Ghost or Jenn, 30s, she/they. This blog is mostly Dead Boy Detectives and Young Sherlock, a little Witcher, a little Heated Rivalry, and a little whatever I feel like. I'm ghostinthelibrary on AO3. Asks and prompts open. Header image by alterego77!
You can find me here on AO3 or on Discord at ghostinthelibrary. Anyone who would like to translate, remix, podfic, etc. my work has blanket permission. Just please credit me and send me a link so I can flail happily about it. I do not give permission for my work to be crossposted to Wattpad, etc., or rated on Goodreads. I do not give permission for my work to be fed to any AI programs such as ChatGPT, even if you don’t intend to publish the results.
WIPs
Meaner than my demons: Crystal & Edwin, M, 1/4 chapters, 7K+ words. During what should be a routine transfer of a demonic artifact, Crystal learns that her boyfriend and partner, David, has been possessed by a demon for years and now wants to use the tablet to open a portal to Hell. On the run with her professional nemesis, Edwin Payne, Crystal has to reevaluate everything she thought she knew.
be my mirror, my sword and shield: Ghostcat, E, 20/28 chapters, 219K+ words. Prince Edwin Payne of Hilarion, accompanied by his first knight and childhood best friend, Sir Charles Rowland, travels to the kingdom of Townsend to secure the peace treaty between the two nations. Upon arrival, he is told that he is to be wed to the infamous Cat King, Thomas Kitt of Catting, the man who notoriously betrayed his kingdom to pledge his loyalty to the Witch Queen, Esther Finch.
However, Edwin and Charles quickly learn that not all is as it seems in Townsend, especially when it comes to the Cat King. In fact, if any of them plan to survive this marriage unscathed, they must all learn to trust one another — both with their lives and with their hearts.
A collaboration with ObsessedWithFandom and artemisadore.
Our Get-Along Potion: Ghostcat with a Catland focus, E, 2/3 chapters, 18K+ words. When the Dead Boy Detectives are targeted by a malicious sorcerer, Charles and the Cat King are hit with a potion that keeps them stuck within arms’ reach of each other. For how long? No one knows. Now the Cat King is around all the time—on cases, in the office, during movie nights with Crystal and Niko—and Charles thinks he might go mad. Because he hates the guy. Definitely not because he’s starting to realize how much he might not hate him.
(Completed works and fics that are coming soon below the cut!)
Series
Undead Boys Detectives: Payneland with background Cryland, 5/? installments complete. Charles and Edwin return from Hell as living boys and have to deal with the consequences while hunting a dangerous spirit and dealing with their burgeoning feelings for each other.
Ministry of Supernatural Investigations: Payneland with eventual Palasaki, 6/? installments complete. An AU where Edwin and Charles are partners working for an agency that solves supernatural crimes and are pining like crazy for each other.
A Case for the Dead Girl Detectives: Palasaki and Payneland, 2/2 installments complete. A role reversal AU featuring Niko and Crystal as ghost detectives, Charles as a psychic, and Edwin as a student at Gray Wake who gets pulled into their orbit.
Cricket Bat Heart: Payneland, 2/? installments complete. An AU inspired by the book Swordheart by T. Kingfisher, where Charles has been bound to a magic cricket bat (that used to be a sword) for centuries when it falls into Edwin's hands.
Superhero Charles AU: Payneland w/ background Palasaki, 3/3 installments complete. An AU where Charles is a vigilante known as the Ghost and Edwin is the journalist oblivious to the fact that his best friend and the man who has saved his life multiple times are one and the same.
Standalones
Say her name like an elegy: Edwin & Crystal, T, 2K words. When Edwin finds Crystal distraught and reading a book on necromancy, it doesn’t take much detective work to figure out what’s wrong. Providing comfort is a much more challenging endeavor.
Like the slumber that creeps to me: Payneland, T, 13K words. While on a case, Charles falls victim to a cursed necklace that causes everyone who touches it to sicken and die. While his friends frantically search for a way to break the curse, a weakening Charles has plenty of time to think about his feelings for his best mate.
I will love you (I'll really love you): Payneland, T, 5K words. Five times Charles tries to tell Edwin that he's in love with him and one time he succeeds.
I Am Flesh And I Am Bone (I've Got Fire In My Soul): Payneland w/ background Palasaki, M, 11K. On Halloween, when the veil is thinnest between the living and the dead, ghosts are at their most corporeal—and their most vulnerable. When Charles, Crystal, and Niko go to a masquerade and walk into terrible danger, Edwin has no choice but to leave the safety of their warded office to save them.
Beneath the winter snow: Pre-Payneland, T, 2K. In the days before they leave St. Hilarion's and set out to start the Dead Boy Detective Agency, Edwin and Charles are just two boys playing in the snow.
it's hard to see me (at least you tried): Pre-Payneland, M, 10K. Charles and Edwin have been the Dead Boy Detectives for over a year, tracking down lost items and estranged loved ones, when they take on a new case that takes a terrifying turn. When an overwhelmed Edwin drives Charles away—possibly forever—with a thoughtless comment, he finds himself alone and in the kind of peril he thought he had left behind in Hell.
An Acquired Taste: Payneland, T, 3K. When Edwin ducks into a coffee shop to avoid an awkward run in with his ex-boyfriend, he meets Charles, a charming barista with a penchant for terrible latte art. Edwin can’t stand coffee, but that doesn’t stop him from returning again and again.
young blood (never get chained): Payneland with background Palasaki, E, 93K words. When half-demon university student Charles saves one of his classmates, Edwin, from being sacrificed to a demon, he inadvertently binds their souls together and makes a powerful enemy in Hell.
When I'm Gone (I'll Carry You Home): Gen, M, 22K. When Crystal begs Lilith to give her more time with Niko, the goddess grants her wish—by sending Crystal back to the moment before the Tongue & Tail explodes. Desperate to save her friends, Crystal lives through Esther’s attack again and again, trying to get all of them out unscathed.
Half in the Grave: Payneland, M, 77K words. An Edwin who returned from Hell mostly alive and a Charles who survived his brush with death in 1989 and went on to become an assistant at Tragic Mick's must work together to solve a string of murders in 1999.
Wedding Vows and Other Lies: Payneland, E, 109K words. When Edwin needs to get married in order to inherit his eccentric great-uncle's fortune, Charles naturally volunteers. After all, he'd do anything to help out his best mate. It'd be the perfect solution, if only Edwin weren't already madly in love with him. Updates weekly on Sundays.
heaven need a sinner (you can't raise hell with a saint): Payneland, E, 6K words. When Charles, a half-demon, interrupts one of his classmates being sacrificed to a demon, he only has a matter of minutes to stop Sa’al from claiming Edwin’s soul. The ritual calls for a virgin sacrifice, so Charles can only think of one solution: make sure Edwin isn’t a virgin by the time Sa’al arrives for his prize.
(not) so crazy in love: Crystal & Edwin, Payneland, and Palasaki, T, 6K words. When Charles and Niko are caught up in a sorcerer’s love spell, Crystal and Edwin have to save them. But in order to fit in with the besotted couples surrounding them, they need to pretend to be madly in love while they do it. After this, breaking the spell is going to be easy.
A Little Push: Payneland, T, 6K words. After watching Charles react with jealousy to a client flirting with Edwin, Niko gets a brilliant idea: she and Edwin will pretend to date. That will definitely make Charles realize his feelings for Edwin, right?
Of Mistletoe and Meddling: Payneland, T, 5K words. The Dead Boy Detective Agency—including Crystal, Niko, and Jenny—are invited to the Lost and Found Department’s annual solstice party. Inexplicably, Edwin finds himself stalked by mistletoe.
Mandatory Bonding: Night Nurse & Edwin, T, 6K words. When Night Nurse and Edwin are captured by a demon that plans to snuff them out of existence, it's hard to tell what's the bigger inconvenience: imminent annihilation or being locked in a warded cell together.
You can find a list of my Witcher fic here or my single Last Binding fic here.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
writing by @artemisadore | art by @tragedy-machine | part of @deadbangdetectives' Reverse Bang 2026 🤍
Left for dead on the steps of the cathedral's pulpit, newly-fallen-archangel Charles is found by recently-escaped-human-sacrifice Edwin, who risks capture just by stopping to help.
What else can Charles do but marry him?
reposting💕 big big thank you to @artemisadore for being the father that stepped up and kindly pinch hitting for this fanart!! MWAH MWAH, ENDLESS LOVE TO YOUU ❤
Slowly, and yet in no time at all, the memories which Edwin thumbed like prayer beads in times of hardship had shifted, the faces of his polite, distant relatives fading like photographs in the sun. Now running through his palm it was only Charles; his sunny smiles, the crinkles around his bright eyes, the imaginary weight of his head upon Edwin’s shoulder. His steadfast support, even his rare, mercurial temper, righteous as any avenging angel. It was simply Charles all the way down, threaded through the burnt-edged tapestry of Edwin’s afterlife, written through his core in cross-section like letters in a stick of Brighton rock. To the heart—though he hasn’t had a beating one as long as they’ve known one another. To the blood.
To the bone.
Oh, Lonely Bones, Have You Forgotten?
the fourth and final chapter, out now!
Thank you so so much everyone who's waited patiently for this chapter, I know it's been a VERY long time in the making. I hope the resolution is satisfying, even if it's unsurprising 💛
"It followed me home", Ilya Rozanov [Connor Storrie] and a "friend", based on this post of Erling Haaland returning home
I saw someone @brokenberries post this with an art request, so I saved the screenshot, and now I cannot for the life of me find it again. If/when I do, I'll link it in. Whoever you are, please feel free to request stuff like this more often because it is GENIUS!
Photoshopped image (images sourced from instagram, and google), watercolour texture from stock image databases, overlines by computer program and me (I was not going to try to do the raccoon by hand, I'd still be there in six hours). This is not AI.
July 2026
Please do not repost my images to other sites without permission
I don't know if this has already been said, but what if Niko is now pixie sized, and that's why they were the same size in the igloo? What if she came back to the agency, but now she's just mini? Please imagine her riding in pockets and on shoulders.
