Last Updated on January 30, 2025 by Angel Melanson
In early 2018, six-time New York Times bestselling author Richard Chizmar, “one of horror’s indispensable writers” (Paste), and his son W.H. Chizmar (Them) published Widow’s Point, a novella about a haunted lighthouse located on the coast of Nova Scotia. It was an unexpected hit, selling out a small trade and limited edition hardcover run, earning high praise from the likes of Peter Straub, Joe R. Lansdale, and many others, and seeing overseas publication in Italy, Germany, Russia, Bulgaria, and Brazil. It even led to a low-budget film adaptation in 2019, starring Craig Sheffer and directed by Gregory Lamberson.
“We always knew there was more to the story of the Widow’s Point lighthouse,” W.H. Chizmar said. “We talked about it all the time but were too busy with other projects to revisit the idea. It took another seven years before we found the time to return to Harper’s Cove.”
Richard adds, “The original novella clocked in at around 20,000 words. A heavily revised version now serves as the opening section of the novel. Widow’s Point: The Final Haunting came in at close to 100,000 words, so yeah I think it’s fair to say we had a lot more story to tell…”
And readers will get to partake in a lot more story when the Chizmars unleash their new novel later this year. Widow’s Point presents a riveting found footage narrative about doomed thrill-seekers trapped in a haunted lighthouse. Longtime residents of Harper’s Cove believe that something is wrong with the Widow’s Point Lighthouse. Some say it’s cursed. Others claim it’s haunted.
Originally built in 1838, three workers were killed during the lighthouse’s construction, including one who mysteriously plunged to his death from the catwalk. That tragic accident was never explained, and it was just the beginning of the terror. In the decades that followed, nearly two dozen additional deaths occurred in or around the lighthouse including cold-blooded murder, suicide, unexplained accidents and disappearances, the slaughter of an entire family, and the inexplicable death of a Hollywood starlet who was filming a movie on the grounds.
The lighthouse was finally shuttered tight in 1988, and a security fence was erected around the property. No one has been inside since. Until now.
Told across two harrowing incidents from 2017 and 2025, those who enter the Widow’s Point Lighthouse searching for supernatural proof and the next big thing find themselves cut off from the outside world. And although no one has recently stepped foot inside the structure, they are not alone.
Father and son writing team Richard and W.H. Chizmar once again combine forces to tell a terrifying ghost story that will make you think twice about what’s waiting for you in the dark.
Of their partnership, Richard shares: “We’ve written quite a few short stories together, also a novella and some film scripts, butWidow’s Point: The Final Haunting is the first full-length novel. It was a blast from start to finish. Total trust and freedom. I think it’s fair to say we learned a lot from each other.”
“As always, my Dad and I had a ball working together,” W.H. adds. “Getting to watch someone who has been part of the industry for so long in firsthand action was pretty awesome. I tried to sponge as much as I could from the process. Beyond that, he’s just a reassuring writing partner. He makes getting out of a tricky plot corner look easy, and has great intuition for what we can ‘get away with’ as storytellers.”
Richard provides a bit of insight into what growing up in the Chizmar household was like for his co-author.: “Because of Cemetery Dance, Billy grew up surrounded by horror books and movies. The hallway where his childhood bedroom was located was lined with bookshelves. He was fascinated with—and also terrified of—the creepy artwork that appeared on the covers. He showed an interest at a very young age, writing his own comics and stories. He was only 15 or 16 when he published his first short story in an anthology.”
The father-son duo collaborated primarily via email for their original Widow’s Point novella. This time around was quite different, “We had a lot more in-person collaboration this time around, as opposed to just sending emails back and forth,” W.H. shared. “Dad, my dog, and I ate breakfast at this cute little outdoor cafe on Main Street once a week that summer, where we only stopped rambling about the lighthouse long enough to chew our food. Our shared copy of the original Widow’s Point novella has been marked up like one of my old college Shakespeare texts. There are notes in the margins, words crossed out, and macabre doodles everywhere. We sketched out town maps on napkins and wrote century-long timelines on flyleaves. It was a lot more fun than just trading emails!”
Widow’s Point provides a new landscape for Richard to explore, “Most of my work falls into the psychological realm, so being able to play in the supernatural sandbox was particularly fun and freeing. There weren’t a lot of ‘rules’ we felt compelled to follow. And I’ll say this: I’ve scared myself before while writing particular scenes in books or stories, but nothing like Widow’s Point: The Final Haunting. There were nights where I went to sleep thirsty because I was too freaked out to walk downstairs and get a glass of water.”
Widow’s Point: The Final Haunting will be available in bookstores everywhere on September 30, but you can pre-order your copy now.
