“Don’t have a cup of coffee this Halloween. Have a cauldron of coffee instead.”
As the leaves turn and the air grows crisp, Halloween beckons with its promise of chills and intrigue. And while traditional horror novels can offer spine-tingling thrills and are the go-to’s for the holiday, there’s a special delight in exploring cosy mystery Halloween reads that blend the terrors with warmth. Join us today at What We Reading as we dive into some of our most enchanting cosy mysteries that embrace the spirit of spooky season without sacrificing the charms that make this subgenre one of the most popular in the literary world. Whether it’s a haunted inn, a ghostly garden or a murder at a Halloween party, these captivating tales promise to whisk readers from quaint villages adorned with autumnal decor to charming bakeries bustling with pumpkin spice lattes as quirky characters and amateur sleuths grapple with the supernatural in their search for the truth!
Haunted Homicide (Haunted Mansion Mystery #1) – Lucy Ness
First up on our list of cosy mystery Halloween reads is Lucy Ness’ Haunted Mansion Mystery series, beginning with 2020’s Haunted Homicide. Avery Morgan has had a harrowing first week as the manager of the Portage Path Woman’s Club. She is in charge of the grand old estate racked with maintenance issues and has Mauriel Sadler to contend with. Muriel is the current President of the club and the only member of the board who voted against hiring Avery.
Yet, after a morning of dealing with all of Muriel’s jibes, Avery is shocked when she ventures down into the basement and discovers her body. She also happens to stumble across Clemmie Bow, the ghost of a young woman who was killed in the building a century ago. Together Clemmie and Avery are determined to solve Muriel’s murder before the killer responsible sends Avery to join Clemmie on the other side.
Spells And Scones (Magical Bakery Mystery #6) – Bailey Cates
When the bookshop next to the Honeybee Bakery hosts a signing for a Savannah radio celebrity’s latest self-help guidebook, magical baker Katie Lightfoot is more than happy to serve some delectable desserts. A big crowd was amassed for the event, and they were no doubt interested in the book and Katie’s goodies. However, the final chapter is brought about too soon for the author when she is found dead at the event.
The number one suspect is Angie Kissel, a former witch whose familiar was once Katie’s own terrier, Mungo. Initially, Katie is reluctant to get too involved. But, after a little nudge from Mungo himself, she decides to serve up the real killer before Angie is lost for good.
Murder At The Pumpkin Patch (Firefly Junction #12) – London Lovett
In the twelfth entry of the Firefly Junction series, London Lovett delivers another cosy mystery Halloween read in Murder at the Pumpkin Patch. Through their powers of sisterly persuasion, Sunni Taylor’s sisters have convinced her to host a Halloween costume party at the Cider Ridge Inn. Whilst she’s more than a smidge hesitant at first, namely due to the actual ghost that will be attending, she is determined to unwind and enjoy herself. Because you can’t have a Halloween party without a toothy-grinned Jack-o’-Lantern.
Sunni convinces Jackson to spend a day together at a local pumpkin patch. The Riggle Family Farm is home to a sprawling pumpkin patch and corn maize field. Yet, Sunni and Jackson’s planned day of sipping cider, tucking into candy corn and choosing between the best pumpkins for the party is upended when one of the Riggles is murdered. And, once again, Sunni finds herself with front-row seats for the chaos that follows.
Check Out These Spooky Halloween Books
Death In The Stacks (Library Lover’s Mystery #8) – Jenn McKinlay
Lindsey Norris and her staff are all gearing up for the Briar Creek Library’s yearly Dinner in the Stacks fundraiser. The night of the dinner promises to be an evening of dancing and every book lover’s best dream. What’s more, it’s the library’s biggest moneymaker. But, instead of raising spirits and funds, the new library board president is busy raising a stink and making the staff miserable.
Nevertheless, whilst Olive Boyle appears resolute in appearing as a storybook villain, Lindsey is determined to work with her and make the night a success. Things take a turn for the sinister when Olive bullies the newest hire, Paula. The night of the fundraiser, she walks in to find Paula standing over Olive’s dead body. In this cosy Halloween mystery by Jenn McKinlay, Lindsey must unearth the secrets behind Paula, and whether another one of the library’s characters might be trying to frame her for this grizzly murder.
Ghostly Paws (Mystic Notch #1) – Leighann Dobbs
Wilhelmina Chance’s near-fatal accident has left her with a bizarre new side effect: she is now able to see ghosts. After a messy divorce sends her hurtling back to her hometown of Mystic Notch, nestled in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Willa finds herself haunted by the spectre of the local librarian, who insists that she must solve her murder.
Thankfully, Willa has plenty of help in this cosy Halloween mystery. A number of quirky small-town characters are on hand, as well as the cat she has inherited from her grandmother and her best friend, Pepper, who is adamant her herbal teas work magic. But, just as she thinks she’s unmasked her killer, Willa learns that not everything is as it seems in Mystic Notch. And, on the back of a sudden revelation, her own best friend will find themselves at the top of her suspect list.
The Halloween House (Tess And Tilly #4) – Kathi Daley
For the residents of White Eagle, Montana, the local haunted house is the grand estate constructed over five decades ago as a summer home for a wealthy industrialist and his family. Structurally, Harrington House had weathered the long winters and hot summers the north of the state conjures up, surviving long after all the children had been buried in the family cemetery on the estate’s perimeter. Yet, after the summer Houston Harrington plummeted from the third-floor window to the ground below, no member of the family has ever set foot in the building.
But, when Jordan Westlake inherits the house from his mother, he decides to break with tradition and take up residence inside Harrington House. He expected the renovations to be time-consuming and expensive. What he never could have expected was to find a skeleton literally awaiting him in the closet.
The Witch And The Dead (A Wishcraft Mystery #7) – Heather Blake
When Darcy moved to Salem, Massachusetts, the last thing she anticipated was her life to change quite as radically as it did. Yet, within a short span of time, the Enchanted Village has become her new home, its mystical residents have become her family and As You Wish, the concierge service previously operated by her Aunt Ve has become her calling. Nevertheless, the time has come for change. It’s time for Darcy to move out of Aunt Ve’s.
Darcy’s belongings are placed in Aunt Ve’s garage, along with an assortment of memories, forgotten possessions and, to both Darcy and her aunt’s horror, a pile of old bones. It is soon discovered that the bones belong to Ve’s long-missing second husband. In one of the best books for a cosy Halloween read Darcy must unpack old secrets around Salem and her own family to ensure Aunt Ve doesn’t have to endure a spell behind bars.
The Witches Of Willow Cove (The Witches Of Willow Cove #1) – Josh Roberts
Seventh grader Abby Shepherd is just about getting the hang of being a teenage witch when strange occurrences begin plaguing her town of Willow Cove. Green slime bubbles to life in her science class. Giant snakes slither around the school gym. And her best friend suddenly starts keeping secrets and telling lies. Things start to make sense when a stranger named Miss Winters arrives in town and informs Abby that she isn’t the only witch in Willow Cove. Miss Winters, herself a witch, even offers to start teaching Abby and the others everything she knows about witchcraft.
But, as Abby learns more about Miss Winters’ past, she begins to suspect that her new teacher is hiding a few secrets of her own. Can Abby trust her, or does Miss Winters have something wicked planned for the young witches of Willow Cove? Josh Roberts’ The Witches of Willow Cove series is a fantastical middle-grade mystery that is perfect for anyone looking for a cosy Halloween read.
The Skeleton In The Closest (Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries #2) – Angie Fox
A haunted library is no place for a girl who can see ghosts. But, when Verity Long comes across a corpse in the middle of the main reading room, she has to believe that someone, even a deceased someone, must have witnessed the crime.
Her ghostly sidekick, Frankie, urges her to keep her nose out of it. The very alive, very handsome, deputy sheriff Ellis Wydell inadvertently puts in the middle of it. And her ex-fiance, Ellis’ own brother, is back in the frame with an agenda of his own. In her cosy Halloween mystery The Skeleton in the Closet, Angie Fox follows Verity as she presses forward, uncovering scandalous secrets, long-forgotten ghosts and a shocking series of clues that put her right in the crosshairs of a killer.
Check Out The Best Halloween Books For Spooky Season
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
