Houses and gardens often appear in mysteries, and it is there where scary things always seem to happen. The house can even be considered a character in the book. Anyone who has read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier cannot forget Manderley, the omnipresent home that is the setting for this classic story.
Contemporary mystery writers also use homes and gardens as settings for their books. What is scarier than a garden that harbors an unseen threat? How about a home, which usually represents safety and security? When a book is set in a house that is dark and scary with hidden secrets, it just grabs us and won’t let go. If you like mysteries and scary stories, here are a few that will send tingles down your spine.
1. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
Hendrix seamlessly blends horror and comedy. When Louise returns home after her parents’ suspicious deaths, she must work with her brother Mark, who wants to cheat her out of her share. Amid their personal dramas, they face a common enemy in Pupkin, a beloved puppet from their mother’s doll collection. Beloved as he may have been, Putkin now expresses his grief through rage and homicide. This book is perfect if you crave a Stephen King-esque horror-drama with family dysfunction and a comedic twist.
2. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Dr. Faraday, a country physician, is summoned to the Ayres family mansion, Hundreds Hall, in postwar Warwickshire, England. As the once-grand Georgian mansion succumbs to crumbling decay, the family grapples with their shifting fortunes and personal turmoil, drawing Dr. Faraday into their eerie tale. Is it merely the decline of their ancestral home and way of life, or is something more sinister haunting them?
3. The September House by Carissa Orlando
Margaret refuses to abandon her haunted Victorian home despite its terrifying manifestations, including blood-dripping walls and ghostly apparitions that appear every September. When her husband Hal leaves due to the hauntings, their grown daughter Katherine visits to search for him, unaware of the house’s dark secrets. With the onset of September, the hauntings intensify, revealing the house’s need to keep certain secrets hidden.
4. The Moonlight Gardening Club by Rosie Hannigan
In a quaint Irish village, Ruby, a widow, and Frankie, a single mom, forge an unexpected friendship through the Moonlight Gardening Club. This unique club was established to remind its members that beauty can be found even in the darkest of nights. As Ruby and Frankie plant flowers under the moonlight, each discovers what they truly need. However, their bond is tested when past secrets emerge, compelling them to confront their fears to preserve their friendship.
5. The Lake House by Kate Morton
Alice Edevane, a bright and precocious 16-year-old, lives with her family in a lakeside estate in Cornwall, England. After a party one midsummer’s eve, her youngest brother, Theo, disappears without a trace, leading to the family’s disintegration and the abandonment of their home. Decades later, Alice becomes a successful novelist in London. A young detective, Sadie Sparrow, visits Cornwall and discovers the crumbling Edevane estate. Her curiosity about the past intertwines her life with Alice’s and unveils long-buried secrets surrounding Theo’s disappearance.
6. Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Opal, an orphan and high school dropout, is determined to create a better life for her younger brother Jasper while living in the unlucky town of Eden, Kentucky. Obsessed with the mysterious author E. Starling and her long-abandoned mansion, Opal seizes the opportunity to explore Starling House for extra cash. However, as dark secrets and sinister forces emerge from the mansion, Opal realizes that her quest for a brighter future may be complicated by the haunting history of Starling House and its reclusive heir, Arthur.
7. The Forbidden Garden by Ellen Herrick
Sorrel Sparrow, who has a gift for nurturing plants and flowers, is given an exciting opportunity to revive a long-neglected Shakespearean garden at Kirkwood Hall in England. Upon arrival, she discovers the garden’s desolation and the emotional weight it carries, leading her to explore the estate’s history and her connection to its inhabitants, particularly a very interesting pair of siblings. As Sorrel works to restore the garden, she feels a deepening bond with it and its secrets, suggesting that her fate may be intertwined with the garden’s revival. Like the book says, “Every garden is a story, waiting to be told … .”
Read CityView Magazine’s “Home & Garden May 2025 e-edition here.