Need recommendations for spooky mysteries to give to my Grandmother.
September 29, 2015 9:34 AM Subscribe
It's October, so I'd like to give my Grandmother some spooky mysteries to read. I've given her quite a few gothics, and those aren't difficult to find, but she now prefers the young adult books I've been getting for her. I know her taste, because we talk a lot about which books she's enjoyed the most, and I know she won't like anything too dark, too serious, or too gross. Lighthearted (but not too silly) mysteries with Halloween themes are what I'm looking for.
Here's an example I was looking at. Stories like this:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/chris-grabenstein/crossroads.htm
Amazon sells tons of young adult horror fiction, but a lot of it looks too weird or too depressing. I'm looking for more conventional stories. All suggestions appreciated, and out of print is okay. Thanks.
Here's an example I was looking at. Stories like this:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/chris-grabenstein/crossroads.htm
Amazon sells tons of young adult horror fiction, but a lot of it looks too weird or too depressing. I'm looking for more conventional stories. All suggestions appreciated, and out of print is okay. Thanks.
If Grandma likes young adult stuff, she might like Lois Duncan's novels, which are teen suspense/horror and usually have an element of the supernatural at play, such as witchcraft, ESP, or astral projection. They don't get too dark and they are well plotted. There are I Know What You Did Last Summer, Stranger With My Face, Down a Dark Hallway, Summer of Fear, Don't Look Behind You, Daughters of Eve, A Gift of Magic, Locked in Time, and Gallows Hill, and a few others.
posted by orange swan at 10:51 AM on September 29, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by orange swan at 10:51 AM on September 29, 2015 [5 favorites]
I highly recommend Ray Bradbury for this. Short stories. Spooky, but not gross. Maybe not quite horror, either, but definitely intriguing.
"Dark Carnival" is a book of short stories. Two of my favorites in there are "Uncle Einar" and "The Next in Line."
Some of the stories in "Dark Carnival" were updated much later into the short story/novella "The October Country." I loooooooove "The October Country," but I really suggest giving her both and telling her to read "Dark Carnival" first because the few updated stories in "The October Country" I thought were better in their originally published "Dark Carnival" versions.
I would also throw out "A Series of Unfortunate Events" as being something she may find interesting down the line.
posted by zizzle at 12:16 PM on September 29, 2015
"Dark Carnival" is a book of short stories. Two of my favorites in there are "Uncle Einar" and "The Next in Line."
Some of the stories in "Dark Carnival" were updated much later into the short story/novella "The October Country." I loooooooove "The October Country," but I really suggest giving her both and telling her to read "Dark Carnival" first because the few updated stories in "The October Country" I thought were better in their originally published "Dark Carnival" versions.
I would also throw out "A Series of Unfortunate Events" as being something she may find interesting down the line.
posted by zizzle at 12:16 PM on September 29, 2015
Dorothy L. Sayer's Gaudy Night springs to mind. The setting is Gothic in architecture at least, and while it is not supernatural, the setting in question is very much being haunted. (This may be a massive stretch but it's aging quite well and I still enjoy these books. And I find it spooky!)
posted by DarlingBri at 12:48 PM on September 29, 2015
posted by DarlingBri at 12:48 PM on September 29, 2015
+1 for John Bellairs. His stuff was simply the best.
posted by jbickers at 2:07 PM on September 29, 2015
posted by jbickers at 2:07 PM on September 29, 2015
+a bazillion for Lois Duncan. Wow, that really brings me back. I DEVOURED those books!
posted by lock sock and barrel at 3:29 PM on September 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lock sock and barrel at 3:29 PM on September 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Orson Scott Card wrote two horror/mystery books: "Treasure Box" and "Homebody." Neither are Halloween-themed, but both involve supernatural horror and are written at a young adult level. I recently re-read both of them and even though I knew what would happen, thoroughly enjoyed them.
posted by tacodave at 3:37 PM on September 29, 2015
posted by tacodave at 3:37 PM on September 29, 2015
Personal favourites, apart from John Bellairs (The Face in the Frost remains my favourite), are:
- The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones, which also has its moments of extreme hilarity
- The Graveyard Book and Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- a lot of books by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, including The Egypt Game, The Truth About Stone Hollow, The Witches of Worm, the Stanley Family series.
- The Children of Green Knowe and others in the series by L M Boston are both sweet, scary, historical and sometimes very surreal.
Another possibility is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, which didn't quite do it for me, but is worth a shot.
posted by Athanassiel at 9:21 PM on September 29, 2015
- The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones, which also has its moments of extreme hilarity
- The Graveyard Book and Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- a lot of books by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, including The Egypt Game, The Truth About Stone Hollow, The Witches of Worm, the Stanley Family series.
- The Children of Green Knowe and others in the series by L M Boston are both sweet, scary, historical and sometimes very surreal.
Another possibility is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, which didn't quite do it for me, but is worth a shot.
posted by Athanassiel at 9:21 PM on September 29, 2015
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken is one that I remember fondly.
posted by TheCoug at 8:38 AM on September 30, 2015
posted by TheCoug at 8:38 AM on September 30, 2015
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posted by ryanshepard at 10:34 AM on September 29, 2015 [6 favorites]