As we are about to enter spooky season, I thought I would put up a quick post about using one of this season's most anticipated horror titles, What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman. The idea is to show how you can assemble these book displays in a variety of ways. Books can become book friends by pairing them together using different approaches. There isn't one answer.
This book is about parental grief, hometowns, and being haunted by the past. It's also a southern gothic folk horror book with a healthy dose of body horror. The sense of dread and overall creepiness builds as book progresses. Fans of domestic suspense who are open to some horror will love this book.
The plot? From the publisher's (Quirk Books) website:
After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.
It’s at the market that she reconnects with her high school boyfriend Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying monster waiting at the center of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.
The easiest display would be to grab what titles from Chapman's backlist you have and add other horror published in August - October and create a "New Horror for Spooky Season" display or list. But let's look at some other options. You can always include some suspense and thrillers in with horror if you need to fill it in.
The book takes place in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay region. A display tying together other authors from the region would be fun. Travel, regional travelogues, and history books could also be used. You could expand to coastal or beachy towns in general. Find suspense and horror with that setting.
If you peruse the author's social media accounts, you will quickly learn that crabs are part of the story. Creepy marine animals are another way to pair this book with other titles. It could be expanded to include animal horror in general. Displays should draw attention to your backlist titles; don't worry about being too precise.
On Goodreads, readers have labeled this book as gothic and Southern Gothic. Other Southern Gothic horror novels, would make for a great display. There are a number of authors from the American South creating great horror and suspense.
The idea of parental grief is also present in the book. Look through your collection and find fiction and non-fiction titles on parenting, issues with parenting, childhood issues and so forth. You can use the title of the book as inspiration while you search your catalog.
Don't forget to put up information about your hold/reserve service as well as any eBook collections where you have the title. Use the display to market your services, never assuming that the patrons know about all of them!.
