New Fall Reads 

Dig into spooky season with new book releases

Fall is the time for all things pumpkin spice, the upcoming spooky season and a yearning to curl up with a good book. Check out these reads making their appearance this fall.  

“American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America’s Jack the Ripper” by Daniel Stashower
“American Demon” is a historical true crime by Daniel Stashower, an acclaimed biographer and narrative historian and winner of the Edgar, Agatha and Anthony awards. This book is as much a biography of the legendary lawman Elliot Ness as it is a true crime tale of the hunt for the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run. Ness is best known as one of the prohibition agents that helped take down Al Capone in Chicago, but he spent the majority of his law enforcement career as the director of public safety in Cleveland where he ferreted out corruption in the police force. Between 1934 and 1938, 12 people were killed and dismembered in the Kingsbury Run area of Cleveland. Of those killed, only two were ever positively identified. Although a killer was never charged in the murders, Ness is positive he got his man. Stashower makes a compelling case for Ness’ belief about who the killer was while also telling the fascinating story of a flawed, but good man. –Chantal Wilson

“Let Him In” by William Friend
Start spooky season off right with this tense, atmospheric gothic horror debut about a grief-stricken family living in a house full of dangerous secrets. Alfie is reeling from the accidental death of his wife and is struggling to raise their young twin daughters on his own. When the girls begin playing with an imaginary friend they call Black Mamba, Alfie and his sister-in-law, Julia, chalk it up to a youthful coping mechanism.  But when the twins’ behavior takes a dark turn and inexplicable events begin occurring in the house, Alfie and Julia begin questioning if Black Mamba is imaginary after all. The taut pacing of the book and well-placed twists create a truly unnerving and creepy reading experience perfect for the fall season. –Sarah Cameron

“The Reformatory”  by Tananarive Due
Tananarive Due blends horror and history in her latest book, set in an abusive Jim Crow-era reformatory school modeled after the real-life Dozier School (also featured in Colson Whitehead’s “The Nickel Boys”). Twelve-year-old Robbie is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys for kicking a white landowner’s son in defense of his sister, Gloria. While Robert fights for his life inside the school, which is full of the ghosts of former residents, Gloria rallies every connection she can to attempt to free him. Due, whose great-uncle died at the Dozier School when he was fifteen, brings emotion and immediacy to this story about haunts and human monsters.  –Sara McBride

“A Traitor in Whitehall” by Julia Kelly
Julia Kelly, the author of numerous historical novels, has turned her hand to historical mystery. It’s September in 1940 and Evelyne Redfern is working on the line at a munitions factory in wartime London. During a night out on the town, Evelyne, who would rather be home reading a good mystery, is recognized by Mr. Fletcher, one of her parent’s old friends and a member of the shadowy intelligence community. Evelyne is offered a job working as a secretary in Prime Minister Churchill’s cabinet war rooms located in a bunker under Whitehall while also being tasked with keeping an eye out for suspicious activity. Shortly after she settles into her new role as a secretary, however, one of the girls at work is murdered and Evelyne must use all of her amateur sleuthing expertise to find the killer…who is also leaking England’s secrets to the Nazis. This is sure to be the first in a series and will have great appeal for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal and James Benn. –Chantal Wilson