist. But the delivery of an unexpected message sets Corpse off on a surprising quest, searching for answers to the old and familiar questions that have filled her not-brain since the day she first woke up a ghost. Questions about her name. Questions about her family. With only her eight-legged friend Simon for company, Corpse heads into the unknown. There will be danger cruelly… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment mentioned,
  • Memory loss
  • Physical injuries including burns
  • Body horror
  • Death of a mother and father mentioned
  • Murder and attempted murder of a child
  • Near-drowning incident
  • Loss of autonomy discussed (possession)
  • Animal death (bird, spider)