Chrysler Szarlan released her debut novel The Hawley Book of the Dead in October 2014, about Reve Dyer, who makes up half of a Las Vegas magic act with her husband Johnny before their lives are torn apart by a family tragedy, forcing Reve and their three children to retreat to the forest of Hawley Five Corners in Massachusetts, where magic still reigns.

Szarlan, a former magician's assistant and racehorse trainer, has achieved widespread praise from the publishing world, with her book echoing A Discovery of Witches and The Night Circus. In an interview with The American Library Association, Szarlan said 'I've been influenced by the creepy New England writers. And the haunted houses and landscapes. I get a lot of inspiration from walking or riding in the woods. Hawley Forest is a real place. And it has a kind of haunted feeling'.