Where Haunted Places and Human Longing Collide.

My stories explore the point where gothic suspense and emotional vulnerability become inseparable.

I create atmospheric mysteries shaped by buried histories, spectral presences, and the quiet terror of things long left unresolved. Just as compelling is what happens when unexpected human connection becomes its own kind of risk—when trust becomes the greatest act of courage, and being truly seen can feel as frightening as any ghost.

For me, the most compelling stories are those in which emotional and atmospheric tensions amplify one another. Haunted places become catalysts for revelation. Buried secrets force impossible choices, and fear and hope exist side by side until every step forward demands courage.

These are stories where haunted places reveal buried truths, where emotional honesty is tested as relentlessly as survival, and where the greatest mystery is often what we’re willing to risk for another person.

The Whitlock Inheritance by Craig Leask - Book and buy from Amazon Canada.

The Whitlock Inheritance

Some houses do not want to be inherited.

A haunted coastal estate. A buried legacy. A dangerous inheritance.

When Matt Lawson inherits Osprey Point, a decaying ancestral estate perched above the Massachusetts coast, he expects paperwork, legal complications, and little else.

Instead, he discovers a house built to endure disaster—now rotting around a lie.

As Matt and his friends explore its shuttered rooms and forgotten corridors, Osprey Point begins to reveal its secrets. Doors slam without cause. Corridors shift. Unseen forces move with deliberate intent. At the center of it all lingers the spirit of Chester Whitlock, whose malevolent presence still guards the legacy he left behind.

Amid the growing danger, Matt finds himself increasingly drawn to Ryan, his best friend Susan’s boyfriend. What begins as quiet moments of unexpected connection soon becomes something neither man anticipated, intensified by the mansion’s claustrophobic isolation and the secrets closing in around them.

Long before Matt’s arrival, the estate concealed another forbidden bond—one Chester Whitlock worked ruthlessly to erase.

Now, as buried truths rise to the surface and past and present begin to converge, Osprey Point grows increasingly volatile, determined to preserve the silence that has protected its secrets for generations.

COMING SOON

About the Author

Craig Leask

Coming Soon

The Whitlock Inheritance

In Development

The Haunting at Lochmare Castle

In Development

Some Secrets Survive Longer Than the People Who Buried Them.
The Haunting At Lochmare Castle by Craig Leask - In Progress about a New Gothic Mystery Emerging From the Mist.

A storm-bound castle. A forbidden love. A haunting that refuses to stay buried.

When a storm strands a group of travellers inside a remote Scottish castle, what begins as an inconvenience quickly becomes something far more unsettling. Cut off from the outside world, tensions rise, guests begin to vanish, and it becomes clear the castle is not merely haunted—it is watching.

At its center are two strangers forced into an uneasy alliance as the castle turns against them. One guarded. The other impossible to dismiss. As fear closes in, reluctant cooperation gives way to an unexpected connection neither man intended—and one that becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.

But the castle has witnessed this story before.

Long before their arrival, another bond ended in betrayal, violence, and grief—its consequences still echoing through the castle’s halls. As past and present begin to converge, old wounds reopen, restless spirits stir, and the castle grows increasingly determined to preserve the silence that has protected its secrets for generations.

In a place built on buried truths, the greatest danger may not be the dead—but what survives when love, grief, and guilt refuse to stay buried.

The Haunting At Lochmare Castle by Craig Leask - In Progress about a New Gothic Mystery Emerging From the Mist.

About Craig Leask

Craig Leask Writes - Author on Gothic suspense and forbidden attraction coexist in Ontario.

For me, stories have always begun with places.

Long before I started writing fiction, I was drawn to houses under construction—quiet, half-finished spaces that felt full of possibility. They weren’t simply buildings in progress; they were mysteries taking shape in real time. Before long, those unfinished houses became my playground: part imagination lab, part architectural education, and part adrenaline-fuelled adventure.

That fascination never disappeared. Instead, it evolved into a career in architecture and design project management, deepening my appreciation for how spaces function, how people move through them, and how environments quietly shape emotion, behaviour, and memory. The same instinct that once led me to explore unfinished buildings eventually found its way into fiction.

Today, I write atmospheric, character-driven gothic suspense where setting and emotion become inseparable. My stories explore haunted places, buried histories, and the emotional truths that emerge when ordinary people are pushed beyond the limits of fear, grief, and certainty. At their heart are queer characters discovering that trust, vulnerability, and genuine human connection can feel every bit as terrifying—and transformative—as the mysteries surrounding them.

Those influences come together in my debut novel, The Whitlock Inheritance, where a decaying coastal estate, a generations-old haunting, and an unexpected relationship become inseparable. Like all of my work, it’s a story about the ways places shape people—and the courage it takes to confront both.

When I’m not writing, I live with my partner of more than twenty years and a rotating cast of foster-fail rescue animals who quietly became permanent family members. Home is a rural waterfront community on the shores of Lake Ontario, nestled between the energy of Toronto and the cultural pull of Montreal.