Jayne Ann Krentz:

I lean gothic. I love to read the genre and I pull on it when I write. Yes, my books are labeled romantic suspense — my new release, The Shop on Hidden Lane, is an example — but if you look under the hood, you’ll see what I mean about the gothic roots.

My definition of gothic requires three core ingredients: A woman trapped in a claustrophobic environment (the big house on the cliff), surrounded by people she can’t trust (the mysterious, brooding male and/or the hostile housekeeper), and, crucially, the question of sanity. Is she being haunted by the vengeful ghost of the first wife? Those elements can be further distilled into one key theme: the risk of trust. It’s at the heart of the gothic novel.

The gothic has always been with us and, as happens with genres, is constantly being reinvented. Modern writers often seek a real-world source of horror to infuse the issue of madness into the story. I know I do. Inspiration abounds in natural-history books such as Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures. Yes! It is possible for organisms to communicate with what sure looks like paranormal energy!

Set against the backdrop of 1950s Mexico, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia delivers a lush, atmospheric version of the nature-as-the-source-of-the-horror story. Megan Chance relies on marine biology to add the shivers to her new release, The Vermilion Sea. The era is the1920s, and the story involves a female scientist who lands a position on an opulent yacht that sets sail on a specimen-collecting voyage. Things get weird when a mysterious sea creature is brought on board.

And then there’s the contemporary gothic. These are novels that employ the classic elements in a modern setting. The familiarity of the fictional landscapes enhances the chill factor. Everything looks so normal. T. Kingfisher’s A House with Good Bones unfolds in a suburban subdivision. And in The House Across the Lake, author Riley Sager sets up a “Rear Window” vibe that makes the protagonist question what she saw.

The classic gothic has also evolved. J.T. Ellison’s Her Dark Lies is a reimagining of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. And no one does ghosts better than Simone St. James. I can’t wait for her new one, A Box Full of Darkness.

[Photo by Marc von Borstel.]

Jayne Ann Krentz is the author of more than 50 New York Times bestsellers. She has written contemporary romantic suspense novels under that name and futuristic and historical romance novels under the pseudonyms Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick, respectively. Her new novel is The Shop on Hidden Lane.