5 Great Books set at Halloween

31st October 2020

5 Great Books set at Halloween

What will you be reading this year?

In Covid times the celebrations for Halloween are not really on the cards, no spooky ghosts patrolling the streets, no trick and treat. In order to get you in the mood, we have chosen 5 books that are set at the end of October. Mark Halloween with a top read!

The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry – Salem

When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem’s chief of police, John Rafferty, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem’s most notorious cold case, a triple homicide dubbed The Goddess Murders, in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989. He finds unexpected help in Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims newly returned to town. Neither believes that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, respected local historian, is guilty of murder or witchcraft.

But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force. Were the women victims of an all-too-human vengeance, or was the devil raised in Salem that night? And if they cannot discover what truly happened, will evil rise again?

4 a.m. Las Vegas by Michelle Jackson – Las Vegas

It’s Halloween in Las Vegas and things are crazier than normal for Connie the wedding planner. Vicky and Frank are in town for their nuptials but she soon realises that he has more on his mind than wedding bells. Vicky’s teenage daughter Tina is less than impressed until she meets Connie’s moody and enigmatic son Kyle. Frank’s brother John is trying to hold everyone together but then something happens that turns the wedding party on their heads at 4am in Las Vegas! Life and love seem to have slipped through Suzanne’s fingers but then, new to Facebook, she stumbles upon more than she expected when she receives a friend request from old flame Ronan in Boston. He’s on his way to Las Vegas for a work convention and Suzanne’s friend Eddie convinces her that she should go too. What has she got to lose? When they all meet in Binion’s Casino the cards have already been dealt but will there be a winner?

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge – The MidWest

Halloween, 1963. They call him the October Boy, or Ol’ Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.

Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one chance to escape a dead-end future in this one-horse town. He’s willing to risk everything, including his life, to be a winner for once. But before the night is over, Pete will look into the saw-toothed face of horror–and discover the terrifying true secret of the October Boy . . .

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury – Illinois

It’s the week before Hallowe’en, and Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois. The siren song of the calliope entices all with promises of youth regained and dreams fulfilled . . .

And as two boys trembling on the brink of manhood set out to explore the mysteries of the dark carnival’s smoke, mazes and mirrors, they will also discover the true price of innermost wishes . . .

The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine by Jennifer Dawson, Kate Angell, Sharla Lovelace – Maine

It’s time for the annual Halloween costume party at the cottage on Pumpkin and Vine, the perfect place to celebrate the pleasures of the season. Guests return to the picturesque B & B year after year to snuggle up in its cozy rooms, explore the quiet, tree-lined streets and enjoy all the spooky fun of the holiday. But local legend whispers that it’s also a place where wishes have a strange way of coming true.

For three unsuspecting revelers, it’s going to be an enchanted weekend of candy corn kisses and midnight black kittens, along with some real Halloween surprises—the kind that make your heart skip a beat—for many more celebrations to come…

BONUS BOOK

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney – CORNWALL

Daisy Darker’s family were as dark as dark can be, when one of them died all of them lied and pretended not to see . . .

Daisy Darker is arriving at her grandmother’s house for her eightieth birthday. It is Halloween, and Seaglass – the crumbling Cornish house perched upon its own tiny private island – is at one with the granite rocks it sits on. The Darker family haven’t all been in the same place for over a decade, and when the tide comes in they’ll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. When the tide goes back out, nothing will ever be the same again, because one of them is a killer . . .

‘Wow! Echoes of Christie’s And Then There Were None but turned into something wonderfully original. This takes Feeney to the next level. LOVED IT!’ – Sarah Pinborough, author of #1 bestselling Behind Her Eyes

Tina for the TripFiction Team

Do you have favourite titles set ACTUALLY at Halloween? Share them with us in the comments below!

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