The Bad Seed

The Bad Seed
First edition
AuthorWilliam March
LanguageEnglish
GenrePsychological horror
PublisherRinehart & Company
Publication date
April 8, 1954
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)
Pages247 pp (reprint edition)
ISBN978-0-06-079548-1 (reprint edition)
OCLC61157841
Preceded byOctober Island (1952) 
Followed byA William March Omnibus (1956) 

The Bad Seed is a 1954 horror novel by American writer William March, the last of his major works published before his death.

Nominated for the 1955 National Book Award for Fiction, The Bad Seed tells the story of a mother's realization that her young daughter is a murderer. Its enormous critical and commercial success was largely realized after March's death only one month after publication.

In 1954, the novel was adapted into a successful and long-running Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson and into an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Mervyn LeRoy in 1956.