Spooky Reads Alert: Must-Read Horror Releases of March 2024

Hey there, my spookies!

Ready to dive into the creepiest reads of March 2024?

In this blog post, we're taking a stroll through the darker side of literature, checking out the latest and greatest in horror releases. From spine-tingling psychological thrillers to blood-curdling tales of the supernatural, I've got it all lined up for you.

You know that feeling when you can't put a book down because it's just too darn spooky? Isn’t that the best?

Well, that's what we're after here.

With March 2024 promising a fresh batch of terrifying reads, there's no shortage of thrills to keep us on the edge of our seats.

So, grab your comfiest blanket, brew a cup of your favorite beverage, and meet me at midnight for a journey into the spooky.

You're about to uncover the best horror releases of the month, and trust me, they're guaranteed to send shivers down your spine.

Ready? Let’s go!

Summary

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1.Chicano Frankenstein - Daniel A. Olivas

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4.1/5

📖 Publication Date: March 5, 2024

🔪 Genre: Horror, Frankenstein

A modern retelling of the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley classic that addresses issues of belonging and assimilation

An unnamed paralegal, brought back to life through a controversial process, maneuvers through a near-future world that both needs and resents him.

As the United States president spouts anti-reanimation rhetoric and giant pharmaceutical companies rake in profits, the man falls in love with lawyer Faustina Godínez.

His world expands as he meets her network of family and friends, setting him on a course to discover his first-life history, which the reanimation process erased.

With elements of science fiction, horror, political satire and romance, Chicano Frankenstein confronts our nation’s bigotries and the question of what it truly means to be human.

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2. Darkridge Hollow - Nicky Shearsby

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4/5

📖 Publication Date: March 5, 2024

🔪 Genre: Psychological Horror

After losing his wife to a drunk driver, Joshua Raymond’s only wish was to show his young stepdaughter, Georgina, the country where her mother was born and meet her estranged family.

However, after an unexpected car accident leaves their rental in a ditch, Joshua wakes to find Georgina missing. He is concussed, bruised, and covered in blood not his own. When a passing car stops to help, an unwitting stranger claims to have seen Joshua at a local gas station.

Yet, according to her, he was alone.

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3. The Haunting of Velkwood - Gwendolyn Kiste

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4.1/5

📖 Publication Date: March 5, 2024

🔪 Genre: Horror, Ghosts

The Velkwood Vicinity was the topic of occult theorists, tabloid one-hour documentaries, and even some pseudo-scientific investigations as the block of homes disappeared behind a near-impenetrable veil that only three survivors could enter—and only one has in the past twenty years, until now.

Talitha Velkwood has avoided anything to do with the tragedy that took her mother and eight-year-old sister, drifting from one job to another, never settling anywhere or with anyone, feeling as trapped by her past as if she was still there in the small town she so desperately wanted to escape from. When a new researcher tracks her down and offers to pay her to come back to enter the vicinity, Talitha claims she’s just doing it for the money. Of all the crackpot theories over the years, no one has discovered what happened the night Talitha, her estranged, former best friend Brett, and Grace, escaped their homes twenty years ago. Will she finally get the answers she’s been looking for all these years, or is this just another dead end?

Award-winning author Gwendolyn Kiste has created a suburban ghost story about a small town that trapped three young women who must confront the past if they’re going to have a future.

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4. Murder Road - Simone St. James

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4.1/5

📖 Publication Date: March 5, 2024

🔪 Genre: Horror, Serial Killer

A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

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5. Pour One for the Devil - Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4.7/5

📖 Publication Date: March 5, 2024

🔪 Genre: Horror, Gothic, Novela

When Dr. Van Vierlans receives an invitation from Mrs. Elizabeth Van der Horst to give a lecture at her island mansion off the coast of South Carolina, he doesn't think twice. There’s a generous honorarium, and he relishes the chance to revisit the Sea Islands, where he once studied the Gullah language.

The lavish house he arrives at is strangely out of time. No other historians appear, nor does an audience, as he passes the time chatting in Gullah with the household servants. Just when his suspicions become difficult to ignore, Mrs. Van der Horst plies him with a sumptuous feast that distracts him from her true motives–which may prove more sinister than anything he’s prepared to imagine.

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6. Mean Spirited - Nick Robert

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4.93/5

📖 Publication Date: March 15, 2024

🔪 Genre: Horror, Supernatural

Matt Matheny teaches during the day, drinks at night, and barely hides his functioning alcoholism from his veterinarian ex-wife, Lucy, and his six-year-old son, Mikey. His world spirals out of control when a former student is killed, and he's left with her dog, Conehead. But something isn't right with Conehead. A dark presence follows him, and very soon, people around him die. Matt realizes the only way to protect his son is to sober up and work with Lucy to expose the dog’s mysterious past and face a secret so shocking—an evil so relentless—that it threatens to unleash hell on an entire town.

This horror novel pays homage to Stephen King’s Cujo, and films like It Follows and The Strangers. It is a haunting and suspenseful exploration of the unseen and the supernatural, set against the seemingly tranquil backdrop of rural West Virginia. Nick Roberts masterfully builds tension and atmosphere, creating a sense of impending doom with meticulous detailing and vivid imagery. The psychological exploration elevates the narrative, making Mean Spirited a compelling read for those who seek a blend of horror, mystery, and emotional depth.

Whether you are a seasoned fan of the genre or a curious newcomer, Mean Spirited promises a gripping and thought-provoking journey into the realms of the supernatural.

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7. Adirondack Campfire Stories - James Appleton

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4.0/5

📖 Publication Date: March 19, 2024

🔪 Genre: Horror, Folklore, Supernatural

The Adirondack Park is filled with a lore unlike anywhere else in the world. Maybe it’s the beauty that surrounds the Park thanks to the thousands of mountains, lakes, and rivers within. Maybe it’s the history of woodsmen struggling to survive in a place that’s been aptly nicknamed, “dismal wilderness.” Hard to say, really. But everyone who visits this rugged, beautiful mountain country will agree; there is a mystery about the Adirondacks.

In this collection of spooky and supernatural stories set in the Adirondacks – and perfect to tell around a roaring campfire – author James Appleton taps into the lore of the Park from its well-trodden towns and trails to hidden places off the beaten path. Adapted from Appleton’s popular podcast, Adirondack Campfire Stories features spooky stories, both fiction and non-fiction, that take place in the mountains, on the trails, and at the lakes of real places here in the Park.

Tapping into the folklore of this majestic region, Adirondack Campfire Stories will give readers haunting experiences under the stars for years to come.

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8. A Botanical Daughter – Noah Medlock

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4.2/5

📖 Publication Date: March 19, 2024

🔪 Genre: Horror, Gothic, 🌈 Queer

It is an unusual thing, to live in a botanical garden. But Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair of gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian London, they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon, this means long hours in the dark basement workshop, working his taxidermical art. Gregor's business is exotic plants – lucrative, but harmless enough. Until his latest acquisition, a strange fungus which shows signs of intellect beyond any plant he's seen, inspires him to attempt a masterwork: true intelligent life from plant matter.

Driven by the glory he'll earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate.

The experiment – or Chloe, as she is named – outstrips even Gregor's expectations, entangling their strange household. But as Gregor's experiment flourishes, he wilts under the cost of keeping it hidden from jealous eyes. The mycelium grows apace in this sultry greenhouse. But who is cultivating whom?

Told with wit and warmth, this is an extraordinary tale of family, fungus and more than a dash of bloody revenge from an exciting new voice in queer horror.

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9. Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror - Ghoulish Books

⭐️ Goodread’s Rating: 4.3/5

📖 Publication Date: March 19, 2024

🔪 Genre: Horror, Short stories, 🌈 Queer

A manifestation of ecstasy, heartache, horror and suffering rendered in feverish lyrical prose. Inside are sixteen new stories by some of the genre's most visionary queer writers. Young lovers find themselves deliriously lost in an expanding garden labyrinth. The porter of a sentient hotel is haunted within a liminal time loop. A soldier and his abusive commanding officer escape a war in the trenches but discover themselves in an even greater nightmare. Parasites chase each other across time-space in hungry desperation to never be apart. A graduate student with violent tendencies falls into step with a seemingly walking corpse.

Featuring stories from Cassandra Khaw, Joe Koch, Gretchen Felker-Martin, Robbie Banfitch, August Clarke, Son M., Jonathan Louis Duckworth, M.V. Pine, Ed Kurtz, LC Von Hessen, Matteo L. Cerilli, November Rush, Meredith Rose, Charlene Adhiambo, Violet, and Thomas Kearnes.

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