Frightfully fun Halloween reads

October is the time for cozy sweaters, hot apple cider, bonfires, and hayrides. It's also the time for spooks and scares as we amp up for Halloween. Are you looking for something bloodcurdling to get you in the Halloween spirit? Or perhaps you like the festivities, but not the frights, and a Halloween cozy mystery is more to your liking. Try these holiday reads to get you in the mood for tricks or treats!

Ghost Road Blues, Jonathan Maberry

From a new master of horror comes the first book in a new trilogy that chronicles an apocalyptic showdown between the residents of a secluded, rural farm and the deadly evil that confronts them wherever they turn. This novel won the Bram Stoker Award in 2006.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury

Three hours after midnight, one week before Halloween, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show rolls into Green Town, Illinois. A carnival like no other, it feeds on the dreams and weaknesses of those drawn to its eerie attractions, destroying every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. Two boys--best friends Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade--are about to learn the secret of its smoke, mazes and mirrors as they confront a nightmarish evil that will change their lives forever.

Ghost Shadow, Heather Graham

“There are those who walk among us who are no longer alive, but not yet crossed over. They seek retribution…vengeance…to warn…Among the living, few intuit their presence. Katie O’Hara is one who can. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into a gruesome, year-old murder, whispered warnings from a spectral friend become more and more insistent...the body count is rising on the island of Bones and the dead seem to be reenacting some macabre tableaux from history.” This is the first book in the Bone Island Trilogy. (The quote is from the book.)

Fatal Undertaking, Mark De Castrique

Funeral director and part-time sheriff Barry Clayton lends Jaycee member Archie Donovan a casket to be the centerpiece of a haunted house, the Jaycees’ charity event. But when the organization’s president is murdered in the casket on Halloween, the national press descends upon Gainesboro. Barry must follow a trail of winding clues to find a killer whose unmasking will be a fatal undertaking.

A Catered Halloween: A Mystery with Recipes, Isis Crawford

In the fifth adventure in Crawford's much-loved culinary mystery series, sisters Libby and Bernie Simmons attend a haunted house fundraiser--with some truly spooky surprises.

Blackwork, Monica Ferris

This Halloween, Betsy Devonshire, owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth, is haunted by murder. After one too many pints, a local blames bar owner and Wicca practitioner Leona Cunningham for a series of "accidents" that have happened throughout town. When he ends up dead without a mark on his body, Leona is the main suspect, but Betsy being on the case spells trouble for the killer.