Welcome to Spooky Reads Friday, where every Friday in the month of October, I will be giving you scary selection book recommendations that will make your weekend reading more fulfilling…and scary 🎃. Check out these haunting book recs…if you dare…
The Blood of the Vampire by Florence Marryat
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 Ghost and the Dead Librarian by Cleo Coyle
As a young widow, Penelope moved back to her quaint Rhode Island town to give her young son a safer home and her aunt’s dying bookshop new life. Using her late husband’s insurance money, Pen polished the store into a local treasure. But her updates did more than attract new customers. They roused a dead private eye from his big sleep.
With Pen’s affection for hardboiled detective stories, it’s no surprise she’s developed a fondness for the wisecracking yet oddly likeable spirit. Sure, Jack’s cold spots are exasperating, along with his proclivity for putting noir fiction in the cozy section. But murder was Jack’s business in life, and his PI skills come in awfully handy when the body of an eccentric librarian is found amid the bookshop’s mystery aisles.
For years, Dory jokingly called herself “The Dead Librarian” because of her hobby of collecting local obituaries. Now, in death, she’s discovered holding her own eerily pre-written obit. Was it a suicide note? Jack and Pen say no and their certainty takes them from a ghost town’s ancient cemetery to a prominent family’s Newport estate. Then an intriguing stranger comes to town. Nikki Burnside takes a keen interest in Dory’s death and makes Pen a shocking offer, one that may change her life—and Jack’s afterlife. But unless Jack can help Pen prove who “checked out” the librarian, a ruthless killer may close the book on her. (Credit: Kensington Cozies)
They Say A Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough
Two murdered girls. A town with dark secrets.
A race to break a deadly cycle.
Anna Maybourne never imagined herself living in a place like Harper’s Creek, a nowhere town full of dusty farmland plagued by drought. It’s supposed to be a new start for her and her family, but after dropping out of college, Anna feels stuck in place—working a part-time job, watching her little sister grow up, and taking care of her grandmother with dementia, whose paranoid episodes have started to unnerve her. The only interesting thing about her new town, it seems, is the string of grisly murders attributed to a killer called the Farmhandman—and the clue she discovers that reveals the case is yet unsolved.
Along with outspoken loner Melissa Laverne and handsome deputy Todd Greenbough, Anna fills her hours with the town’s darkest curiosity—but even though the prime suspect is long dead, the Farmhandman murders begin to feel too close for comfort as the anniversary nears. Tension is building in Harper’s Creek, and everyone can feel it. The house is becoming more claustrophobic by the day, and her grandmother is growing stranger. Anna begins to wonder if her delusional moments are somehow the key to discovering the truth about the murders, and if the old house, and her new start, is haunted by its own bloody baggage.
With a devastating, genre-bending mystery at its core, They Say a Girl Died Here is a novel of thrilling and terrifying secrets, with a twist that could only come from the New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes, Sarah Pinborough. (Credit: Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar)
It’s For Your Own Good by Kate Francis
In the middle of the night, Liv Walker is kidnapped from her bedroom by two masked figures. As she’s dragged into an unmarked van, she’s met with an even more horrifying sight: her family are waving goodbye.
Camp Smiling Skies is a wilderness therapy camp for “troubled teens”. At least, that’s what it says in the brochure. In truth, it’s filled with dark secrets, cruel counsellors and no chance of escape.
Things seem as bad as they can get…until, one by one, people start to die.
Liv has already been betrayed by her family, but it seems like they’re not the only traitors in her life.
There’s a murderer in the camp, and everyone’s a suspect. (Credit: Usborne Publishing)
Grim Night Tales by Yamayu and illustrated by Kensei Hokamoto
A collection of the most haunting tales from all across Japan featuring fantastically dark imagery that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.
An extraordinary horror anthology begins, blending true tales of the uncanny with masterful manga storytelling.
Winner of the Third Annual Scariest Horror Story Competition, Yamayu, has spent over twenty years collecting real-life hauntings from across Japan. Now, these spine-tingling accounts are brought to life by Kensei Hokamoto, whose chilling artwork cuts straight to the heart of human fear and madness.
Enter a world of lingering spirits, cursed objects, and terrifying truths in this deeply unsettling collection. (Credit: Seven Seas)
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