5 Canadian Mysteries That Bring the Halloween Spirit

For all those who celebrate: the day is finally here. It’s Halloween, the celebration of all things macabre, spooky, creepy and… mysterious. In honour of the one holiday where candy and carving combine, we’ve been on the hunt for things to get us in the spooky spirit. As avid readers, we believe one of the best ways to do it is to crack open a mystery novel. Below there are five novels by Canadian authors perfect for keeping that spooky feeling alive whether it’s the day of the dead or just a Thursday night in.

  1. Ocean Drive

Author Sam Wiebe sets most of his crime novels in the Pacific Northwest and Ocean Drive is no different. Wiebe describes the novel as a sort of Pacific Northwest Fargo, and it a parolled killer, Cameron Shaw who’s struggling to fit into society his release, as well as  Staff Sergeant Meghan Quick as she investigates the murder of a college student. As is in all good crime novels, their paths collide in twisty ways while long kept-secrets come to light.  . $24.95

    2. Mindful of Murder

Best-selling Canadian author Susan Juby’s fast-paced novel Mindful of Murder follows Helen Thorpe, a freshly trained butler, as she returns to her previous place of employment (a spiritual retreat) to settle the will of her former boss. The will dictates that Thorpe must run a retreat to determine who will inherit the institute, but in a very Glass Onion-y way, things aren’t always as they appear, even after death. With help from her butler-classmates, Thorpe races against the clock to fulfill the will’s instructions and find out the truth. $24.99

  3. Lightning Strikes the Silence: A Lane Winslow Mystery

Iona Whishaw’s recent novel Lightning Strikes Silence is the next installment in her Lane Winslow mystery series. After a massive explosion, Lane conducts her own investigation into a young, mute, Japanese girl she finds on an abandoned trail, investigators delve into the death of her mother. The complex, gripping plot also delves into deep-held prejudices and forgotten promises in a way that makes the novel feel timely as ever, despite being set in the past. $21.95

  4. The White Angel

Inspired by the cold case of Janet Smith, who was found dead in her employer’s Shaughnessy Heights mansion in 1924, Candian author John MacLachlan Gray’s The White Angel (also set in the 1924) follows the investigation of the death of covers a Scottish nanny, Janet Stewart. MacLachlan expertly weaves local rumours, a possible police coverup and racial bias into this novel that feels like part modern day true crime, part historical fiction all set in an opium-laced Vancouver. $22.95

  5. The Glass Hotel

Worlds collide in Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, The Glass House. Set on Vancouver Island, a the character-driven novel partially covers the collapse of an elaborate Ponzi scheme and the lives of those affected, and part investigative mystery—as the apparent wife of the scheme’s head honcho has gone missing…and the investigator himself was a victim of the Ponzi scheme’s lies. $29.04