Cozy Mysteries and Thrillers For The Spooky Season

What better way to celebrate this Halloween season than staying at home with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book?

The list below is Wonder Women Sixty’s favorite mysteries and thrillers – some were on our previous Halloween Top Picks and some are newly added. All are sure to get you into the spooky season spirit!

While there are many cozy Halloween-themed mysteries on the list, we’ve also included 2 books by John Dickson Carr from the British Library Crime Classics:  The Lost Gallows and The Corpse In The Waxworks. While they aren’t technically Halloween-themed, Carr’s foreboding and brooding atmospheres are sure to send a chill up your spine!

Our favorite Thrillers:  Stacy Grey’s She Left, Tom Mead’s Cabaret Macabre and Edwin Hill’s Who to Believe also aren’t Halloween-themed, but all are thrillers that pack a seasonal punch!  Still on our Favorite List is R.J. Jacobs’ mystery/thriller Always The First To Die, centering on a classic horror film star — so appropriate for the season!

Laura Levine and Kaitlyn Dunnett are two steadfast and delightful authors who have given us stellar Halloween cozies — these are considerably older mysteries, but STILL AVAILABLE!  No tricks, just treats — good stuff!

Darci Hannah, Ellen Byron, Cynthia Kuhn, Carol Perry and Emmeline Duncan show us no mercy when it comes to entertaining us during the Halloween season.  Each author has their own unique style and setting.  Each one wants you to have a cozy fright night!

Halloween is just around the corner — check out the list below and order your favorites.  Want to see “full reviews”?  Then check out our Books/Mysteries-Thrillers category.

WONDER WOMEN SIXTY’S TOP PICKS listed ALPHABETICALLY BY AUTHOR:

Murder In the Bayou Boneyard by Ellen Byron, A Cajun Country cozy mystery

A French Quarter Fright Night by Ellen Byron, A Vintage Cookbook cozy mystery

The Lost Gallows by John Dickson Carr, a British Library Crime Classic

The Corpse in the Waxworks by John Dickson Carr, a British Library Crime Classic

Chaos At The Lazy Bones Bookshop by Emmeline Duncan (first in a new cozy series).

Vampires, Bones and Treacle Scones by Kaitlyn Dunnett, A Liss MacCrimmon Scottish cozy mystery.

She Left by Stacie Grey: Thriller featuring a heinous closed case crime, re-opened in the present.

A Fatal Feast At Bramsford Manor by Darci Hannah, a Food & Spirits cozy mystery.

Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant, by Darci Hannah, a Beacon Bakeshop cozy mystery.

Who to Believe by Edwin Hill, a psychological thriller (and you won’t know who to believe).

Always the First to Die, R.J. Jacobs, an edge of your seat thriller centers on a horror film star.

How to Book A Murder by Cynthia Kuhn, a Starlit Bookstore cozy mystery.

Death of a Neighborhood Witch by funny lady Laura Levine, A Jaine Austen cozy mystery.

Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead, a Joseph Spector Locked-Room Mystery with a nostalgic flare.

Death Scene, by Carol J. Perry, a Witch City cozy mystery.

And remember, it DOESN’T have to be Halloween to enjoy the above books — a good book is great any time of the year!