“A mix of magic realism and Southern gothic, this stunning collaboration between King and McDowell…moves at a hypnotic pace, like an Alabama water moccasin slipping through black water.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Calliope “Calley” Dakin is no normal little girl. She hears things that maybe a little girl shouldn’t hear—and knows things a little girl should never know.
 
Just seven when her beloved father is tortured, murdered, and dismembered by two women with no discernable motivation, Calley and her mother find themselves caught up in inexplicable events that exile them to Pensacola Beach. There—in a house that’s a dead ringer for Calley’s late great-grandmother’s house—another woman awaits their presence. A woman who understands what Calley is, but can’t begin to imagine just how strong her bond is with her father—even after death...

Known for his chilling Blackwater series, author Michael McDowell left behind the unfinished manuscript for Candles Burning on his death in 1999. In the spirit of the ghost stories that Michael loved, Tabitha King has taken up where he left off.