Calle Goya Really Exists!
If you’ve ever walked Calle Goya in Fuengirola, you’ll know it as an ordinary street — a short stretch near Los Boliches, sun, shopfronts, the usual Costa del Sol rhythm of things. Nothing marks it out as sinister.
That’s exactly why I set a ghost story there.
The Ghouls of Calle Goya began with a simple honeymoon: Frank, a London banker, and Joy, his new Thai wife, arrive at a borrowed apartment on Calle Goya expecting nothing more than sun and quiet. What they find instead is a secret Scandinavian society — presided over by the old-worldly Baron Sedolfsen — that venerates the painter Francisco de Goya and keeps a hidden property on the very street named after him.
Joy, sensitive and deeply intuitive, starts to feel that something in the apartment is watching. Fear becomes unease, unease becomes terror, and terror tips — slowly, believably — into madness. That’s the heart of the book: not monsters jumping out of the dark, but the much older horror of watching someone’s grip on reality give way to what they believe is true. Their journey doesn’t stay in Spain, either — it follows Joy back to her family’s village in northern Thailand, where suspicion and misunderstanding compound what’s already unravelling.
The Ghouls of Calle Goya
I’m publishing this piece as part of getting back into writing and promoting my books after a long stretch of being unwell. It feels good to be back at this desk, talking about The Ghouls of Calle Goya again.
If psychological horror rooted in real places is your kind of read — and if you’ve ever wondered what an ordinary street can hide — The Ghouls of Calle Goya is part of my Costa del Sol Collection, alongside Andropov’s Cuckoo and Daisy’s Chain.
Where to find it:
- eBook and paperback: Megan Publishing Services
- Paperback: Bookshop.org | Waterstones
- Audiobook: Tektime
New to my work? Start with where to start with Owen Jones’ novels.
If you’ve read it — or if you know Calle Goya yourself — I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
PS: The Ghouls of Calle Goya has found readers well beyond the Costa del Sol: the book exists in 19 languages, which still astonishes me every time I think about it. Wherever you’re reading this from, there’s a decent chance you can find it in your own.
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