Seon-Ran Cheon – författare

A Finalist for the 2026 Locus AwardsA bestseller in Korea, a biting, fast-paced vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness.When four isolated elderly people die back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn’t understand why she’s the only one at her precinct that seems to care. But her colleagues at the police force dismiss the case as a series of unfortunate suicides due to the patients’ loneliness. But Su-Yeon doesn’t have the privilege of looking away: her dearest friend, Grandma Eun-Shim, lives on the sixth floor, and Su-Yeon is terrified that something will happen to her next.As Su-Yeon begins her investigation alone, she runs into a mysterious woman named Violette at the crime scene. Violette claims to be a vampire hunter, searching for her ex-lover, Lily, and is insistent that a vampire is behind the mysterious deaths. Su-Yeon is skeptical at first, but when a fifth victim jumps from the window, her investigation reveals the body was completely drained of blood. Desperate to discover the cause of the deaths, Su-Yeon considers Violette’s explanation—that something supernatural is involved.The Midnight Shift is a gripping mystery, overflowing with commentary about societal isolation and loneliness, the sharp knife of grief, and the effects of marginalization, perfect for readers of Cursed Bunny; Woman, Eating; and A Certain Hunger.

Love is the most despicable excuse.On the lonely outskirts of Seoul, reports come in of a series of suicides at a hospital. The strange and bloodless nature of the elderly victims is dismissed by most, but not Detective Suyeon. As Suyeon begins her investigation, a mysterious woman named Violette appears at the crime scene and gives Suyeon the answer: a vampire did it. The two women begin the hunt for an ancient, supernatural culprit which, in turn, reveals a landscape of modern isolation in a dark, nocturnal Seoul. But as the investigation unfurls, past and present romance and loneliness intertwine it becomes increasingly clear that they, too, are being hunted…Sometimes the monsters we seek are less frightening than being alone. The Midnight Shift is a gripping mystery, overflowing with commentary about societal isolation and loneliness, the sharp knife of grief, and the effects of marginalization, perfect for readers of Cursed Bunny; Woman, Eating; and A Certain Hunger.