Are you ready for the second part of Treasures in My Closet? Today’s the day I ask you if I’ve missed any books. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, talks about the hundreds of books that come out every month, so I know I can’t cover all of those. I don’t even cover more than fifty. So, what October books are you waiting to read? Have you added any of the books I covered to your TBR list? Let’s jump in with today’s suggestions.
Piper Lawson’s Crash Course is a spicy, angsty, slow burn F1 academy romance about fast cars, forbidden attraction, and family secrets. Shay MacDonald was raised to avoid two things: race cars and the Ashford family. But when an injury puts her mechanic father on bedrest, she vows to save his career by covertly covering his shifts at the Ashford garage and enrolling at Ashford Academy–an elite school that trains aspiring drivers and engineers, like herself, for the lucrative F1 circuit. Keeping a low profile is out of the question when she has a run-in with the Ashford brothers on day one. Theo and Jameson are racing royalty who know they can get away with anything. Theo, the charming and reckless playboy, tempts her to break every rule, while Jameson, the brilliant prodigy, unsettles her with a cold intensity that cuts deeper than she expects. Shay will always be the adopted daughter of a mechanic, trying to survive unnoticed in a world that was never meant for her. But Theo and Jameson’s only reprieve from their father’s sky-high expectations is Shay. She’s a shiny new pawn in their old rivalry—or a prize worth risking everything for. (Release day is Oct. 20.)
I know it says “Library” in the title, but I’m not a horror fan, so From the Library of Jurgen Leitner isn’t for me. Enter the library of an enigmatic collector, where occult books are guarded and researched at a fatal cost, with this uncanny eldritch horror novel from Nebula Award–winning author Premee Mohamed and The Magnus Archives’ Jonathan Sims. Fear comes before the fall. In the winding, perilous corridors of Jurgen Leitner’s private library, you never know what you’ll find. A starving cookbook. An ancient scroll that casts cool, predatory breezes. A cloth-bound hardback that compels you to DIG, DIG, DIG, DIG. Free, these books are more than simply unnerving—they’re deadly. But the library keeps their dangers in check and their would-be readers safe. . . .Or so Leitner claims. (Release date is Oct. 27.)
Debbie Macomber’s A Date with Santa is a guaranteed bestseller. Of course, there will be romance and a little Christmas magic. For single career woman Sage Madison, Christmas means premade cookies and artificial trees. But when her sister needs her help, Sage volunteers to care for her five-year-old nephew, Ricky. Determined to give Ricky a memorable Christmas, Sage enlists help from her assistant and close friend, Erica, who loves kids, and her colleague Ethan, who agrees to dress up as Santa—if Sage and Ricky join him in holiday fun to get in the spirit. As Sage navigates the challenges of caring for her nephew and the prospect of romance with Ethan, she begins to discover the true magic of the season. Ethan’s bond with Ricky and his kindness toward Sage bring unexpected joy and new adventures—filled with ice skating, baking, and a sense of fulfillment she never expected. But when her old life threatens to interfere with the festivities, Sage must decide what she truly wants before the season’s magic slips away. (Release date is Oct. 13.)
In the tradition of Stephen King, The Chain House, a multi-POV, page-turning horror thriller from author J. H. Markert is packed with mind-bending twists. Days before his execution, notorious mass murderer Sal Batise, known as the Breaker of Chains by his cult followers, grants an unlikely interview to a young filmmaker, Sam Harper. This interview could launch Sam’s career. But his carefully planned questions—including the one about the recently kidnapped governor’s wife—fall apart when Batise seizes control. On live TV, Batise claims that he is Mallard Malone, the anonymous author of a blockbuster thriller series. Stay his execution, and he’ll release the final unpublished manuscript that holds the key to finding his victims’ bodies. Meanwhile, a ransom note arrives with a single demand to save the governor’s wife: Batise’s execution must go on as planned. Desperate for more information, Sam teams up with Jennifer Daley, a childhood survivor of Batise’s cult, to locate the missing manuscript and uncover the truth behind their own ties to Batise. As fiction and reality collide, a deadly chain of events leads to a race against time to stop an execution that could have catastrophic consequences on the world. (Release date is Oct. 6.)
A single mom and her neurodivergent son battle for survival and stability in a post-apocalyptic world, one that is arguably no less harsh to them then the pre-pandemic one, in this gripping, one-of-a-kind debut, Dead Batteries by Kate Maupin. Ever since May’s husband decided parenthood wasn’t for him and left, it’s just been May and her autistic son with high support needs, Davis, against the world. A rather unwelcoming one that never had much patience or understanding. Then 99.9% of the population was wiped out by a virus in just a few weeks, and that world ended. May has kept herself and Davis alive only through the self-imposed isolation she got so good at in the Before. They have their routines, their cozy nest in an abandoned library, and most importantly, the old battery-powered Game Boy that offers Davis familiarity and comfort in a world that’s difficult to understand. One day May runs into a stranger while out scavenging for the precious batteries that keep Davis’s Game Boy alive. This stranger calls himself Bird, he has intel—and a proposition. Supposedly there’s an entire haven of survivors nearby. Bird wants in, and he needs May and Davis to play along as wife and child in order to guarantee himself a spot. Besides, wouldn’t May want to be part of a community again? (Release date is Oct. 27.)
Every Story is a Love Story by Imbolo Mbue is a captivating novel about love lost—and the weight of regret. What if I’d never gotten into that car? What if I’d pulled out of the driveway five minutes earlier, or ten minutes later? Three years ago, Wolo’s wife was killed in a tragic car accident. In an instant, the great love of his life was gone, and so was their beautiful future. In the face of a loss that seemed insurmountable, Wolo has slowly rebuilt a semblance of a life: he goes to work, hangs out with a small circle of friends, and fends off the matchmaking efforts of the older women in his family. The grief that dogged him has, with time, become a little gentler. Until a letter arrives one day, unbidden, threatening to upend his life once again. It is from Victoria, the woman who was behind the wheel that terrible day. Wolo’s family pastor tells him the letter is the work of the devil; his mother expressly forbids him from making further mention of it; his father’s second wife calls, from Cameroon, to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo ponders it for days, and ultimately agrees to meet with the woman who killed his wife. When he does, the compassion and deep remorse of the woman affects him in ways he had never imagined, and he begins to wonder if the long road to healing can be shared. (Release date is Oct. 6.)
Here’s the other guaranteed bestseller on today’s list, Louise Penny’s 21st Chief Inspector Gamache novel, Miss Wolcott’s Ghost. “There’s a body in Lost Nation.” “Where?” demands Armand as he scribbles on the pad by his bed. But the line goes dead before Chief Inspector Gamache can question the caller. The head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec has no idea where Lost Nation is, or who woke him in the small hours of the morning at his home in Three Pines. What he does know is that the man was terrified. And so Armand is thrust out of a deep sleep and into the surrounding forests in search of the mythical Lost Nation. And a body. When he and his team of Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Isabelle Lacoste find both, the situation only grows more bizarre. The unidentified dead man appears to be from an era more than a century old. He’s lying in a long-abandoned cemetery, on top of a grave with a date, but no name. Adding to the mystery, the early morning call appears to have come from Gamache’s friend and neighbor, Clara Morrow. While she denies any knowledge of it, it becomes clear there is some connection between her, the Morrow family, and Lost Nation. (Release date is Oct. 20.)
In Charlotte B. Plumb’s Reap & Sow, a young woman bargains with a demon to save her brothers, only to lose her heart in this slow-burn romantasy about dark magic, unlikely love, and the imperfect beauty of mortality, and the first book of a duology. The penniless in Blackbridge have only two choices: Sell the body or sell the soul. And thanks to Eda Shaw, business is booming. Indentured to a capricious demon known as Mr. Night, Eda and her brothers arrange illicit Pacts on his behalf, luring the city’s most desperate into trading years of their lives for their deepest desires. When a Pact goes awry and her brothers are arrested, Eda realizes she’ll need an infernal ally of her own: Kit’rath, an infuriating demon with a curious penchant for humanity and the only being in Blackbridge that Mr. Night seems to fear. As they race to rescue her family and save the city from ruin, an undeniable connection sparks between mortal and demon. But Kit’s help doesn’t come cheap. Now Eda risks losing her heart to the one who claims her years—and saving herself may prove the steepest cost of all. (Release date is Oct. 6.)
Bark Humbug is David Rosenfelt’s 34th Andy Carpenter novel. I’m a big fan of the cover art. Reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter helps a desperate sister investigate the widely publicized murder of a gubernatorial candidate. This time, Andy is serious about retiring. Besides, he can’t hear the sound of his phone ringing over the football game. But when the local newspaper asks him to participate in their Christmas spread of local celebrities and their dogs, he pauses the game and brings Tara along for the ride. When the photographer comes to take pictures of him and the dogs, he instead opens the door to Sharon Lowery, who devised the newspaper story just to get Andy’s attention and beg him for help. Her brother, Jon, is wanted for murder and is on the run. However, if Andy agrees to hear Jon out, he’ll turn himself in with the hope that Andy will represent him and reunite him with his dog. It’s a dangerous situation, and between the media circus surrounding the murder and Jon’s volatile position, Andy knows that when Jon is found, someone could get hurt. But Andy respects Sharon’s dedication to her brother, and in an effort to keep Jon–and the public–safe, Andy agrees to talk to Jon. Andy decides to help Jon and slowly uncovers a web of conspiracies. Determined to keep Jon out of jail, Andy gathers the crew to investigate. David Rosenfelt returns with Andy Carpenter’s classic disdain for Christmas but love for dogs and justice. (Release date is Oct. 13.)
Laura Joh Rowland returns with Resurrection Kill. Forgetting can be dangerous. Remembering can be fatal. New York State, 1953. Dr. Claire Kendall is a psychiatrist-in-training at Resurrection Kill Hospital, a luxurious private and isolated mental institution for the wealthy. But under her mask of professionalism, Claire has a secret: She was a patient at the hospital when she was fourteen. With gaps in her memory, Claire is determined to discover what really happened the summer she was institutionalized—even if it means uncovering the dangerous secrets hiding at Resurrection Kill. Before long, Claire takes a special interest in a teenage patient, Rory Kirkpatrick—a free-spirited girl who is also determined to uncover Resurrection Kill Hospital’s dark past. Claire indulges Rory’s rebellious nature, hoping to glean clues that might help in her own search for the truth. But the hunt for answers triggers flashbacks of Claire’s painful childhood—her father’s cruelty, her mother’s alcoholism, her beloved older brother’s death. The deeper she probes her own past, the more she remembers about the summer that changed everything. And as she delves deeper into her own mind, she’ll come to find that her sanity grows more fragile by the day and that some secrets are meant to stay buried. She’ll discover that remembering may come at the cost of her life. (Release date is Oct. 27.)
What is Public Access Afterworld? In Jane Schoenbrun’s novel, at 5:35 p.m. on September 3, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray “Can You Say Sunshine” Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head on live television and pulls the trigger. On June 12, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two lonely, TV-obsessed suburban teens who might be falling in love, gather in Erin’s basement to watch TV’s analog-to-digital transition. But in the static that follows, Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld, and their lives are changed forever. Seventeen years later, Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill’s bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld. But what is Public Access Afterworld? Spanning decades and realities, with an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and nerds—especially the messy but wholly relatable Bethany, who must overcome paranoia and self-doubt to transform into a hero of our times—Public Access Afterworld will have you reading through the night and rooting for its characters to survive. It’s a mesmerizing mash-up of speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy. (Release date is Oct. 27.)
I’m always ready to try a mystery set in Arizona. And, I’ve been a fan of Paige Shelton’s books for years, so I’ll try The Bone Woman. As a renowned forensic consultant digs into a case that could reconnect her with her long-missing father, she uncovers dark truths about her desert hometown. The desert runs through Hazel Dylan’s marrow. She grew up on the edge of The Wild, an untamed expanse outside her hometown of Black Vulture, Arizona. She became fascinated with bones as a child while observing her taxidermist father, Wilmot, until he disappeared without a trace decades ago. Now, after years of study and countless cases, she’s known as the Bone Woman. She can read the dark stories that bones tell. When a hiker makes a disturbing discovery in The Wild—bleached human bones arranged with surgical precision into a taxidermy-like sculpture of a coyote mid-howl—Sheriff Calloway summons Hazel to the scene. Not just for her formidable expertise but because it looks like it could be Wilmot’s work. Could Hazel’s father be behind this twisted creation? Are these his bones? Hazel doesn’t want to believe either is true, but after another sculpture is found and Wilmot’s well-known talisman—a rogue finger bone—is discovered amid both sets of remains, she can’t deny the optics. As the case takes Hazel deep into her past, she unearths long-buried secrets. And with time running out, she’ll have to risk her own skin to catch the killer. (Release date is Oct. 27.)
Lily Starling’s Enchanted Village is a cozy, magical, slice-of-life holiday romance set in a village adjacent to a magic school—if the Dream Harbor series were set at Hogsmeade! I solemnly swear not to fall in love… Silas Birchwood wasn’t sure what to expect when he joined Emberwind Academy as the school’s first non-magical teacher. But he knows he’s found his calling, even if his wand-wielding pupils struggle with the scientific method. Living in Hex Hollow, the quirky village adjacent to the magical school, certainly has its charms—most notably Margaret Nettle, the witch proprietor of The Toasty Owl. Every night, villagers gather in the glow of the fireplace to sip her warming magical drinks. Margaret has devoted her life to running the pub left to her by her beloved mother and grandmother, even if it stings living so close to the magical school that rejected her. When a rival bar opens across the street, Silas is determined to help Margaret save her business. And despite herself, Margaret finds herself warming to the man who can fix anything in her pub—with a smile that melts her grumpy heart. When the secret to her magical drinks is stolen, Margaret fears she’s destroyed her family’s legacy. Can Silas help her see what he’s always known…that the magic was hers all along? (Release date is Oct. 20.)
Nafissa Thompson-Spires’ The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford is “a sly, spry, literary debut novel about the murder of an infamous moonshiner and the cacophony of true stories a small town can tell about itself.” Rich Milford is dead. At last. We find ourselves in 1920’s Oklahoma, just far enough out of Tulsa, just long enough after the Race Massacre of 1921. For as long as anyone can remember, the Milfords have led plentiful lives on the backs of the townspeople of Newville. Now, on the ominous brink of the Great Depression and at the height of Prohibition, Richard Milford was an infamous moonshiner and womanizer who, it seems, finally crossed the wrong person at the wrong time. He’s dead and buried with only his women to mourn him, but a question remains: Who killed him, and why? Top suspects are his four “wives,” Lally, Sophronia, Georgette, and Vivianne. But as their stories burst to light, the very idea of a true story comes apart before our eyes. (Release date is Oct. 6.)
It seems appropriate to end with a collection of short stories, 20 Over 60, edited by Beth Weinhouse and David Galef. The book collects a little of everything. As Madeleine L’Engle once observed, “The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been.” In 20 over 60, editors Beth Weinhouse and David Galef showcase twenty brilliant short stories by authors over sixty, including luminaries such as Paul Theroux, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jane Gardam, offering a wide-ranging portrait of life in later years: vibrant, unexpected, and full of humor, wisdom, and surprise. Readers will encounter a retired couple whose hobby is stealing peppermills from restaurants, a woman juggling both her husband and ex-husband in the same hospital, a futuristic nursing home whose designers become its unhappy residents, a woman of a certain age navigating the perils of online dating, and a grandfather helping his granddaughter scatter her mother’s ashes. Smart, skillful, and often hilarious, these stories celebrate the full spectrum of experience, proving that life after sixty is as rich and alive as ever. (Release date is Oct. 6.)
Once again, two days of forthcoming books. Which ones appeal to you? And, what books do you have on your October list that I missed?
