There Are So Many Haunted Houses To Explore In The 11 Best Books Of October

Using Jane Austen’s “Mansfield Park” as the jumping-off point, this novel from Nikki May (“Wahala”) follows Funke, who has moved from Nigeria to England after tragedy strikes. There’s not much at the worn-down family estate for her except her cousin Liv. The girls grow up together but when tragedy haunts them for a second time, their bond is threatened, and they must reckon with choices made for them a generation ago.

Sydney is having a horrible time on the dating scene, her time wasted with liars and weirdos. Then, she meets a handsome doctor and she falls hard for him. Meanwhile, police are investigating a serial murderer who’s working along the coast, killing his dates. There couldn’t possibly be a correlation between Sydney’s new boyfriend and this crime — could there?

Frank is surprised when his estranged daughter invites him to her wedding to the son of a tech billionaire on a secluded New England estate. Frank tries to get Maggie alone so that they can make amends, but she doesn’t have time for him. Plus, the locals seem to despise her husband-to-be’s family. Something about this wedding is off. In this thriller, the closer Frank gets to the truth, the more he could lose Maggie forever.

Hawkins is a master of crafting mystery thrillers like “Girl on the Train,” and her latest is no exception. In it, an isolated island in Scotland holds a single house, which used to be home to Vanessa, an artist whose unfaithful husband went missing two decades ago. Now Grace revels in the isolation of the island. Her solitude is ruined when a visitor arrives with news of a shocking art discovery in London and it will cause the secrets of the island to rise up once more.

In this gothic eco-horror, the Haddesley family has tended to an Appalachian cranberry bog for generations. Each generation must ritually sacrifice their patriarch to the bog and in exchange the bog produces a bog wife to carry on the line. When the current generation makes their sacrifice and the bog refuses to produce a wife, it sends the squabbling siblings in scattered directions, all trying to repair their broken household in various ways. That is, until one sibling makes a discover that might change their trajectory forever.

The Maxwell siblings have avoided their scary childhood home ever since the grew up — there was something supernatural about its spookiness, but being the only black family in a white neighborhood didn’t help either. Now that their parents have died, they must return to the house to find out what happened. There’s something rotten about this house and segregation and racism might be at the roots…

In 1962, Jemma travels from her home in Chicago to a surprise job offer in New Orleans. Jemma can see ghosts and the Duchon family believe they have been cursed and need Jemma’s help. The Duchons are white-passing and look down on Jemma’s dark skin, but they know she has the power they need. Jemma starts unraveling the family’s history and realizes her fate is at stake if she fails. She needs to succeed or she will be bound to the family forever.

Garten, who's food and stories have always been a source of comfort for her fans, reveals her origin story including a difficult childhood, her romance with husband Jeffrey and the jobs that led to her becoming one of culture’s premiere foodies. This book is a soul-filling autobiography, just like one of her soothing recipes.

Sophie Kinsella was a best-selling author with her "Shopaholic" series, but she found out in 2022 that she had an aggressive form of brain cancer. In this semi-autobiographical work, she tells the story of Eve, a novelist who needs to start from scratch after the same diagnosis, learning to walk, talk and write after surgery. Kinsella describes her writing process as “therapy,” but fans will also find it a cathartic read, along with the wit and warmth for which she is known.

Libby is struggling to write the newest installment of her blockbuster fantasy series, but she learns her symptoms indicate early onset Alzheimer's. When her disease accelerates, she turns to Peanut, an 11-year-old superfan for help finishing her book. As Libby’s dementia deepens, Peanut deals with dark secrets of her own, which collide in a shocking conclusion.

Queen of the spooky romance, Sterling (a pseudonym for “The Wife Upstairs” author Rachel Hawkins) returns with the third installment of the “Graves Glen” series, this time focusing on Bowen Penhallow, the loner of the family. When he and Tamsyn, a local magical items dealer, end up at a Yuletide Celebration together at stately Tywyll House, they get transported back in time. There they must face an unknown source of evil, all while trying not to fall in love.