Recent Gothic Books to Read This Fall

In this latest from the Queen of Black horror, a filmmaker, whose late grandmother was a famous Black actress in the ’20s and ’50s, returns to the cabin he inherited to find that he and his family are not the only ones in the woods.

It’s 2026, and Lee Turner doesn’t know why he killed his college roommate. What he does know is that he needs to get out of New York, and that his father’s new house in Japan might make the perfect hideout. But there’s something wrong with the place— the bedroom window isn’t always a window, and a sword-wielding woman appears at night. Then there’s Sen, who, in 1877, is also in exile. She hides from the imperial soldiers in her family’s house, and, on top of everything else, there’s now a young foreign man who appears outside her window.
And the gag is? “One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.”

If you like horror that explores the violent legacy of colonization, or ever wondered whether the word “piñata” could send chills up your spine, allow me to introduce you to Leopoldo Goût! His latest is a “bloody reckoning” about an art lawyer who returns to Mexico City to celebrate the repatriation of several stolen artifacts, including a statue of an Aztec god called The Flayed One. I don’t have to tell you anything else, do I? We all know things are gonna get weird. —Vanessa Diaz

To help her family, Gia is forced to marry her deceased sister’s husband. Gia hopes that despite everything, she can have a good life with Raj in America. After arriving from India, Gia is welcomed by a crumbling home that seems to be haunted by an angry spirit. Arya weaves Indian folklore into this contemporary gothic tale.  —Courtney Rodgers

Moving on to a gothic novel that has plenty of slow-burn romantic tension as well as a suspenseful mystery! Set in 1918 Washington, Heiress of Nowhere tells the story of Lucy. She was found on the shore of Orcas Island as a baby, and has spent her entire life working for the shipbuilder who lives there. Things take a turn when she finds her employer’s severed head on the beach. And despite rumors of the supernatural, she knows there’s a human killer on the loose. So when she’s named the heiress of the estate, Lucy realizes she might be the next victim. —Rey Rowland

From the award-winning author of sci-fi bestseller The Space Between Worlds comes a fresh take on the haunted house. The house in question is not quite what you’d expect from something haunted. It stops Tobias from smoking, gets Avery more in touch with her emotions, and quells her best friend Shantell’s anxiety—even after having lost her father, mother, and brother. The sanctuary Avery hoped this inherited house to become seems more and more possible. But there is something to the calm. Something so disconcerting that it is a comfort when the trio discovers they’re not alone in the house. Something that goes all the way back to 170 years ago, when a daughter of the Confederacy thought to build a house where nothing bad ever happened.