Meddling Kids — Edgar Cantero

For fans of "John Dies at the End" and "Welcome to Night Vale" comes an original tour de force of horror, nostalgia, and mayhem that follows the former members of a teenage detective club (and their dog) who reunite as broken adults to solve the one case that still haunts them all...and threatens to unleash hell on earth.

It is 1977. Four teenagers and a dog--Andy (the tomboy), Nate (the horror nerd), Kerri (the genius), Peter (the jock), and Sean (the slobbering, undersized Weimeraner)--have just solved the Monster of Sleepy Lake case. The trail of a wild beast terrorizing the quiet town of Blyton leads the gang to apprehend a familiar culprit: a bitter old man in a mask. It brings closure to the final adventure of the Blyton Summer Detective Club...except the real terror is just beginning.

Now, in 1990, the twentysomething former teen detectives are lost souls. Plagued by night terrors and Peter's tragic death, the three survivors have become pariahs in and out of insane asylums (and prison) and running from the demons in their dreams. When the man they apprehended all those years ago makes parole, Andy realizes they got the wrong guy. Now she'll need to get the gang back together and return to Blyton, where their nightmares began, and find out what really happened in 1977.

This time, it had better not be another man in a mask.

A mad scientist's concoction of H. P. Lovecraft, classic cartoons, and a love of Americana--just for starters--Edgar Cantero's "Meddling Kids" creates a gleefully absurd world filled with outright insanity, rich horror, thrilling twists, and surprising poignancy.