The Arkham Horror books are an Expanded Universe based on H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and taking place in the 1920s.
They are adaptations set in the Arkham Horror board game where things are Lighter and Softer Lovecraft Lite Two-Fisted Tales stories but still very much a horror setting. Basically, human beings can fight back against the Mythos but victory is by no means guaranteed. They are published by Fantasy Flight Games.
The premise of the series is roughly akin to Call of Cthulhu with the various protagonists of the books being a collection of Occult Detective supernatural investigators who are pulled into the mysterious world of the Mythos, often against their will.
Much of the action takes place around Arkham, Massachusetts which is a Weirdness Magnet and home to powerful as well as dangerous Cult behavior as well as no end of mundane crime at the height of Prohibition.
Five of the books (Wrath of N'Kai, The Last Ritual, Shadows of P'Nath, Cult of the Spider Queen, Lair of the Spider Queen) have been adapted by Graphic Audio into full blown audio productions with casts in the dozens.
- The Dark Waters Trilogy by Graham McNeill
- Ghouls of the Miskatonic
- Bones of the Yopasi
- Dweller in the Deep
- The Lord of Nightmares Trilogy
- Dance of the Damned by Alan Bligh
- The Lies of Solace by John French
- The Hungering God by Alan Bligh and John French
- The Countess Zorzi series by Josh Reynolds
- Wrath of N'Kai
- Shadows of Pnath
- Song of Carcosa
- Feeders From Within by Peter J. Evans
- The Sign of Glaaki by Steven Savile and Steven Lockley
- The Last Ritual by SA Sidor
- Mask of Silver by Rosemary Jones
- Litany of Dreams by Ari Marmell
- The Devourer Below (anthology)
- Cult of the Spider Queen by SA Sidor
- The Deadly Grimoire by Rosemary Jones
- Lair of the Crystal Fang by SA Sidor
This series contains the following tropes:
- Antihero: Countless Alessandra Zorzi is Only in It for the Money as of The Wrath of N'kai and does not even believe in the supernatural.
- Apocalypse Cult: Several of the cults are determined to bring about The End of the World as We Know It using occult knowledge.
- Big Bad:
- The Wrath of N'Kai Matthew Orne and Zamacona are the villains competing for the Mask of N'Kai.
- The Last Ritual Balthazar is the leader of a cult of artists trying to summon the end of the world with Yog-Sothoth.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- The Wrath of N'Kai The Countess manages to survive, Orne's cannibal cult is destroyed, and Zamacona is destroyed. Yet, the shoggoth falls into the hands of Carl Sanford and his cult.
- The Last Ritual Alden handcuffs himself to Nina and traps them both in an eternal moment of time together, forever.
- City of Adventure: Arkham, Massachusetts has everything from bootleggers to evil cults to Adventurer Archaeologist heroes.
- Classy Cat-Burglar: Countless Zorzi is a legitimate countess, of sorts, but sustains her business through the practice of stealing occult artifacts to sell.
- Cult: Arkham is a magnet to this sort of extreme religious group and there's seemingly no end to them even with the Twilight Lodge in place.
- Eldritch Abomination: A common feature in the books as humans insist on trying to summon them, weaponize them, or otherwise control them. Usually, it works out poorly.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Most of the people after the mummy in Wrath of N'kai believe it is a powerful sorcerer's body. The actual danger is the shoggoth that is trapped within it.
- Hero of Another Story: Despite the game having many heroic protagonists, the books usually star new characters.
- Historical Domain Character: Harry Houdini puts on a show in The Last Ritual that may have resulted in his death by a curse.
- The Illuminati: The Twilight Lodge controls almost all of Arkham and is growing in power both mudnane as well as supernatural every day.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The Countess encounters a cannibal cult led by Matthew Orne in The Wrath of N'Kai.
- Lighter and Softer: The monsters are less the focus of these books than the human protagonists. The insignificance of man doesn't drive them to quite the same level of misanthropy and nihilism as it tends to do in HPL's writing. Indeed, some are actual heroes.
- Lovecraft Lite: The books often end in the protagonists managing to survive with their sanity intact and sometimes even triumphant. This is not a guarantee, though.
- Only in It for the Money: Countess Zorzi just wants to collect a fat paycheck by selling weird art and books to eccentric wealthy weirdos.
- Religion of Evil: There's several of these as befitting the Cthulhu Mythos, venerating the Great Old Ones and showing no respect for human life.
- Religion is Magic: Many of the magic users in the setting are also priests of the local cults. The exception is the Twilight Lodge that are purely in it for the power.
- Shout-Out: One of the bootleggers in The Wrath of N'Kai is named Phipps and in The Ravenous Deep, the fisherman is named Davenport.
- Two-Fisted Tales: The books are heavily influenced by Pulp sensibilities with heroic private detectives, sexy cat burglars, and Science Hero types. There's also exceptions who are completely outclassed.
- Weirdness Magnet: Arkham brings no end of strange cultists, monsters, and weirdos to it.
