The best books about necromancy and communing with cadavers

The Necromancer is simply utter perfection, as is the whole Johannes Cabal series. I don’t know if it’s fate, but I happened on this book in a used bookstore one day, both the title and the author completely unknown to me, and immediately had to read the rest of his novels and short stories.

The Necromancer’s protagonist, Johannes Cabal, is a perfect antihero—a 19th Century necromancer and misanthrope whose adventures are scathingly funny, dramatic, and macabre all at once. Beyond raising the dead, Cabal also smoothly outwits the devil, and with the help of his deeply charming vampire brother, he opens a carnival of the damned.

If you enjoy morbid tales mixed with razor-sharp dialogue and clever twists, I can't recommend this series highly enough. 

This rollicking set of whip-smart short stories through a supernatural Wild West is guaranteed to engage readers, with tales ranging from uncannily magical cards to steampunk bordellos to undead outlaws.

Delivering chaotic gunslinger fun from start to finish, Dead Man's Hand explores the intersecting worlds of the living and undead in many delightful and unforeseen ways. As a supernatural storyteller myself, I couldn't stop turning the pages to see what new fantastical creature or magical spell the authors would envision next.

It was my faithful companion through many late nights crafting my own novel, inspiring me with its spirited inventiveness of mysterious beings and magical mayhem. 

If you're looking for something truly different, I recommend Gideon the Ninth.

This novel follows two necromancers training to serve their immortal overlord, but dangerous secrets lurk in their dark domain. The setting is one of the most unique I've ever read: a mysterious Gothic palace in deep space, giving readers sci-fi elements blended with classic horror tropes. But Muir's words are what really sing.

Her vivid descriptions will wrap you up in this strange, yet sticky and uncomfortable, world. With a snarky protagonist in Gideon, captivating twists, and monsters of such an unpleasant makeup that you’ll want to shower after reading about them—but in a good way—I promise Gideon the Ninth will keep you hooked.

T. Kingfisher could write stereo instructions and I’d read them. Her prose is straightforward and absolutely refreshing, but she does creepy in ways that will make you keep your lights on at night.

While The Twisted Ones isn’t the typical necromancer story, there’s some raising-the-dead shenanigans in it that will make your skin crawl—and also maybe pull on your heartstrings a little. In this novel, a young woman discovers dark secrets in her recently-deceased grandmother’s rural home that shed new and horrific light on what might have really happened to her dead loved ones.

Focusing more on psychological scares than action, Kingfisher imbues her characters with a surprising amount of empathy amidst the creeping unease. And once you’ve finished The Twisted Ones, like me, you won’t be able to stop yourself from buying her whole marvelous oeuvre.

This book is a little different from most of the horror/supernatural books I read, but so well written that I’ve continued to read the series.

Widdershins is an engaging mix of Lovecraftian Mythos, unlikely heroes, and early 1900s Gothic horror, with a nontraditional romantic twist. In the story, a shy, withdrawn academic teams up with a dashing and heroic Pinkerton agent in Arkham to stop a dark cult from raising an evil sorcerer from the dead. And that’s just book 1!

The whole series is one fun adventure after another. Best suited for fans of super-steamy MM romance.