Top Ten Tuesday is the weekly meme hosted by the gals at THE BROKE AND THE BOOKISH. Don't forget to check their blog for a complete list of all of today's participating bloggers.
I don't read much 'horror' so if you were expecting that sort of list, mine will be a disappointment. But just to be contrary, I have recently read Bram Stoker's DRACULA and loved it. So there's always the exception to the rule.
My list is kind of varied and I've included a couple of funny books in the mix just to keep things lively.
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REVENGE OF THE COOTIE GIRLS by Sparkle Hayter
A bizarre Halloween Girls' Night Out in NYC where anything and everything can happen to TV newshound Robin Hudson and her pals. When Robin's intern Kathy, who was supposed to join them on their Halloween jaunt, goes missing, it's up to 'the girls' to find her. A night of mischief and mayhem follows.
This book has to be read to be believed. It is truly hilarious.
DRACULA by Bram Stoker
Okay, now we get serious. A vampire on the move, planning a to turn England into a country of the walking dead, is serious business. I read and reviewed DRACULA a couple of weeks ago and I must admit I loved it. It was creepy, yeah, it was dark and weird and ghoulish and frightening - all of the above - but I couldn't stop reading.
I've said before and I'll say it again, I am SO NOT a fan of vampire books and yet, I seem to have two on my list (the only two strictly vampire books I've ever read - the one with Bela Lugosi doesn't count because he wasn't a REAL vampire.)
ODD THOMAS by Dean Koontz
Yes, you've heard me talk about this book before. Can't help it. It is, to my mind, Dean Koontz's masterpiece. Just brilliant story telling featuring one of the most unforgettable characters you will ever meet. Odd Thomas is a self-effacing short order cook who can see the dead. Because of this, he is a bit reclusive.Wouldn't you be?
This is a book where everything depends on the main character's quiet and oddly charming personality.
THE TAKING by Dean Koontz
The end of our world as only Dean Koontz can envision it. A world-wide alien invasion focuses on a small California town. This has, as in a lot of Koontz's work, a strong female character whom we root for every inch of the way. A macabre tale which turns out to be not exactly what you thought it was.
FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK by Georgette Heyer
I'm a recent Georgette Heyer convert turned groupie. I love her Regencies - the few I've read anyway. But I'm also smitten with her mysteries. They are of the Agatha Christie school - set in that world - and very well written. They came as somewhat of a surprise to me since I hadn't known Heyer had written mysteries. FOOTSTEPS IN THE DARK is set in an old, run-down but atmospheric, English country house recently inherited by siblings, Peter, Margaret and Elizabeth.
The house comes equipped with tales of ghostly night sightings, not to mention a mysterious cowled figure known as The Monk.
Thanks to Elizabeth Grace Foley for the recommendation. It was a good one!
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I think what is often forgotten in descriptions of this Sherlock Holmes story is just how spooky it is. It's all dark and mysterious and full of inhospitable doings on the grim, gray moor. Perfect for Halloween.
THE YELLOW ROOM by Mary Roberts Rinehart
A Rinehart speciality, mysterious doings in a big old house in the country - this time it's a summer house. Carol Spencer finds a dead body when she arrives to open the house for the summer. With servants refusing to stay (always a problem in Rinehart's world) and dreaded doings at night making her more and more uneasy, Carol begins to fear for her life as she becomes a suspect in the first murder.
If you're not familiar with Mary Roberts Rinehart's books, I say: what are you waiting for?
THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Third in the Pendergast series and the first one I read a few years ago. Based on this spooky, spine-tingling novel set in a very dark and gloomy NYC, I began reading the rest of the books in the series.
Agent Pendergast is not your typical FBI agent, he is unique in style and operation and seems to be in charge of the FBI's most macabre cases. Scary but manageable.
SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley
The only vampire story I would EVER recommend, besides DRACULA. This brilliant fantasy take on vampires and ghoulies and many strange things that go bump in the night is set in a sort of alternate universe similar to ours except for the odd assortment of beasties and demons. It is also, despite its dark core, occasionally very funny.
The heroine is Rae 'Sunshine' Seddon, a baker at her step-father's coffee house. The 'hero' is named Constantine. He's a vampire. Forget TWILIGHT, read this instead.
Robin McKinley has a wonderful sense of the absurd and this book shows it. Just wonderful.
NEVER CROSS A VAMPIRE - A Toby Peters Mystery by Stuart Kaminsky
When Hungarian actor, Bela Lugosi, suspects he's being stalked, he turns to L.A. private eye, Toby Peters, for help. It's the mid 1940's, war is raging in Europe and back home in California, movie stars and celebrities keep getting into trouble.
I love this series. It's funny while at the same time there's an actual mystery (with a bit of private-eye noir) to be solved.
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