Top Ten Tuesday; Spooky Books Set During Autumn and/or Halloween

It's Tuesday, which means it's time for another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of That Artsy Reader Girl, and as today's topic was a Halloween freebie, so I decided writing a list of spooky books set during autumn and/or Halloween. My list is a combo of novels and short story collections.

Here's my ten spooky picks.

That Night in the Woods by Kristopher Triana

Description from Goodreads

When Jennifer receives a message from Scott Dwyer after twenty years without contact, her first reaction is one of excitement. Scott was her first love, and now that she’s in her forties and in the middle of a divorce, nostalgia for her youth gets the better of her.

Scott invites Jennifer to his house in Redford, the very same town she grew up in. It’s a place she’s made great effort to put behind her, for not all her childhood memories are sunny. When she accepts Scott’s invite and returns to her old hometown, she struggles with mixed feelings, especially when she learns of the death of Steven Winters, one of her and Scott’s childhood friends.

Scott invites three other people from their past to honor Steven’s memory—Corey, Traci, and Mark. But the group is more than old friends. They share a dark secret that has troubled them for decades. Now it’s time to face their traumatic pasts. Together, they must unravel the mystery of what happened that night in the patch of forest behind Scott’s house, a place once known as Suicide Woods.

From the author of Gone to See the River Man comes a chilling novel that reminds us old ghosts are the ones that haunt us most.

The Harvest by Sara Clancy

Description from Goodreads

Amid the sweet sounds of a music box, their darkest fears will haunt them…

In Black River, Tennessee, everyone knows the legend of the Bell Witch… and the alleged curse that hangs like a dark shroud over the town. To some, it is just a local tall tale. But to others, it is terrifyingly real.

For centuries, four families have been forced into the ritualistic tradition of sacrifice and terror. Every year, a member of each family stumbles upon an antique music box they need to lock before the time is up. And a horrible fate awaits them once the boxes open.

Trapped in the witch’s sadistic game, the families’ young offspring are forced to journey into the dark and twisted woods of Black River in search for the keys to their salvation. But as they search for a way to end the curse, a haunting melody echoes through the trees. And each lost soul must wonder…

Will they survive the night? Or will the Bell Witch’s bloody harvest claim more victims?

This is Halloween by James A. Moore

Description from Goodreads

Author James A. Moore offers up ten autumnal tales of the darker things that lurk just around the corner of Indian Summer. A man learns of a town's obsession with scarecrows and tries to find the answers as to why they are so important. Children move through familiar streets and find that Halloween makes everything different. Tis' the season when ghosts are real, witches soar through the night, and things in the Beldam Woods are not always what they seem. Sometimes it's the monsters that wear the masks.

Halloween: A Collection of Short Stories by Matt Shaw

Description from Goodreads

October 31st. Halloween. A group of teenagers meet up in the woods, ready to tell camp-stories to a fellow (new) classmate. By the end of the night, the listening classmate has to decide which of the stories she has heard is "real", as opposed to just made up to try and scare her. The problem is, in this cruel world we live in, the "real" story really could be any of them... Is she prepared for the truth? Halloween is A collection of short stories, tied together with a central storyline.

The Legend of Decimus Croome: A Halloween Carol by Kevin Purdy

Description from Goodreads

Decimus Croome is a dastardly curmudgeon who hates all holidays but especially despises Halloween. He is content to live in his gloomy old house and avoid all human contact whenever possible. He even shuns his own daughter and grandson. But Croome's life changes one memorable Halloween when four ghastly spirits visit him to reveal the misery he has inflicted upon his friends, neighbors and family members.

Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, The Legend of Decimus Croome is bound to become a Halloween classic for readers of all ages. Follow old man Croome as he is visited by the lovely but disturbing spirit of his dearly departed wife. She warns him of three spirits yet to follow. And oh what spirits they are. Each one is more frightening than the last as they deliver a chilling message for Croome and his fellow Halloween humbugs.

The Ghost of Halloween Past is a truly horrifying yet disturbingly hilarious spirit who delivers Croome to his distant and not-so-distant past. Along the journey, Croome is warmed with nostalgia then terrified by painful memories from Halloweens gone by.

The second spirit is a shape-shifting witch who breaks every stereotype about witches while nearly driving Croome insane with her wild antics and slapstick delivery. As the Ghost of Halloween Present, she takes Croome on a crazy magic carpet ride that reveals his negative influence on those closest to him. The witch also introduces Croome to the magic of Halloween on enchanted visits further afield.

The third phantasm delivers the final glimpse of Croome's diabolically repulsive life and the future that is in store for him if he doesn't change his wicked ways. Croome is forced to confront the impending consequences of his cruel and heartless lifestyle. He is spirited away to a bleak future including a terrifying visit to a desolate cemetery.

Throughout this delightful and spooky Halloween novel, you will be haunted by ghosts, inspired by a brave young leukemia patient and entertained by a precocious feline named Black Magic.

Join Tommy Bobbich, Decimus Croome and a whole cast of ghosts, witches and ghouls in this modern day holiday story that is sure to provide you with chills, laughs and even a few touching moments as you read The Legend of Decimus Croome: a Halloween Carol. You will never look at Halloween the same again.

Dead Leaves: 9 Tales from the Witching Season by Kealan Patrick Burke

Description from Goodreads

Two brothers find themselves drawn to the only house in the neighborhood not decorated for Halloween…A man returns to his hometown to bury his overbearing mother, and finds more than memories awaiting him in the shadows of his childhood home…A young girl walks a lonely country road, recalling a rhyme that brings with it memories of death…A teenager hoping for romance gets more than he bargained for when the object of his desire introduces him to the object of hers…An aging millionaire awakes buried in a cheap coffin with only a lamp and a bell for company…The son of a woman accused of being a witch accepts the villagers' peace offering at her funeral, but all is not quite as it seems…A woman with a violent past realizes that this year's Halloween party may be coming for her…and a lonely trick-or-treater awakes in a house rumored to be a place of death.

From Bram Stoker Award-winning author Kealan Patrick Burke comes the second in his series of seasonal collections. Featuring a brand new story "The Toll", a new introduction, and rounded out by the author's recommended Halloween reading and watching lists, DEAD LEAVES makes for the perfect autumnal read.

The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural by Agatha Christie

Description from Goodreads

From the Queen of Suspense, an all-new collection of her spookiest and most sinister stories, including an Agatha Christie story never before published in the USA, The Wife of Kenite!

For lovers of the supernatural and the macabre comes this collection of ghostly and chilling stories from legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie. Fantastic psychic visions, specters looming in the shadows, encounters with deities, a man who switches bodies with a cat—be sure to keep the light on whilst reading these tales.

The Last Séance gathers twenty stories, some featuring Christie’s beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, in one haunting compendium that explores all things occult and paranormal, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fans.

The Long Shadows of October by Kristopher Triana

Description from Goodreads

When Joe and Danny take on the job of housesitting Snowden Manor, they fail to realize they won’t be in the house alone. Inside the walls swarms a specter made of equal parts ghost, succubus and witch, and she uses the manse as a prison for souls. Now that October’s supermoon is falling over the mountains, she is ready to rise and reclaim her flesh.

Kayla has a crush on Joe, so when he asks her to come to a party at the manor she accepts his invitation. But no sooner do they get there than strange things start to unfold. People go missing, a mysterious dog appears, and then the boys begin to change . . .

Wraiths warn Kayla to save her friends before they’re devoured by the seductive witch. But she must hurry. For as Halloween approaches, the manor becomes a vessel for the black magic of the mountains, and the shadows that rule the woods return home.