This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is a ‘Halloween Freebie’. There were lots of ways I could have approached this topic, but I decided to list ten words that are often associated with Halloween and find a book I’ve read with each of those words in the title.
Here are the ten books I’ve chosen. I think most of these would make great Halloween reads!
1. Blood Upon the Snow by Hilda Lawrence – First published in 1944, this is one of three crime novels to feature the private investigator Mark East and his two friends, the amateur detectives Bessy and Beulah. This atmospheric novel is set in a lonely town in the mountains during a snowy winter.
2. The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson – The first in a series of historical mysteries set in the eighteenth century. This book is set almost entirely within London’s notorious Marshalsea Prison and although all of the other books in the series are excellent too, I particularly loved this one because of the fascinating setting.
3. The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements – A seventeenth century ghost story set on a sheep farm in the Yorkshire moors. Although I found the book quite slow, it’s also very atmospheric and steeped in English folklore.
4. Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart – This is not one of my favourites of Mary Stewart’s suspense novels, but I still enjoyed it. Published in 1976, it has a few touches of the supernatural and a wonderful country house setting, complete with moat and maze.
5. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux – I didn’t love this 1911 classic quite as much as I’d hoped to, but it’s very entertaining and has a great setting – an opera house with an underground lake, a maze of tunnels and a torture chamber. Worth reading whether or not you’re a fan of the musical.
6. The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley – Twelve-year-old detective Flavia de Luce is investigating the death of a young actor who is found drowned in a river. I prefer the earlier books in the Flavia series, but this is still a good one.
7. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters – This is the first book in the Cadfael mystery series featuring the monk, Brother Cadfael, and set in the medieval period. I really enjoyed this book and still need to continue with the rest of the series.
8. Midnight is a Lonely Place by Barbara Erskine – I find I usually like the sound of Barbara Erskine’s books more than the books themselves! In this one, a writer rents a cottage on the Essex coast, only to discover that the house appears to be haunted by the ghost of a Roman soldier. I didn’t love the book, but I did find it very creepy!
9. The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde – This classic satirical comedy is a ghost story with a difference; an American family move into an English country house which is said to be haunted, but no matter how hard the resident ghost tries, the family refuse to be frightened!
10. Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie – The obvious choice to finish my list! It’s one of the later Poirot novels, published in 1969, and I don’t think it’s one of the best, but with the murder taking place during a Halloween party it’s the perfect Christie novel to read at this time of year.
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Have you read any of these? Which other books with Halloween-related words in the title can you think of?
If you’re wondering why there are no witch-related books in my list, I used them in a previous Halloween Top Ten Tuesday here!
She Reads Novels 
Ha, I love the idea of picking related words for your Top Ten! Some nicely spooky sounding reads here too – the only ones I’ve read are the Brother Cadfael and The Canterville Ghost.
Thanks! It was difficult just narrowing it down to ten words. And yes, most of these are nice spooky reads for the time of year!
Great list! The Coffin Path is on my TBR and I’d really like to try the Flavia de Luce books, too.
The Flavia books are great! I hope you get a chance to try one soon.
I loved The Canterville Ghost! It was pretty funny. Happy reading 🙂
The Canterville Ghost is a great book! I’m glad you loved it too.
Fun post! I read a lot of books with the word “bone/s” in them, but they’re mostly mystery/thriller books not horror.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Thanks! There were a few other books I could have chosen with ‘bones’ in the title, but I picked one I particularly enjoyed.
I’m so curious about Midnight Is a Lonely Place.
My post.
It was a very spooky and atmospheric book, even though I didn’t love it.
These look so good.
http://www.rsrue.blogspot.com
Most of them are great books.
Great list! I’d forgotten the Agatha novel. I remember Touch Not the Cat when it came out, but I haven’t read it.
I don’t think Touch Not the Cat is one of Mary Stewart’s better books, but I did still really enjoy it.
Can’t go wrong with an Agatha Christy. https://pmprescott.blogspot.com/2020/10/ttt-102720.html
Christie is always fun, particularly at this time of year!
Great list! I have one with a similar title on mine, but it looks like a very different book! https://franlaniado.wordpress.com/2020/10/27/top-ten-tuesday-unconventional-ghosts/
Thank you! I’ve looked at your list and I see which book you mean. The ‘fine and private place’ line comes from a poem, so must have inspired both books.
That makes sense!
Nice list!
Thanks!
I love your twist on this week’s Halloween Freebie topic, Helen! 😃 The only one I have read is The Phantom of the Opera, however there are many of them I would like to read.
Thank you! All of these books were good, in their different ways.
All of these titles give off a Halloween vibe. I haven’t read Phantom, but I did see the musical years ago. Great list!
Thanks! I think they’re all perfect Halloween reads.
I love the way you did your TTT list for this one. So clever and fun! 🙂
Thank you, Lark! I enjoyed putting this list together.
I love your take on this week’s topic! The Canterville Ghost is a good one! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Yes, I really enjoyed The Canterville Ghost!
So many good ones here this week! I just started getting into Mary Stewart’s work, so I’m sure I’ll get around to Touch Not the Cat eventually. Love the idea of the setting, even if not all the pieces work.
I’ve read and enjoyed almost all of Mary Stewart’s books now and only have two or three left to read. Touch Not the Cat is a good one, even though I think some of her others are better.