Reading right now:

            “Charlotte’s Story” by Laura Benedict. The residents of Bliss House are haunted by their pasts and the house makes sure that they never recover. In 1957, Charlotte Bliss lives with her husband and two children in southern Virginia. After the death of her daughter, the disturbing truth comes out about her husband’s past and she finds herself held prisoner at Bliss House with only the ghost of her mother-in-law as company. This is the second Bliss House novel which is more about the house’s effect on those that live there than any continuing character. This is a great series to read if you want to be scared to death around Halloween. 

On hold right now:

            “Boxes” by Pascal Garnier. Published after French noir author Pascal Garnier’s death, “Boxes” follows the decent of a man named Brice into depression and madness. After packing everything in boxes and moving, Brice waits for his wife to join him in their new home, but she never does.     

    

Other mysterious things:

            I can’t resist continuing the scary book list for Halloween. There are so many coming out that sound scary and fun. So if you want a scary book for Halloween, these new offerings include everything from the darkly disturbing police procedurals to cozies feathering ghosts and more ghosts. Thomas Callaghan’s “A Killing Winter” is a noir debut with a Russian homicide detective investigating a mutilated woman’s death. The third book in the Haunted Vintage mystery series by Rose Pressey comes out soon and is called “Haunt Couture and Ghosts Galore.” “A Ghostly Murder” is the fourth book in Tonya Kappes’ Ghostly Southern mystery series which features funeral director Emma Lee. Another haunted house story is William Gay’s “Little Sister Death” which is based on Tennessee’s Curse of the Bell Witch. Carolyn Hart’s sixth book in the Bailey Ruth series is “Ghost to the Rescue.” At Halloween, it might be time to escape your comfort zone of always reading mysteries and expand into Horror. Go back in time to read some of the great scary authors of all time: Peter Straub, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen King, Joe Hill, David Wong, Clive Barker, Dan Simmons, Max Brooks, John Ajvide Lindqvist. There are also lots of scary serial killer books from the likes of Thomas Harris, Jim Thompson, Karin Slaughter, PJ Tracy, T. Jefferson Parker, Jeff Lindsay, Alex Kava, and so many others. So enjoy a good scare in book shape over Halloween.