Halloween and crime fiction go together like witches and broomsticks. It’s the perfect time of year for mayhem and murder. As the days get shorter, we settle into darkness of all kinds, and crime fiction becomes the perfect Fall read.
I’ve always been obsessed with Halloween. It’s my birthday, for one. It’s also the time of the year when we can flirt with otherwise often taboo subjects like death, spirits, terror. When I was thinking about writing about the dark side of suburban life for my second novel, The Mother Next Door, I couldn’t think of a better time to set it than during Halloween. What’s creepier than a secluded upper-middle-class cul-de-sac, a group of cliquey and competitive mothers, and an annual Halloween block party with a history of secrets and lies?
Sure, you can find plenty of spooky reads to get you into the spirit, but if you’re a Halloween purist and want your crime stories actually set on or near Halloween, I’ve got you covered. Here are some of my favorite recommendations—from lighter mysteries to novels leaning heavily toward horror, and everything in between.
Dark Tides by Chris Ewan
In this sweeping atmospheric slow-burn thriller, every Halloween digs up painful memories for Claire Cooper. That’s because her mother disappeared on Halloween night when she was 8 years old. When she turns 14, she starts hanging out with a group of friends who cook up pranks and dares each Halloween—which is a distraction for Claire until one year when their prank goes horribly wrong. Six years after that, Claire is now a police officer, and the friends she used to have are turning up dead. How is this related to their childhood antics? How is it related to her mother? And will she survive another Halloween herself?
For a follow-up: Need more well-written atmospheric British crime fiction? Try Martin Edwards’ The Frozen Shroud, set in a remote English community that only has two deaths in its history—both on Halloween night.
Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
Fair warning: This novel is nowhere near one of Christie’s best. (In fact, when it came out in 1969, the Toronto Daily Star’s review said, “Poirot seems weary and so does the book.”) But if you want to get your Hercule Poirot fix with a Halloween theme, this is your book.
It’s a great set-up—during a Halloween party at a wealthy woman’s home, a child is murdered in the bobbing-for-apples tub. Poirot is called in to investigate, and while interrogating all the neighbors and party-goers, he discovers a slew of secrets and feuds and difficult personalities to navigate. It’s one of Christie’s more elaborate crimes and motives, which can make it hard to follow at times, but an Agatha Christie novel is still an Agatha Christie novel.
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For a follow-up: Try Rachel Woods’ Trick or Treat Murder for another amazing Halloween premise: Imagine bringing your kiddos home after trick-or-treating, excited to go through all the candy, only to find a human finger among the loot.
“Samhain” by Bernard Taylor (from The Valancourt Book of Horror Stores Vol. 2)
I read this short story a few years ago, and I still think about it every now and again, most often whenever I hear an anecdote about a toxic marriage. Doris and Arthur are a pretty awful couple, poisonous in every way. But it’s Halloween—the time of year when all spouses put aside their petty differences to attend a festive, satanic costume ball with a group of creepy-ass friends who also enjoy witchcraft! Right?
It’s got loads of dark—spells, weird sexual rituals, revenge plots, gore—but also maintains that light spirit of Halloween and our fascination with death around this time.
This wicked little tale ultimately shows us that even if you think you’ve got the most meticulous and thorough plan to murder your spouse, things are inevitably going to go awry. It’s also got one of the most memorable endings of any story I’ve ever read, a moment that’s both funny and brutal rolled into one.
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For a follow-up: Grab a copy of Homicidal Holidays, a short story anthology published by Wildside Press. There are five Halloween stories featured, including one by Edgar-award-winning author Art Taylor.
The Skeleton Haunts a House by Leigh Perry
A cozy mystery series about a skeleton detective? Sign me up. Sid is one of the most memorable and likeable amateur detective characters out there, and not just because he’s an animated skeleton. Honestly, you almost forget that fact once you get wrapped up in solving the crime, since his humor and attention-to-detail take over.
This is the third in the Family Skeleton Mystery series, and Perry does the natural thing and sets it on Halloween, in a scare house. It’s a place already littered with blood and gore, but that’s all make-up and props until someone finds an actual dead girl inside. This is a smart, fun book with lots of twists and a wry humor, making it the perfect Halloween book you can read late into the night and not have nightmares from.
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For a follow-up: Another fantastic trip to the lighter side of Halloween is the witty Lord of the Wings, part of Donna Andrews’ award-winning and best-selling Meg Lanslow series.
The October Boys by Adam Millard
I have always thought that ice cream trucks were creepy as hell. However, I don’t think I fully understood just how creepy they could be until I read the first chapter of The October Boys. The image of an old, rusted ice cream truck following a group of young boys on Halloween night—with “Pop the Weasel” playing over and over again—will most likely haunt my dreams for a long time.
In 1988, a group of boys and best friends are trick-or-treating when a man in an ice cream truck abducts one of them, leaving the three who are left forever scarred and haunted. Twenty-eight years later, the boys—now men—are still haunted and scarred by that night, affecting their relationships and well-being. As Halloween approaches, they discover a disturbing pattern in child abductions on Halloween night and realize that they may be the only ones who can put this terrible cycle to an end.
This book leans more toward horror than crime fiction, but if you’re looking for a mix of both this Halloween season, I think you’ll find The October Boys to be a very satisfying and scary read.
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For a follow-up: A mash-up of sci-fi, crime, and horror, Ray Bradbury’s A Graveyard for Lunatics features Halloween night, a movie studio, cemetery, a dead body, and a writer—all a recipe for madness.
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Ok, I know this one is a bit of a stretch, but my husband and I just finished reading this to our 9-year-old son, and it remains solidly one of my favorite kids’ books ever. I read this book dozens of times as a kid, and it was a blast to revisit it now as an adult. And I’d forgotten how central the Halloween night scene is to this book.
The novel features a group of six kids, ranging from 4 years of age to 11, who start this amazing (and creepy) game where they pretend they are ancient Egyptians. They find an abandoned alley that they turn into Egypt and concoct elaborate ceremonies and rituals as part of the game.
After a child is murdered in the neighborhood, the local families prohibit their kids from roaming the streets and playing without supervision. All which looks like the end to the Egypt Game and to upcoming Halloween festivities. But when a group of dads volunteer to take the kids trick-or-treating in groups for safety, the Egyptians form plans of their own. And when they sneak off from the group to visit Egypt at night, that’s when Halloween gets really interesting.
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For a follow-up: Need more YA Halloween fun? Check out Halloween Party by R.L. Stine, where a couple of outcasts get invited to the cool kids’ Halloween bash. Except when the lights go out, someone ends up dead—and that’s just the beginning.
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