Wednesday, September 18, 2024

A mix of thrills and chills this FrightFall season




 While the weather isn’t as cold or leaf blowing as we would like, it is getting closer to spooky season and the signups for Seasons of Reading’s annual readathon known as FrightFall are already under way.

Hosted by Michelle Miller(who also runs Castle Macabre as well ), this month long bookish event only requires you to read one scary book, whether it’s horror, mystery or something along those genre lines.

My TBR for this year’s readathon is more of a mystery /suspense party( enough horror going on in the headlines these days!) but there is one that does have a paranormal vibe to it there…

Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary introduces us to Catherine, an American woman visiting London due to an estrangement from her husband James.

When she comes across a strange glass vial and researches the unusual bear marking on the bottle, Catherine learns about Nella, an eighteenth century woman who supplied  her female customers seeking revenge on the men that wronged them with the deadly means to do so.

Nella was said to have die by her own hand but perhaps not and that mystery might be necessary to unravel as James arrives unexpectedly and winds up being poisoned by similar means. Can the key to Catherine’s future be found in the past or is history truly doomed to repeat?

I ‘ve heard a lot of good word about this book and while it’s not entirely a supernatural story, the energy of a witchy tale certainly seems present, making this a very seasonal read for me:



Next up is more of an offbeat mystery as the title boldly claims; Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson is told from the point of view of Ernst Cunningham who writes how-to books about writing and winds up in a bizarre mystery himself.

Years ago, his brother Michael came to him with the odd request of helping him bury a body along with a bag of money. police's did go to jail for that incident ( mainly due to Ernst turning him into the police) and upon his release three years later, a family homecoming celebration in his honor goes wrong as another dead body is found.

This time, however, Ernst is pretty sure that Michael is innocent  but someone else in his family circle is not. With that in mind, Ernst tries to employ his own rules of writing to solve this case but finding the right solution to this puzzle is not as easy or safe as one might think.

This is the first in a series that I may continue with if this savvy starter is as entertaining as promised. From what I have heard, it’s a cozier Knives Out style of story which I am all for :


Finally, I chose from my Book of the Month Club pile(getting scarily large there!), The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz.

When Alex is given the opportunity to stay at the title locale being hosted by renowned author Rosa Vella, she feels like the luckiest person on earth. With her own literary career at a standstill (along with her personal life), this artistic getaway sounds too perfect to be true.

Unfortunately for Alex, it is-Roza ‘s estate is very isolated from the outside world and her demands upon the attendees include completing a full length novel within four weeks, handing in three thousand words a day for group critique.

Such a grueling process is made more intense by the offer of a million dollar book contract as the “prize” for success. While Alex does her best, the tension between her and the other competing writers is worthy of several thrillers before people begin to go missing….

Books about writers are catnip to most readers and this one sounds particularly enticing, in a “be careful what you wish for” kind of way:



The readathon begins on October 1 and runs through out the entire month of sinister page turning fun. Thanks in advance to Michelle Miller for setting up this trick or treat bookish delight!

While I am not going for a major horror book this time, I may do a reread of Stephen King’s classic Salem’s Lot as a new film version is set to stream on Max by October third. Based on the trailer alone, between this and Agatha All Along, my Halloween entertainment schedule is set for spooky success!:





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