Charlotte M. Lesemann

"This sublimely nerve-racking tale takes hold and never lets go." -Kirkus ReviewsWinner of the Foreword INDIES 2024 Silver Award (second place) for Thriller & SuspenseWinner of the IPPY 2025 Silver Award (second place) for Suspense/ ThrillersSomething always has to die for something greater to be born. Deep in the forests and mountains of 1860s Bavaria, fifteen-year-old Clara Willenheim has exhausted every option searching for a way to escape imprisonment in her ancestral estate.
Thus when a capricious and vengeful ghost appears and promises to show her a way out, Clara disregards the cost and plunges headlong into the labyrinth of the castle's secret passages. Surrounded by family secrets, suspicious deaths, and her own repressed memories, Clara unravels her family's dark history and its place at the center of a vast web of crime. In doing so, she opens doors that threaten powerful enemies who can't afford exposure and will stop at nothing to destroy her.
In the end, Clara's forced to choose between her own safety and fighting for justice on behalf of others. A paranormal Gothic thriller, brimming with suspense and plot twists, The Death of Clara Willenheim is layered in rich, period detail. The novel explores the cost of selflessness and the struggle to choose between justice and vengeance. But at its heart, it's a story about how, when one part of ourselves dies, something greater can rise in its place.