Happy Spooky Reads Month! As Halloween lovers, we celebrate by adding a few terrifying, chilling reads to our TBR pile. If that is the direction you are heading, this month’s October releases do not disappoint! Discover Japanese supernatural tales, or read about how a reunion among friends can go deadly wrong. October brings the horror and thrills that will make this Halloween full of entertainment. Not a fan of Halloween? Don’t worry! This month also features titles that are for the faint of heart:
Featured Book of the Month
The Killing of a Chestnut Tree by Oliver K. Langmead
Expected Publication Date: October 27
Meet Havelock Harper, gentleman detective. Dapper, delightful, and decidedly queer, he’s here to solve your most magical mysteries.
Everyone in England knows Havelock Harper, the celebrated consulting detective from the papers. But if any of them read his private files, they would discover secrets that must never reach the public eye—extraordinary cases, impossible crimes, and a committed love affair with his formidable companion Major Sebastian Wright.
And their next case might be the queerest yet.
Havelock and Sebastian have been summoned to investigate the murder of the Duke of Farleigh. When they arrive at the scene of the crime — a secluded, enchanting forest — they discover that the victim is a tree!
The trees of Farleigh have begun to write words in their bark and branches, expressing themselves for all to read. The Duke is an ancient chestnut, cruelly chopped down, and to the villagers of Farleigh, he is a beloved friend. They want justice.
Havelock and Sebastian must use all their wits and wisdom to find the murderer who has shattered the peace of Farleigh. (Credit: Tordotcom)
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We’ve Been Here the Whole Time!: A Not So Sacred Guide to All Things Native America by Joey Clift and illustrated by Julie Fiveash
Native comedian Joey Clift takes you on a hilarious journey to discover the largest population you don’t know in this sharp debut for fans of Michael Harriot and Phoebe Robinson.
Put away the construction paper: this contraband book contains everything your high school refused to teach you about Native American history, people, and culture–illustrated in an irreverent textbook-meets-notebook style by Diné artist Julie Fiveash.
Comedian Joey Clift (Cowlitz tribe) walks you through a wide range of misconceptions, weird questions, and even weirder assumptions, covering everything from Pocahontas and sports mascots to ancestry claims and the Land Back movement.
- A hilarious, NDN-approved guide to Native America
- Great gift for history buffs, teachers, and comedy fans
- Interact with satirical flowcharts, quizzes, and more
- Joyfully defiant illustrations by Julie Fiveash
- Foreword by Shane Hawk (Never Whistle at Night)
- Includes a trove of Native resources for allies
- Perfect fans of The Daily Show’s America (The Book) and F*cking History
Pick up this conversation-starting book and turn your boring Thanksgiving into a fun “You’re Welcome” dance party! (Credit: Andrews McMeel Publishing)
Stagtown: Volume 1 by Punko
A young woman investigates the strange events terrorizing her hometown in this heart-pounding horror graphic novel.
Something mysterious is happening all around Stagtown: Cameras are appearing everywhere on the streets, and even in the corners of apartments and homes. Cutting one down only spawns more in its place. Someone is surveilling the residents and now that Frankie is back home from college, she is going to discover who—or what—is behind this.
After the shocking death of her neighbor Jeremy, Frankie becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind these occurrences. Armed with Jeremy’s box of cryptic clues, a loyal cat companion, and the help of Jeremy’s friend Felix, Frankie embarks on a perilous journey through town. Her quest leads her to a sinister marble house, a blood-stained carousel, a dark underground cellar filled with traps, and more. Each encounter brings her closer to the horrifying truth, culminating in a desperate attempt to escape Stagtown once and for all.
With beautifully haunting illustrations and a terror-filled story, Stagtown is a masterpiece of psychological horror. This volume includes the complete first season of the Webtoon comic, along with a bonus mini-comic.(Credit: Ten Speed Graphic)
The Agatha Christie Cure
What Reading the Queen of Crime Taught Me About Life by Cathy Rentzenbrink
One recent Christmas, journalist and Sunday Times bestselling memoirist Cathy Rentzenbrink finds herself drained by life’s upheavals. In need of comfort and escape, she turns to her first literary love: Agatha Christie.
As Cathy delves into Christie’s novels, and her mysterious disappearance in 1926, she discovers more than she expected. Beyond the hidden jewels, detectives, and thrilling escapes on trains and automobiles, Cathy unearths an adventurer and innovator who hid—within the pages of her own books—the secrets of how she survived a personal crisis and started life again. With the Queen of Crime at her side, Cathy soon begins finding answers to questions she hadn’t even realized she was asking.
A literary detective story and a memoir of finding hope in reading, this journey into the heart of the most successful writer of the twentieth century is the perfect tonic for anyone in search of life-affirming resilience, and proof that if ever you’re lonely, tired, and in need of solace, getting in the bath with an Agatha Christie is always an excellent idea. (Credit: Viking)
A Serving of Hope by Hisashi Kashiwai
If I hadn’t searched for the ‘flavors’ of my memories, I think I would have spent my life endlessly chasing the past . . .
Down a Kyoto alleyway, near Higashi Honganji Temple, the Kamogawa Diner attracts lost souls. The father-daughter “food detective” duo of Chef Nagare and Detective Koishi help their clientele who seek meaning in their lives by helping them access lost memories through the food of their past.
From the onigiri gifted alongside cherished promises to the ginger pork that became a memory of unrequited love, the not-too-sour chilled noodles from grandma’s house, and the macaroni gratin shared by a father and young son for the last time, there is no dish or memory too complex for father and daughter.
Welcome to another delicious mystery. The Kamogawa Diner is a tonic for the soul, and its customers will leave with a warm belly and a full heart. (Credit: G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Haunted Librarian by Auralee Wallace
It’s a dark and stormy night…and Amelia Bates is caught in the rain. Life hasn’t always been kind to her, and being a ghostseer certainly doesn’t make things any easier.
Glowing warmly through the autumnal downpour is her safest haven: the library. Amelia, the newly hired librarian, has always relished the comfort of curling up with a novel, vastly preferring it to the company of humans (alive or ghostly).
But Amelia is shocked to discover the building is full of more than quiet stories and warm cups of tea. There are curious, talkative patrons, a shy, bespectacled head librarian who makes her heart skip a beat, and three quirky spirits causing paranormal havoc that endangers the future of the library.
To help the ghosts and save the building, Amelia will have to gather all her bravery and wits, because learning to trust others might just be the first step to a happily ever after she only thought was possible in books. (Credit: Ace)
Raven by Lyndsay Faye
I died a fortnight ago this coming Thursday. It was a terrifically unpleasant experience—being murdered, I mean to say.
Raven Helen Allan has always been haunted by witchcraft. Since the death of her beloved mother, she has soothed herself by speaking words into spells—a proclivity enhanced by time spent with her aunt’s library of occult books. She also finds a self-destructive solace in transmuting the pain in her heart onto her flesh.
After an itinerant childhood spent first with her mother’s traveling theater troupe and then being passed around from relative to relative, Raven is relieved to finally settle down with Aunt Berenice in her Baltimore townhouse—even if her aunt spends most evenings in a laudanum haze. There she finds a long-sought sense of belonging with the family of enslaved workers in her aunt’s household, especially the brilliantly odd youngest daughter Pym. Raven’s infatuation with her friend only grows more intimate as the girls become women together. But when the household is threatened with financial ruin, Raven must set out to earn her own living.
Taking a job as a paid companion, Raven arrives at the crumbling Moldavia Manor. Her charge is a delicate young invalid named Lenore Legrand who haunts the Gothic structure like a phantom. Living with them is Lenore’s devoted older cousin Trevanion, who shares Raven’s interest in the occult and devotes his days to searching ancient texts for an Elixir of Life that might cure his cousin. Raven finds herself inexorably drawn to both cousins as well as to the secrets hidden in the shadows of Moldavia Manor. Will she find the answers she seeks in Trevanion’s alchemical texts? What is the meaning of glowing green light emitted from the tower windows? And is Raven truly narrating this story from beyond the grave—if so, who murdered her?
Gothic and atmospheric, Raven is an aching tale of loss, freedom, death, and resurrection by the celebrated author of Jane Steele and Dust and Shadow. (Credit: The Mysterious Press)
Fatal Glitch: Let’s Play a Game by Erin Entrada Kelly & Eliot Schrefer
Black Mirror meets Goosebumps in this fast-paced middle-grade horror series by New York Times bestselling authors Erin Entrada Kelly and Eliot Schrefer featuring tales of technology gone wrong. In this standalone installment, AI has infiltrated the newest toy craze–a stuffed animal with spooky capabilities and more sinister intentions.
Lewis’s big hope for his first day at a new school is to make a friend. He never expected that friend to wind up being a hyper-intelligent cuddly panda bear. A gift from his dad, his Panda Mo Nium is an exclusive kids-only AI toy and communication device with big ideas of his own. After other students at his school get their own robot pandas, Lewis suddenly has a friend group. When Mo begins asking Lewis to perform risky and bloody tasks, Lewis goes along despite his nerves…until the line between cute and creepy blurs and he senses evil intentions behind his AI friend’s glowing eyes. What does this robot panda really want from him and the other kids? The truth might be more frightening than Lewis ever imagined. (Credit: Stonefruit Studio)
Return to Breakneck Island by Tom Ryan
Breakneck Island: nestled precariously off the coast of Maple Bay, the lighthouse atop this rocky outcrop is all that stands between safe passage and nautical disaster.
For generations, the MacLeary family lived on Breakneck Island in an isolated and physically-demanding existence. One night in 1932, after a ruthless storm battered all of Maple Bay, the MacLearys disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only whispers of a missing fortune.
Nearly a century later, three people are drawn to Breakneck Island and its perplexing past: Peter Barnett, a recent Maple Bay transplant who’s piecing his life back together and possibly catching feelings for a charming professor; Dandy Feltzen, a wistful teenage girl searching for new beginnings while juggling the arrival of an unexpected visitor; and Cass Jones, a successful author given a cryptic tip for a haunting new story.
As Peter, Dandy, and Cass are drawn into the orbit of one of Maple Bay’s darkest mysteries, dangers past and present collide on the rocky shores of Breakneck Island, and the real story of the MacLearys finally comes into focus. But if the island is to reveal its oldest secrets, it may demand fresh bodies in return. (Credit: Atlantic Crime)
The Paper Girl by Caryl Lewis and illustrated by Kanako Abe
A spellbinding keepsake book about learning to say ‘no’ and the transformative beauty of becoming who you truly are–brought to life with exquisite papercut artwork.
This is the story of a girl made of paper: bright, kind, and eager to please.
When she’s told she should be beautiful, she folds herself into a flower. When she’s told she should be clever, she folds herself into a fox. When she’s told she should be “a shining example to others,” she folds herself into a star.
But no matter what she becomes, it never feels like enough–until she does something truly beautiful, clever, and wonderfully brave.
She says, “No.”This modern fairy tale is powerfully written by award-winning author Caryl Lewis and illuminated with exquisite papercut illustrations by debut artist Kanako Abe. (Credit: Frances Lincoln Ltd)
Murder at the Movies by Alicia Malone
When Audrey Sullivan moves to Pine Island to take over her family’s theater, the Starlight Movie Palace, following the death of her grandmother, not everyone is thrilled with her arrival. A mysterious note is left at her doorstep telling her to return to L.A. While she’s a little spooked, Audrey is all the more determined to make opening night a success. But when the movie ends and the lights go on, there’s more than popcorn to clean up …
Liam Ross, a wealthy and ruthless real estate developer, is found dead in the theater. The local police insist on shutting down the Starlight until they complete their investigation. With the theater’s future on the line, Audrey takes it upon herself to solve Liam’s murder. But in a town where everyone is a suspect, where does she begin? (Credit: Running Press Adult)
The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain
This daring and emotional tale of an illicit affair is narrated by a Mrs. Danowski, known as Danni, who is hired as housekeeper at Manderville Hall, Lord Grenville-Whithers’ mansion on the wild coast of Cornwall. A loyal and lonely woman troubled by childhood memories of alienation, Danni dreams of finding love.
Those dreams are fulfilled when Daphne du Maurier arrives at Manderville Hall for lunch with Grenville-Whithers. Succumbing to her secret sexual desire for women, Daphne begins a love affair with Danni, meeting on the housekeeper’s days off in the secluded boathouse at Manderville Cove. For both women, this forbidden passion is both beautiful and terrifying.
But of course such a love cannot last—and both Danni and Daphne must deal with the aftermath of their passion. While Danni struggles to find a new place in the world, Daphne reconfigures the experience into her most famous work, Rebecca, with surprising results. (Credit: Harper)
Radio Free Texas by Libba Bray
Bowie is a little bit lost in his small Texas town. As he starts his senior year, the only thing he’s pretty sure of is that he has a crush on Comet Jensen, a girl who’s such a firecracker that she actually sets off a firecracker on the first day of school.
Since Comet is one wrong move away from getting expelled, Bowie steps in and takes the blame for the stunt. His punishment? Community service at a local radio station run by an anti-social, antiestablishment anti-hero named Marlon. Suddenly, Bowie finds he not only has something to do, but he also has something to say. And, possibly, a future with Comet.
In the tradition of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Eleanor & Park, and any other book or movie that’s nailed what it’s like to be lost and then found when you’re in high school, this is a funny, touching story about how growing up, like love, is never a solo project. (Credit: Scholastic Press)
Regina: A New History of Royal Women and Power by Kate Williams
In this enthralling historical journey, celebrated historian Kate Williams leads us into the world of queens, empresses, princesses, mistresses and ladies-in-waiting. Stories about royal women form some of our most foundational myths about femininity, and yet their legacies have been almost entirely constructed by the words and images of men.
From the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia to the opulent courts of medieval Europe, this book delves deep into the lives of these remarkable women, lifting the veil on both their trials and triumphs as they navigate political intrigue, family rivalries and personal sacrifices. From Hatshepsut and Cleopatra, through Tudor queens Catherine of Aragon and Lady Jane Grey, via Queen Victoria’s contemporaries Yaa Asentewaa of Ghana and Queen Lili’uokulani of Hawaii, and right up to Princess Diana, this is an unmissable history that unlocks why we think about women, politics and power in the ways that we do. (Credit: Pegasus Books)
The Memory of Borrowed Books by Meg Anderson
Deep in the library lives a hidden room
where magic lines the shelves and memories lie in wait
Ready for readers daring enough to finally discover the truth.
In the coastal town of Foxhollow Bay, librarian Claire Ashford keeps her life as meticulously ordered as the centuries-old library she calls home. But when the town announces plans to shut it down, her sanctuary, and the life she’s built within its walls, begins to crumble.
One night, while wandering the stacks after hours, Claire discovers a door that shouldn’t exist. And behind it lies a secret room filled with books no one else can see.
Each book pulls her into the memories of those who have passed through the library’s doors–moments half-lived and stories left unfinished. Buried within these pages is a message the library has been trying to share, urging Claire to uncover the path to saving it.
With the demolition looming and time running out, Claire must piece together what the library is trying to show her. But one book keeps calling her back, and in its pages is a memory that could change everything. One that reveals the key to saving the library may be tangled in her own memories more than she ever could have imagined.
An ode to the power of community and hope, The Memory of Borrowed Books is a sweeping story about what’s at stake when the places we love–and the memories they hold–are threatened. A reminder that what we fight to preserve just might be the very thing that saves us in return. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
Sincerely, Your Murder by Ravena Guron
Expected Publication Date: October 13
It’s been one year and six days since seventeen-year-old Kay left her sleepy hometown after the devastating death of her best friend, Ivy. But now she’s back, forced to stay with her cousin as her parents jet off to a holiday without her. She was hoping for a quiet week of boredom and memories, but what actually greets her is a terrifying anonymous letter left on her bed.
The note tells her that there will be a thrill on Tuesday, a wreckage on Wednesday, treachery on Thursday, a fire on Friday, sabotage on Saturday, a stabbing on Sunday…and her murder on Monday.
As the events threatened in the letter start to happen, Kay knows she has to figure out who her would-be murderer is before they can follow through on their twisted promise and make the worst day of the week a deadly one. (Credit: Sourcebooks Fire)
The Murder Party by Cindy R. X. He
Expected Publication Date: October 13
When June Chan’s older sister Lily is stabbed to death at a secret party in front of a dozen people, June learns about the exclusive murder mystery club Lily was in, and the themed games that members played.
The police rule Lily’s death an accident caused by a malfunctioning prop knife and close the case. The school warns off all the members–including Lily’s boyfriend and best friends–and shuts Murder Club down.
Everyone seems fine to move on. Accept that life isn’t fair and that Lily’s death was just a tragic accident…everyone but June. Determined to find out more about the Club, its members, and exactly what happened that night, she dives into the personal lives of everyone who witnessed Lily’s death.
As June begins to uncover secrets the club would prefer to remain hidden, it becomes clear Lily’s death wasn’t an accident. June realizes that the only way she can find out what really happened is to revive Murder Club and set a trap. To catch her sister’s killer, she will have to host the deadliest Murder Night of all… (Credit: Sourcebooks Fire)
Unapologetic Love Story by Elle McNicoll
Expected Publication Date: October 13
An unapologetic celebration of love, relationships, and the women who have historically been shut out of such stories, until now . . . Elle McNicoll is about to become everyone’s favorite new name in new adult romance.
Enter Raina Lewis, London’s hottest It Girl – effortlessly cool, endlessly intriguing, and beloved for her smash-hit podcast spotlighting autistic women. But not everyone’s convinced by the hype. Investigative journalist and ‘King of Cancel Culture’, Tom Branimir is sure there’s more to Raina than meets the eye. He’s determined to uncover her secret. That is… if he can just manage not to fall for her first. (Credit: Saturday Books)
Japanese Supernatural Tales
Expected Publication Date: October 13
Flesh-eating oni demons, kappa water sprites, shapeshifting kitsune foxes, vengeful yūrei ghosts, and other monsters and magical creatures have long lurked in the shadows of Japanese culture, appearing as divine beings in eighth-century myths, dangerous demons in medieval literature, troublesome tricksters in local legends, and sinister predators in modern fiction. With dozens of stories, including twenty-four that have never been published in English, this volume showcases an incomparable range of the supernatural—from the beautiful ghost that seduces a widowed samurai, to the jorōgumo spiders that transform into women to ensnare their human prey, to the sentient reflection that unnerves a night watchman in Haruki Murakami’s “The Mirror”—inviting you into a realm of frightening otherness from a rich, thousand-year tradition. (Credit: Penguin Classics)
Something Is Killing The Children: Hope Is A Knife by James Tynion IV and Kiersten White
Expected Publication Date: October 13
As a Black Mask, Erica Slaughter has a very straightforward job: find the monster, kill the monster, then do it all again. But when she arrives in Badwater, Idaho, nothing is simple. She can’t determine whether the horrific killer of a twelve-year-old was a bear, a person, or something much worse. Complicating matters is the charismatic doomsday preacher who is quickly leading the small town to the verge of hysteria. If Erica wants to save the surviving children, she has to figure out which kid’s fears might have summoned a monster—and fast. Erica must get to the truth before the Order and the town come to the same conclusion: to stop the monster, you have to kill the girl.
Hope Is a Knife is a chilling, original tale in SIKTC lore, where monsters are real and only the hunters of the Order of St. George are equipped to challenge them. Whether or not you’ve already devoured the Eisner Award–winning comics, this standalone vision of supernatural horror is a thrill ride of the highest order. (Credit: Crown)
Spoke by Kat Keyh
Expected Publication Date: October 13
Many years ago, a mysterious force swept across the land, reclaiming and forever silencing every source of power. In its absence and over the generations since, the denizens of one rural area have learned to live differently: growing and trading their own food, preserving old knowledge in danger of being lost, and relying on one another to survive.
Spoke knows the winding roads of this place better than anyone. A Deaf courier who communicates through sign language, Spoke spends her days ferrying deliveries between scattered villages and settlements, moving quietly through the surrounding land with only her cargo bike for company. Though she’s welcomed almost everywhere she goes, Spoke has nonetheless built her life around routine and solitude.
But when a series of deliveries draws her into the orbit of trusted friends, ancient tales, and a traveler who perhaps understands loneliness as deeply as she does, Spoke begins to imagine a larger life than the one she’s always known. As seasonal changes roll across the landscape, the fragile connections between these communities—and between people—suddenly feel more important than ever.
Warm, wistful, and quietly hopeful, Spoke is a beautifully realized vision of life moving forward—and an unforgettable story about the people who keep the world turning. 9Credit: Gallery 13)
Untouchable by Talia Hibbert
Expected Publication Date: October 13
Sleeping with the staff wasn’t part of the plan.
Sensible, capable, and ruthlessly efficient, Hannah Kabbah is the perfect nanny… until a colossal mistake destroys her career and shatters her reputation. These days, no-one in town will hire her–except Nathaniel Davis, a brooding widower with a smile like sin and two kids he can’t handle.
Prim and proper Hannah is supposed to make Nate’s life easier, but the more time he spends around his live-in nanny, the more she makes things… hard. He can’t take advantage of her vulnerable position, but he can’t deny the truth, either: with every look, every smile, every midnight meeting, Nate’s untouchable employee is stealing his heart.
The trouble is, she doesn’t want to keep it. Forbidden love isn’t high on Hannah’s to-do list, and trust isn’t one of her strengths. When dark secrets threaten to destroy their bond, Nate’s forced to start playing dirty. Because this reformed bad boy will break every rule to finally claim his woman. (Credit: Sourcebooks Casablanca)
Another Name For Red by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala
Expected Publication Date: October 13
Middle Sister is haunted by everyone in her community who has disappeared—as well as those who remain. Her ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend are walking relics of the girl she used to be, while her family—her activist mother, checked-out father, and attention-starved younger siblings—are reminders of the elder sister she can never live up to. Then there’s John Smith, the infamous white man with red cowboy boots living on stolen reservation land, whose obsessive attentions are as repellant as they are compelling. But most of all, there are the thousands of unacknowledged missing and murdered Indigenous women, including Older Sister, whose year-long absence from the reservation has torn her remaining family apart.
With local authorities proving useless, Middle Sister decides to start an investigation of her own, beginning with the mysterious “Eric”—a white man from a neighboring town who Older Sister claimed to love, and who she swore loved her. Attempting to hunt down the correct white Eric in the haystack of Minnesota forces Middle Sister to seek help from the community from which she’s grown alienated, starting with her coworker, Casanova; a stray rez dog; and Nookomis, her grandmother who’s foreseen her own death. Yet John still lurks in the growing wintry shadows, offering a sort of surrender that Middle Sister can’t help being drawn to. In the end, she must choose: either let the guilt consume her or forgive herself and fight. (Credit: Pantheon)
Look What The Cat Dragged In by Jason Reklulak
Expected Publication Date: October 13
Meet Penny Padgett, a twenty-seven-year-old cartoonist in Philadelphia who agrees to pet-sit a very peculiar cat named Godfrey in her home. At first, he’s a warm and affectionate companion who follows Penny all around the house and insists on sleeping by her side every night. But soon strange things are happening: Penny is haunted by disturbing and violent nightmares. There’s a terrible insect infestation in her basement. Her cute cartoon illustrations turn dark and surreal, as if influenced by some invisible hand. And her health starts failing, as if her mind and body are under attack by a sinister, malevolent force.
Penny may be a cat person, but she’s starting to think Godfrey is no ordinary cat. . . .
Fully illustrated with more than eighty pages of original artwork, Jason Rekulak’s new novel is intensely plotted, wonderfully frightening, and wildly clever. He more than lives up to his reputation as having “a freakishly fertile imagination” (The New York Times). (Credit: Flatiron Books)
You Let Me In by Lucy Clarke
Expected Publication Date: October 13
I’m in your house. I’m in your head. And now I know your secret.
Elle Fielding is floundering. Her once perfect marriage is falling apart and she’s on the verge of losing her book deal–and, by extension, the dream home she’s poured her savings into. As her finances dwindle, Elle decides to rent out her Cornish home on Airbnb. Just this once.
But when she returns home after a writer’s retreat away, nothing feels right. There’s a new coldness. A shift in the atmosphere. The prickling feeling that someone is watching her every move from the shadows. Maybe it’s all in Elle’s mind? And yet every threat seems personal. As if someone has discovered the secrets that keep her awake at night. As fear and paranoia close in, Elle’s own home becomes a prison. Someone is unlocking her past–and she’s given them the key.
With Hitchcockian dexterity, Lucy Clarke unlocks one of our most primal fears in this mind-bending thriller about the horrors that lurk behind closed doors. In a world where technology has brought us closer to both loved ones and strangers, You Let Me In is a disquieting and nightmarishly intense addition to Lucy Clarke’s searing oeuvre. (Credit: Atlantic Crime)
The Blood of the Vampire by Florence Marryat
Expected Publication Date: October 13
Published the same year as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Florence Marryat’s The Blood of the Vampire introduced readers to one of the most revolutionary protagonists of her time: the biracial, bisexual, feminist psychic vampire Harriet Brandt. Feeding off life force rather than blood, Harriet is a charming, caring young woman in search of love who is accused of killing those who get too close. Harriet’s ostracization mirrors that of the author, Florence Marryat, whose thrilling plots about women eschewing the norms of Victorian womanhood were widely read during her time but reviled by critics and overlooked for more than a century. Recontextualizing Marryat’s place at the vanguard of Victorian horror, The Blood of the Vampire is a timeless critique of gender norms, racism, and medical discrimination—a fresh, century-old spin on the expanding canon of vampire fiction. (Credit: Penguin Classics)
The Bookshop: A History of Bookselling from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-First Century by Andrew Pettegree
Expected Publication Date: October 13
Whether it’s a local indie bookshop, an online megaretailer, or a chain bookstore, the place we buy books is an essential part of our reading lives. Bookstores connect books to potential buyers and convert idle browsers into committed readers. Yet, as historian Andrew Pettegree reveals, it took more than five centuries after Gutenberg for bookstores as we know them to emerge.
The Bookshop tells a sweeping history of the bookstore. It celebrates the ingenuity of booksellers, from the smugglers who carried contraband books across borders, to the innovators who created the global distribution networks that define books and bookselling today. Even though few bookshops lasted more than a few years during the best of times, booksellers relentlessly sought new ways to get books to readers. Innovators like the squabbling dealers who invented the secondhand bookstore, or Victorian capitalists like W. H. Smith, who built an empire of railroad station book stalls to serve idle passengers, made bookselling what it is today.
The Bookshop is the story of how the bookstore became the indispensable meeting place for book makers and book lovers around the world. (Credit: Basic Books)
Huda F Would Love You? by Huda Fahmy
Expected Publication Date: October 20
In this funny and tender finale to the Huda F series, Huda has a plan to find love—but she might need to find herself first!
It’s the summer after Huda’s high school graduation, and love is in the air! Or it’s about to be, anyway. Because Huda has the ingredients for a perfect love story: a butt-kicking girl power squad of new friends, and a plan to woo all the aunties into setting her up with their eligible sons. But when she finds herself caught between her friends and her heart, gender roles and ambitions, and her fears and dreams, Huda begins to realize that finding her own “happily ever after” might require changing herself—or her expectations. (Credit: Dial Books)
The Queen’s Command by Sarah Raughley
Expected Publication Date: October 20
Favored by Queen Victoria, Vicky Davies has survived royal courts, financial ruin, and the loss of her mother, Sarah Forbes Bonetta — the famous African princess turned royal goddaughter — but Cheltenham Ladies’ College is about to test her in new and wicked ways.
Every Thursday evening, the senior girls play a secret game and Vicky just became their latest pawn. Truths must be confessed, commands obeyed, and whoever claims the coveted title of winner will have her wish granted, no matter how outrageous and seemingly impossible it may be.
But when the game yields frightening and fatal results, Vicky vows to put an end to this ghoulish tradition that twists minds and makes enemies out of friends. With dangerous foes closing in and truths that could shatter her world clawing to the surface, Vicky must uncover the secrets buried not only in Cheltenham but by her own mother. In a school where survival is a gamble, will she emerge victorious — or fall victim to its deadly game? (Credit: HarperCollins)
Monster in the Mirror by Janasha Prabhu
Expected Publication Date: October 20
On the night Jiah Rai was found cradling her girlfriend Georgia’s dead body at the bottom of Wailing Cliff, everyone suspected her. There wasn’t enough evidence to charge her, but the town refuses to forget. Murder must run in the family. Jiah’s uncle was a convicted serial killer, and while he died behind bars, his legacy lives on in Jiah and her sister. It doesn’t matter that they’ve lived in Dumont their whole lives–they have never fit into the insular white community, and perhaps they never will
But legacy isn’t done with Jiah just yet. A few years later, a threat from Georgia’s brother threatens to crumble the shaky peace Jiah has rebuilt. Desperate to feel safe again, Jiah decides to take matters into her own hands and seeks support from her best friend, Estrella. After all, Estrella has been there for Jiah ever since they met after Georgia’s death. But when Estrella never shows up to a dinner party, a series of texts lead Jiah to the beach below, where she finds a body positioned exactly how her uncle displayed his victims over a decade ago. The killer mocks Jiah, hinting they know about her secrets, too. But is Jiah really the monster Dumont thinks she is? As Jiah hunts the killer, she begins to realize she might be unable to save the next victim…and that she may not want to. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex by Lisa Hanawalt
Expected Publication Date: October 20
A deliciously candid and juicy exploration of platonic and romantic fixations, heartbreak, and the allure of horses.
I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex marks the long-awaited return of Tuca & Bertie creator and BoJack Horseman producer/production designer Lisa Hanawalt to comics. This is the honest, silly, horny and vulnerable memoir of a horse girl, now in her forties and reflecting back on a lifetime of obsessions.
Whether Hanawalt is confronting large life issues like whether or not to have kids, being an anxious lil freak, caring for a sick horse, revisiting childhood trauma, or dealing with a major breakup and the ensuing lustfulness—she delivers a reading experience that’s relatable, affirming, and almost always hilarious. In lush colors and kinetic lines, she charts the strange terrain of life, one bumpy, dusty horseback ride at a time. (Credit: Drawn & Quarterly)
A Reunion To Die For by KJ Whittle
Expected Publication Date: October 20
In a dingy pub, a high school reunion brings five old friends back together. As they catch up after twenty years, painful memories surface, all centered around the disastrous prom night that broke them all apart and the school bully at the heart of it all. King of the class turned handsome sport superstar, Eric Stewart poses as a charming local celebrity, but his old friends know of his hidden cruel streak that made each of them miserable. The more they drink, the more a morbid plan takes shape, with everyone tossing in ideas for how they could get the ultimate form of revenge.
The next morning, heads-pounding and hearts racing, they discover Eric has been found dead, exactly the way they drunkenly planned it.
When a cryptic, anonymous message containing a recording of their conversation from the night before starts to circulate, the group knows they need to act, and fast. Who was listening to them? Who arranged the reunion? And, most importantly, who carried out their murderous plans? Soon, they find themselves dragged into a series of sinister games devised to reveal the truth about prom night and Eric’s death. Before they become the main suspects, the group will need to share their secrets from all those years ago, or risk going down for murder. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
A Shadow of Jaguars by DC Frost
Expected Publication Date: October 20
In Mexico City for a family funeral, Detective DJ Arias encounters a group of Robin Hood-style thieves who call themselves the Jaguars. Their activities reach across the border into Los Angeles with a Hollywood murder that entangles LA’s elite and the nannies, housekeepers, and gardeners who serve them, and threatens DJ’s own loved ones. A sequel to the mystery A Punishing Breed, A Shadow of Jaguars finds DJ and partner Bobby Talbot struggling to untangle a murder where Hollywood, wealthy powerbrokers, and an immigrant population struggle to coexist and survive. Throughout it all, his faithful dog Evidence is by his side. (Credit: Canis Major Books)
When the Night Comes Knocking by Katherine Daniel
Expected Publication Date: October 20
Rattle, rattle in the dark…
The mountain’s bones seek out a heart.
Jane has not spoken to her brother Thomas since the accident that nearly killed them both. Their drive from college through the North Georgia mountains is uncomfortably silent, until they stop at a roadside convenience store, where a man stumbles in with a mutilated body, claiming to have been attacked by a monster.
At first, no one believes the man’s ravings, but when the next person to leave the store is brutally killed, they fear that local legend might be true:
There’s a beast in these mountains who feasts on guilty hearts… and someone among them has lured it out of hiding.
Jane and Thomas each harbor secrets, but so do the other patrons, and as the monster claims more hearts, the survivors turn on each other, desperate to save themselves by uncovering the guiltiest among them.
If the siblings can’t overcome the rift between them, they’ll surely become the monster’s next victims…or worse, become monsters themselves. (Credit: Berkley)
Off Balance by Paula Chase
Expected Publication Date: October 20
Hot Lipz, everyone’s favorite–or least favorite–Chatter account is back at it, stirring up gossip among the rival schools in Da Icy City. Selena knows that it’s only a matter of time before she finds herself on the other end of the rumors—and she has a secret.
While Selena sets out to uncover Hot Lipz’s true identity, Leesh is still reeling from the account’s last big reveal: she has a sister, and it’s none other than her biggest gymnastics rival, Chyna. Now somebody from Leesh’s past is calling in a favor, and if anyone finds out, it could ruin everything she’s worked for.
The pressure is on as the Power Panthers Gymnastics team prepares to compete in the Diamond Cup, and with a new student arriving at the Heights, loyalties will be tested like never before. (Credit: Wednesday Books)
Horror Picture Book: Looking at Me by Soschichi Tonaria and illustrated by Junji Ito
Expected Publication Date: October 20
Junji Ito’s original oil paintings are haunting in this luscious, creepy picture book!
Deceptively simple picture books with sinister stories.
The world is full of faces. They’re everywhere, yet no one seems to notice…
Horror master Junji Ito collaborates with award-winning author Soshichi Tonari to transport you to a child’s world so haunting it just might make you scream. (Credit: Viz Media)
Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes by Lindsey Fitzharris
Expected Publication Date: October 20
Throughout nineteenth-century Edinburgh, the surgeon Joseph Bell was known for his extraordinary talent for detection and diagnosis. To the amazement of onlookers at the Royal Infirmary, he could read a patient’s ailments, occupation, and personal habits from a single glance. Though such deductive powers were all quite “elementary” to Bell, they had a profound influence on the medical student and budding writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Soon enough, Bell’s methods helped spark the creation of fiction’s most iconic detective.
Since Sherlock Holmes first appeared in 1887, he has become a global phenomenon. Yet the man Conan Doyle credited as Sherlock’s prototype has slipped into the shadows. In Sleuth-Hound, the New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris brings Bell center stage, recounting how his work took him from ward to witness box as a medical detective probing murder and misdeeds. He worked closely and covertly with the police surgeon Henry Duncan Littlejohn and a pioneering ballistics expert named Dr. Watson, and even collaborated with Conan Doyle to overturn a homicide conviction. Bell’s forensic investigations took him from gaslit alleyways to Gilded Age drawing rooms, put him on the trail of poisoners and child killers, and even drew him into the hunt for Jack the Ripper.
By scrutinizing a scratch on a desk, a trace of cigar ash, or the slightest peculiarity of a man’s gait, Bell could turn the smallest clues into revelations. His sharp mind forever changed the way we read bodies, detect crimes, and serve justice. (Credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The 10:12 by Anna Maloney
Expected Publication Date: October 20
Claire Fitzroy was on the way home to London when her train from Manchester was hijacked by a group of armed men. In one terrifying moment she faced the starkest of choices: to passively stand back or act and fight back—knowing that with either choice, she could die.
With nothing to lose, the middle-aged art lecturer gathered and led a squad of passengers who, against all odds, overcame the hijackers and saved hundreds of lives. But what at first looks like heroism may play out very differently in the courts of law and public opinion. Especially when you have the blood of two men on your hands.
Opinions are heated and divided. Was she a selfless and quick-thinking hero? Or an attention-seeking vigilante and unrepentant murderer? Until now Claire has remained silent. Now, she’s finally speaking out about what happened that morning on the 10:12.
But is it the whole story? (Credit: Harper Perennial)
This Is A Door by Daniel Nayeri
Expected Publication Date: October 27
This is the tale of a boy named Nothing the Younger, who lives in a city on the mountaintop of a far-off and long-lost country. Everyone calls him Ing, and while he has no parents, he does have two friends: a dog, Pöppy, and a mouse, mOmO. When King Cyrus calls for a hero to find and defeat the Giantess ravaging the countryside, the king’s son, the Wander Prince, answers the call and Ing decides to follow. Along the journey, Ing (and his friends) must traverse the Land of the Dead, survive an encounter with the terrifying wimmelworm, and discover the truth of his mother and father . . . so that he may find what he’s been seeking all along–his best purpose.
The text on each page snakes, climbs, jumps, and explodes into shapes and forms that unravel the story. This Is a Door is full of fun surprises and poignant musings that flip the classic hero’s journey on its head–all in an artistic and inventive package that is a wonder to behold. (Credit: Stonefruit Studio)
Heaven Lies Beneath (Buuza!! Volume 2) by Shazleen Khan
Expected Publication Date: October 27
Get ready for a second helping as BUUZA!! returns in Volume 2: Heaven Lies Beneath . . .
The events set in motion by Zhen’s fateful misdialed call continue to unfold against the backdrop of the lush, low-fantasy world of Dalwat Al-Harir; in Kashgar, Zhen has finally embraced his career as a photographer, but his past is swiftly catching up with him.
Across the continent, in Salwa, Sam and Zach continue to build a new life as roommates, but their friendship with the heir to the infamous Faris family, Musa, may put all their bonds to the test.
Queer romance, ancestral magic, and political intrigue collide with enthralling results in Heaven Lies Beneath! (Credit: Abrams Fanfare)
My Friend Kim Jong Un by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
Expected Publication Date: October 27
On an island located an hour from Seoul, North Korea sits visible from cartoonist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s home and studio. The specter of the infamous dictatorship and nuclear power looms over daily life. Artillery fire, helicopters, and sirens from a nearby military base paint the acoustic landscape. In her award-winning books Grass and The Waiting, Gendry-Kim documents the pain and heartbreak of Korea’s history. In My Friend Kim Jong-Un, she looks to the present—to the man currently responsible for upholding the national divide created after World War Two.
While the rest of the world partakes in the popularity of Korean culture, a certain unease and anxiety hangs in the air in South Korea as its people still grapple with the distrust and anger of one culture split into two distinct societies. Gendry-Kim explores the life of the supreme leader, searching for commonalities to make sense of the daily fear: from his birth to his international education, his hobbies, and his relationships. She weaves her personal accounts and includes interviews with former South Korean president Moon Jae-in, North Korean defectors, researchers, journalists, and even Kim’s former chef.
Translated by the award-winning Janet Hong, My Friend… is a cautionary tale on what makes a dictator, at a time when these lessons are more relevant in the West than ever. (Credit: Drawn and Quarterly)
Imaginary Fiends by Tim Seeley and illustrated by Stephen Molnar
Expected Publication Date: October 27
When she was 10 years old, Melba Li was sent to a mental institution for attempted murder–a crime she blamed on a spidery phantom called “Polly Peachpit.”
Now, on the eve of her 18th birthday, Melba receives an unexpected offer from the FBI: in exchange for a reprieve from her sentence, she will work with Special Agent Virgil Crockett to hunt down I.M.P.s–Interdimensional Mental Parasites–that prey on the minds of humans.
Polly Peachpit is one of those I.M.P.s, and Crockett needs Melba to convince her childhood tormentor to help with his mission–because only I.M.P.s and the humans they are linked with can see and interact with each other.
If she succeeds, Melba will finally free herself from the trauma of her past. But can her fragile sanity survive a partnership with the creature that drove her mad in the first place?
Written by Tim Seeley (REVIVAL, HACK/SLASH) and illustrated by Stephen Molnar (Star Trek/Green Lantern, Danger Girl: Renegade), IMAGINARY FIENDS collects all six issues of the unforgettable Vertigo miniseries in a new IMAGE COMICS edition. (Credit: Image Comics)
Framing Emmett Till: Exposing Dark Fear by Christopher Benson and illustrated by Eric Battle
Expected Publication Date: October 27
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was abducted and lynched in August 1955 in Mississippi, his body thrown into the Tallahatchie River by two white men. A white woman named Carol Bryant had accused young Emmett of making advances on her. Bryant’s husband and his half-brother then hunted down, tortured, and murdered Emmett. Three days later, his mutilated body was pulled from the river.
In Emmett’s home city of Chicago, his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open casket funeral. Tens of thousands of people attended the ceremony, including the media, and the grotesque images of Emmett’s body were printed in Jet magazine and quickly spread throughout the nation, serving as a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Drawing on acclaimed journalist Christopher Benson’s experience collaborating with Mamie Till-Mobley on Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America–a Pulitzer Prize-nominated, Robert F. Kennedy Award-winning work–Framing Emmett Till: Exposing Dark Fear reexamines the legacy of Emmett Till through a contemporary lens. (Credit: Abrams Comicarts – Megascope)
Horror Picture Book: A Bad Book by Miyuki Miyabe and illustrated by Hisanori Yoshida
Expected Publication Date: October 27
Nice to meet you. I am a bad book.”
Deceptively simple picture books with sinister stories.
Somewhere in the world there is a book that will teach you very bad things. You say you don’t want a book like that? But someday you will. I know you will.
Award-winning authors Miyuki Miyabe and Hisanori Yoshida present the most terrifyingly bad book in the world. (Credit: Viz Media)
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