Getting ready for a double dose of FrightFall reading

It may be too soon to think of Fall but for the upcoming FrightFall readathon this year, a little preparation is rather necessary.

Due to Seasons of Reading having to postpone part of their summer schedule for real life concerns, their annual scary reading celebration known as FrightFall has been extended . We're getting a September/October readathon, which I consider a true Halloween treat from SOR moderator, Michelle Miller.

It'll be awhile before sign-ups start but I couldn't wait to share my TBR for FF here. My plan is to have three books each month to complete(no doubt, reading time will overlap), with thrillers and cozy mysteries as the main focus, plus I have three Halloween themed books for October! Well, let's start with September where my serious page turning terrors are:

THE DRY: Jane Harper's 2017 debut thriller takes place in Australia, where federal agent Aaron Falk is heading back to his home town for the funeral of his best friend Luke.

The circumstances of Luke's demise(along with his wife and son) appear to be a self inflicted family tragedy but things may not be as they seem. When Luke's parents ask Aaron to look into the matter, he does so as part of a debt he's trying to repay to his former friend, who once stood by him during similar circumstances back in the day.

A number of secrets and lies become revealed during the course of the case, making Aaron reconsider his whole perspective on his mutual past with Luke. Will he allow that past to blind him to the truth of the present?

I did read the follow-up book to this(Force of Nature, which works well as a stand alone) and was intrigued enough to want to see where Harper's sharp talents at storytelling began:

THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE:  In this first entry in his popular series, Alan Bradley introduces us to Flavia de Luce, a very clever eleven year old girl living with her snippy sisters and stamp collecting father in 1950s England.

Her regular routine is interrupted by the arrival of a red haired stranger, who accuses her father of a long ago theft and then later winds up dead in their cucumber patch.

In order to clear her father's name, Flavia uses her knack for chemistry, inclination for snooping and the aid of Dogger, the family gardener to not only acquit her sole parent of murder but stamp stealing as well. I have heard a great deal about these books and their engaging young heroine and this is certainly the perfect opportunity to get to know them better:

I will be rounding this out with A Pizza to Die For by Chris Cavender(hey, pizza is good anytime of the year!), needing a little cozy comfort mystery to offset the literary tension. For October, however, I'm going full cozy with a trio of seasonal reads:

STIRRING THE PLOT: This third entry in Daryl Wood Gerber's Cookbook Nook series(and yes, I do plan on reading the earlier books) has specialty bookstore owner Jenna Hart revving the shop up for some Halloween hijinks.

While she and her bookshop partner Aunt Vera are happy to host the Winsome Witches, a local Wiccan group who hold annual fund raisers, trouble brews up unexpectedly when their  High Priestess is discovered to be dead.

Can Jenna get to the bottom of things before All Hallow's Eve, especially if Aunt Vera's gift for seeing the future is a bit on hold at the moment? This sounds like a fun series, combining three elements that I like: food, book stores and mystery solving!

Turns out that Daryl Wood Gerber is also known as Avery Aames, the author of the Cheese Shop mysteries that I'm still planing to get into(much thanks to Ellie Alexander, for her Five Things Friday interview with her that clued me into this particular set of stories!). This should be a true treat to enjoy this season indeed:

LESLIE MEIER & LUCY STONE: Last year, I read an ebook version of a Lucy Stone mystery, Turkey Day Murder, and really liked it. I also have Turkey Trot Murder(which I may dive into in November) and one other in this format but I decided this time out to get print versions. Some books just need to be held in hand, in my opinion.

This long running series by Leslie Meier featuring small town wife and mother Lucy covers just about every holiday and special occasion that you can imagine and it's not surprising that there are at least several Halloween themed stories, which made it hard to choose from yet I managed to go with two of them.  

Trick or Treat Murder has Lucy investigating a number of  historical buildings in their town of Tinker's Cove being torched , the latest inferno taking the life of socialite Monica Mayes.  Naturally, Monica's husband is a prime suspect but this fiery murder might have been lit by an old flame....

A later book, Candy Corn Murder, has Lucy, who is now a reporter for the local newspaper, juggling her journalist duties in highlighting the upcoming Giant Pumpkin festival with keeping an eye on her visiting grandson.

It doesn't help that her husband Tom is putting all of his attention towards the big pumpkin weigh-in contest, including a catapult competition that leaves someone dead and in need of a real look into the messy matter.

I do like the charming sitcom feel of the setting and Lucy herself(not crazy about her husband but hopefully he improves with time) so spending this Halloween in Tinker's Cove feels just right to me. A little homemade holiday fun ought to be a real sweet relief these days:

I have no doubt that many of SOR's devoted readers will be glad to have extra time with the spooky tales of their choosing here and that this seasonal fear fest offers some much needed relaxation from the current headline horrors out there.

So, thank you in advance to Michelle for this special sinister sweet treat and look forward to sharing more scary book recommendations with one and all. Granted, my list seems a tad tame but how great a fear can be is truly in the eye of the bookish beholder: