It’s the spookiest month of spooky season, and this month’s picks are all about horror in its finest forms — ghost girls in cursed homes, sisters wrapped in secrets and botanical estates blooming with forbidden love and buried rot. From queer retellings to murderous hauntings, demonic demons and blood-soaked culinary revenge, October’s newest books remind us that what lies beneath is often far more terrifying than what waits on the surface. Happy haunting!
Her Wicked Roots by Tanya Pell
In this lush retelling of Rappaccini’s Daughter, Cordelia Beecher flees a grim charity school in search of her missing brother — only to be drawn into the eerie splendor of a secluded estate ruled by a mysterious botanist and her beguiling daughters. As Cordi’s romance with the enigmatic Briar deepens, she uncovers dark secrets rooted deep in Edenfield’s soil.
Sisters Before Misters by Amelia Diane Coombs
Remi Finch’s Halloween takes a sharp turn when her sister’s estranged husband vanishes, leaving behind a severed finger and a trail of lies. With a ruthless detective circling and their family ties fraying, Remi must untangle a deadly web of secrets before her sister takes the fall for a crime she may or may not have committed in the second adventure for the Finch sisters.
How To Fake A Haunting by Christa Carmen
When Lainey Taylor and her friend stage a fake haunting to scare off her volatile, alcoholic husband, their plan seems foolproof — until something truly sinister takes root in their rage-filled home. As fabricated horrors spiral into real nightmares, Lainey must team up with the man she fears most to survive the darkness they’ve unleashed.
Cinder House by Freya Marske
Ella is a ghost bound to her father’s house, visible only to her cruel stepfamily and cursed to return to the scene of her death every night. But when a mysterious charm-seller offers her three nights of her near-life, Ella steps into a darkly romantic world of forbidden magic and longing in this lush and aching queer retelling of Cinderella.
King Sorrow by Joe Hill
When six college friends use a forbidden grimoire to summon a dragon and solve a desperate problem, they unwittingly unleash an ancient entity with a hunger for blood and a long memory. A chilling dark academia tale of magic, friendship and the monstrous price of revenge that demands yearly human sacrifice — or else.
Futility by Nuzo Onoh
When a trickster spirit offers two betrayed women the chance at bloody vengeance, they embark on a gleeful spree of murder, body-swapping and culinary revenge. Set in Abuja and brimming with wit and horror, this darkly funny tale from the Queen of African Horror is as sharp as a butcher’s knife — and twice as satisfying.
The Chill Quill is a monthly roundup of thriller, horror, mystery and dark fantasy titles released each month by Lindy Ryan. Read previous editions here.
