Bless Your Heart - (Bless Your Heart Novel) by Lindy Ryan

About the Book

"A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and Southern charm with a bite ... Rise and shine. The Evans women have some undead to kill. It's 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with ... normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. That's how Ducey Evans has done it for the last eighty years, and her progeny--Lenore the experimenter and Grace, Lenore's soft-hearted daughter, have run Evans Funeral Parlor for the last fifteen years without drama. Ever since That Godawful Mess that left two bodies in the ground and Grace raising her infant daughter Luna, alone. But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy's body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it's clear that the Strigoi--the original vampire--are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town. As more folks in town turn up dead and Deputy Roger Taylor begins asking way too many questions, Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and now Luna, must take up their blades and figure out who is behind the Strigoi's return. As the saying goes, what rises up, must go back down. But as unspoken secrets and revelations spill from the past into the present, the Evans family must face that sometimes, the dead aren't the only things you want to keep buried"--

Book Synopsis

A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and Southern charm with a bite, Bless Your Heart is a gasp-worthy delight from start to finish from debut author Lindy Ryan.

Rise and shine. The Evans women have some undead to kill.

It's 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with...normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. That's how Ducey Evans has done it for the last eighty years, and her progeny--Lenore the experimenter and Grace, Lenore's soft-hearted daughter, have run Evans Funeral Parlor for the last fifteen years without drama. Ever since That Godawful Mess that left two bodies in the ground and Grace raising her infant daughter Luna, alone.

But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy's body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it's clear that the Strigoi--the original vampire--are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town.

As more folks in town turn up dead and Deputy Roger Taylor begins asking way too many questions, Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and now Luna, must take up their blades and figure out who is behind the Strigoi's return. As the saying goes, what rises up, must go back down. But as unspoken secrets and revelations spill from the past into the present, the Evans family must face that sometimes, the dead aren't the only things you want to keep buried.

"A gloriously gruesome, compulsively readable debut that is as grizzly as it is clever and heartfelt." - Rachel Harrison

Review Quotes

A Best Horror Novel of 2024 By Esquire and Betches!

"Ryan melds mystery, horror, and family drama in her sharp solo debut... This has bite." - Publishers Weekly

"Incorporating just the right amount of Southern sass, this gruesomely descriptive yet heartrendingly poignant tale will leave horror fans hungry for the next installment." - Booklist (starred review)

"Such a brilliant blend of banter and dread. Authored with the confidence of a storyteller who knows every inch, cadence, and beat of their tale. Instantly cinematic. And if you're anything like me, you're going to wish you were part of the Evans family, working at the Evans Funeral Home, just so you can spend more time with these people. Lindy Ryan is on fire with this book." -Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Daphne

"The Evans women have arrived and these southern belle slayers are carving out a spot in our undead hearts. Lindy Ryan has harnessed the charm and horror of a Romero-helmed Steel Magnolias, equal parts Carson McCullers and Bram Stoker. Bless her heart." --Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters

"Lindy Ryan is among the most electrifying voices in the horror genre today. Her writing is devastating, beautiful, and horrifying in all the best ways. With her new novel, she's created a group of characters you won't ever forget set in a world that's sure to get under your skin. Bless Your Heart is everything you could want in a horror novel and more. Highly recommended." -Gwendolyn Kiste, Three-time Bram Stoker Awards(R)-winning author of The Rust Maidens and Reluctant Immortals

"A flesh-ripping, heartfelt good time. Lindy Ryan has crafted a matriarchal line in keeping with Practical Magic but with the added gory fun of Dead Until Dark. I was utterly charmed and can only hope I haven't seen the end of the Evans women." --Kristi DeMeester, author of Such a Pretty Smile

"If you don't think a horror novel can somehow feel like Steel Magnolias meets Buffy with a dab of Straub's Ghost Story, well . . . Bless Your Heart. Lindy Ryan's debut novel is a bloodsoaked blast, packed with delightful characters and shockingly gruesome mayhem. And its ending seems to imply further adventures involving the Evans women, something I would welcome like a glass of sweet tea on a hot summer day."
- Nat Cassidy, author of Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings

"A gloriously gruesome, compulsively readable debut that is as grizzly as it is clever and heartfelt, offering an inventive, poignant, and thoroughly entertaining exploration of legacy. Absolutely brilliant." - Rachel Harrison, national bestselling author of Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth

"Lindy Ryan's debut, Bless Your Heart, is a delight! Small-town, multi-generational horror about a family of monster-hunting women who make sure the dead can rest, it's a creepy romp that begs for sequels. Check it out!" --Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and All Hallows

"Gory, spine-chilling, and deeply Southern, Bless Your Heart is a women-led fight against the rising dead. An absolute must-read for anyone who likes their horror with bite." -Darcy Coates, USA Today best-selling author of THE HAUNTING OF ASHBURN HOUSE and GALLOWS HILL

"Sparkling with magic and Southern charm, Bless Your Heart is a witty and compulsively readable story about family, duty, and the power to protect the ones we love the most. I was delightfully charmed by the women of the Evans family!" --Maureen Kilmer, author of Suburban Hell and Hex Education

"Ryan's compelling horror/mystery hybrid is bursting with serious scares, humor, and Southern charm. Fans of Grady Hendrix and Rachel Harrison will appreciate." - Library Journal

"A tale of sacrifices, danger, and above all, love, Bless Your Heart...effortlessly stole my heart. If there's any complaint to be had, it is that I have not spent nearly enough time with the Evans women." - FanFiAddict

"Let Ryan pour some sunshine into your TBR...charming, as this novel has plenty of local color and turns of phrase. However, what elevates Bless Your Heart beyond pastiche is Ryan's willingness to revel in full-on gore and to follow through on some genuine, last-minute emotional stakes." - Esquire, Best Horror of 2024

"A bloody, blistering, bracing and bold foray." - Booktrib

About the Author

Lindy Ryan is a Bram Stoker Awards(R)-nominated and award-winning editor, author, director, and professor. Ryan served from 2020 to 2022 on the Board of Directors for the Independent Book Publishers Association and was named one of Publishers Weekly's 2020 Star Watch Honorees. Currently, she is the co-chair of the Horror Writers Association Publishers Council. Ryan is a regular contributor at Rue Morgue, the world's leading horror culture and entertainment brand, Booktrib, and LitReactor. Her articles and features have appeared on NPR, BBC Culture, Irish Times, Daily Mail, and more. She is an active member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA), the International Thriller Writers (ITW), and the Brothers Grimm Society of North America. In 2022, she was named one of horror's most masterful anthology curators and has been declared a "champion for women's voices in horror" by Shelf Awareness (2023).