In honour of Halloween, this week’s bookcase is suitably spooky…
Fiction
1. Playing With Magic by Gretchen Rue is published in paperback by Aria, priced £9.99 (ebook £2.99). Available now
This is the third book in a series following the adventures of bookshop owner and fledgling witch Phoebe Winchester. When a guest author is murdered after an event at her shop, Phoebe starts to unravel the truth behind his death. There are enough twists and turns to keep you entertained on the path to resolution – a slow-burning romance adds an extra flourish to the plot, along with some mouth-watering food and drink descriptions, plus some delicious-sounding recipes as a postscript to the book. It’s a fun, light read that would be perfect for enjoying on a autumnal afternoon, with a touch of witchy magic thrown in for Halloween.
7/10
(Review by Anita Chambers)
2. Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio is published in hardback by Wildfire, priced £14.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now
🪦 Spooky season begins now 🪦@SureAsMel is back with a brand-new dark academia sensation GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Out TODAY: https://t.co/oahjw4oGTZ pic.twitter.com/lSGQD0PhSG
— Headline Books (@headlinepg) September 24, 2024
M.L. Rio has become a BookTok phenomenon, and she’s no doubt got another hit on her hands with Graveyard Shift – combining the dark academia genre with a classic spooky tale. It follows a group of misfits in a college town, linked together only because they smoke in the same graveyard at night. Things get weird when a hole appears in the graveyard, with a gravedigger burying a bunch of mutated rats. The group try to get to the bottom of this strange incident, leading them to discover that something bigger – and much more sinister – is happening in their sleepy town. Rio packs a whole lot into this slim novella, and while it might not feel like the most original work out there, it’s a fun and fast-paced read that flips between perspectives of the crew hunting down answers to this mystery.
7/10
(Review by Lily Rose)
3. The Hotel by Daisy Johnson is published in hardback by Jonathan Cape, priced £14.99 (ebook £9.99). Available October 17
The Hotel is a collection of short horror stories which begins from violent origins, and centres the tales around those who cannot leave the titular hotel’s haunting grip. Each story features a new character who is always lead back to the hotel, or a particular room number, unable to resist its powerful pull. Women are the main victims in The Hotel’s pages, but Daisy Johnson also does well to bring in novel supernatural elements. The book gets off to a spooky start, and builds on each story with character developments and revelations, but at times felt repetitive and can leave the reader wanting more.
6/10
(Review by Anahita Hossein-Pour)
Non-fiction
4. The Museum Of Witchcraft by Diane Purkiss is published in hardback by Welbeck, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.99). Available now
From the first lines of the introduction, it is clear that The Museum Of Witchcraft is no ordinary book. It is a journey, a meander through a curated display of objects, each with its own significance and place in the history of witchcraft throughout the ages. This fascinating compendium spans topics from the more culturally-familiar broomsticks, wands and toads to lesser-known concepts such as hexes, knotting and the Thessalian Wheel. Purkiss’ descriptions are concise, tantalising, designed to pique curiosity and inspire further research, written with a nod to the history of witchcraft and its continuing evolution through modern times. Beautifully illustrated, thoughtfully composed, The Museum Of Witchcraft is a book that can be consulted for reference or read for pleasure, from cover to cover or dipped in to at will. Feminist, witch, historian, curious observer – step forward into the shadows and allow this book to be your guide.
8/10
(Review by Hannah Colby)
Children’s book of the week
5. Trick Or Treat On Scary Street by Lance Bass, illustrated by Roland Garrigue, is published in paperback by Union Square Kids, priced £9.99 (no ebook). Available now
This is a Halloween offering from Lance Bass – yes, that Lance Bass, of NSYNC fame. It’s perfectly passable as a spooky tale for kids – following a group of trick-or-treaters who venture down Scary Street. This is no ordinary residential road – it’s home to a series of creepy houses with curious residents, like a rather glam-looking vampire, a ghost and a witchy woman with a snake around her neck. But the scares are very mild – this isn’t a perilous tale. While the rhyming is pleasant and the illustrations evocative and captivating, the tale itself is rather slight – there’s perhaps not enough to engage a child for more than one bedtime.
6/10
(Review by Lily Rose)
BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 5
HARDBACK (FICTION)
1. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
2. Friends Of Dorothy by Sandi Toksvig
3. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
4. Frankie by Graham Norton
5. The Book Of Bill by Alex Hirsch
6. The Great When by Alan Moore
7. A Pirate’s Life For Tea by Rebecca Thorne
8. Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
9. Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood
10. Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi
(Compiled by Waterstones)
HARDBACK (NON-FICTION)
1. Simply Jamie by Jamie Oliver
2. Want by Gillian Anderson
3. Guinness World Records 2025
4. Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari
5. The Siege by Ben Macintyre
6. A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater
7. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
8. The Golden Road by William Dalrymple
9. Kingmaker by Sir Graham Brady
10. Strangeland by Jon Sopel
(Compiled by Waterstones)
AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION)
1. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
2. Odyssey by Stephen Fry
3. The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer
4. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
5. Atomic Habits by James Clear
6. Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
7. Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari
8. The Fellowship Of The Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
9. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
10. The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer
(Compiled by Audible)
