It was a dark and stormy night. In the shadows of the Library, something was stirring. Nine terrifying tales were summoned from the shelves...
Get in the Halloween spirit with a book that will send shivers down your spine. From folklore and ghost hunting to friendships with the undead, these spooktacular stories are guaranteed to keep you up at night. Click the links to borrow one and start reading…if you dare.
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Slade House - David Mitchell
Turn down Slade Alley - narrow, dank and easy to miss, even when you're looking for it. Find the small black iron door set into the right-hand wall. No handle, no keyhole, but at your touch it swings open. Enter the sunlit garden of an old house that doesn't quite make sense; too grand for the shabby neighbourhood, too large for the space it occupies. A stranger greets you by name and invites you inside. At first, you won't want to leave. Later, you'll find that you can't. This unnerving, taut and intricately-woven tale by one of our most original and bewitching writers begins in 1979 and reaches its turbulent conclusion around Hallowe'en this year. Because every nine years, on the last Saturday of October, a 'guest' is summoned to Slade House. But why have they been chosen, by whom and for what purpose?
Borrow: Book, Audio CD
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Karunatilaka
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet queen, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time when scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts who cluster around him can attest.
But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka. .
Borrow: Book, eBook
The Book of Cold Cases - Simone St James
In 1977, Claire Lake was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect, but she was acquitted. In 2017, Shea Collins runs a true crime website, a passion fuelled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right.
Borrow: Book
The Dead Romantics - Ashley Poston
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem - after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won't give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father. For ten years, she's run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlour, she can't bring herself to stay. Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlour's front door, just as broad and handsome as ever, and he's just as confused about why he's there as she is.
Borrow: Book, eBook
House of Bone and Rain - Gabino Iglesias
For childhood friends Gabe, Xavier, Tavo, Paul, and Bimbo, death has always been close. Hurricanes. Car accidents. Gang violence. Suicide. Estamos rodeados de fantasmas was Gabe's grandmother's refrain. We are surrounded by ghosts. But this time is different. Bimbo's mom has been shot dead. We're gonna kill the guys who killed her Bimbo swears. And they all agree. Feral with grief, Bimbo has become unrecognizable, taking no prisoners in his search for names. Soon, they learn Maria was gunned down by guys working for the drug kingpin of Puerto Rico. No one has ever gone up against him and survived. As the boys strategize, a storm gathers far from the coast. Hurricanes are known to carry evil spirits in their currents and bring them ashore, spirits which impose their own order.
Borrow: Book
Broken Ghosts - J.D. Oswald
Twelve year old Phoebe's world is falling apart. It's the summer of 1985 and she has just buried her parents, a fire at their family home claiming both in a freak accident. Her life is uprooted in an instant, and she takes little solace in the fact that her uncle Louis and aunt Maude have generously offered to take her in at their home in the Welsh woods. Under the summer sun, though, Phoebe falls into the rhythm of life with her eccentric guardians in their curious idyllic home.
Borrow: Book
The Misteltoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales - Kate Mosse
A wonderfully atmospheric collection of short stories, rooted deep in the landscape and inspired by traditional folk tales and country legends from England and France. These tales are richly populated by ghosts and spirits seeking revenge; by grief-struck women and haunted men coming to terms with their destiny - all rooted deep in the elemental landscapes of Sussex, Brittany and the Languedoc.
Borrow: Book
Ghost Roast - Shawneé Gibbs, Shawnelle Gibbs ; illustrated by Emily Cannon
For as long as she can remember, Chelsea Grant has tried everything she can think of to distance herself from the disastrous damage her father does to her social life. It's not easy to shake her reputation as Ghost Girl when Dad keeps advertising his business as a 'paranormal removal expert' in big, bold, loud letters all over New Orleans. This year, Chelsea's all grown up, attending one of the most prestigious high schools in the city, and she's finally made friends with the popular crowd. Things are looking up - until a night on the town backfires spectacularly, landing her in hot water at home. Her punishment? Working for her dad at Paranormal Removal Services. All. Summer. Worst of all, her new job reveals an unexpected secret she has to keep: While Dad hunts ghosts with his own DIY tech, Chelsea can actually see them.
Borrow: Graphic novel
The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall.
Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, its owners - mother, son and daughter - struggling to keep pace.
But are the Ayres family haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.
Borrow: Book
