100 books like Haunted House

By Jan Pienkowski, Jan Pienkowski (illustrator),

Here are 100 books that Haunted House fans have personally recommended if you like Haunted House. Shepherd is a community of 10,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Book cover of Ben Shahn

Michael Fleishman Author Of Drawing Inspiration: Visual Artists at Work

From my list on artistic doodads, thingamabobs, and whatzits.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been a guest lecturer and featured presenter at colleges and conferences, served on the Board of Directors for ICON6, and authored eight published books on illustration and design. I'm a retired college art professor and freelance illustrator and still teach fine art, design, and cartoon classes for kids and adults; I’m also an English Dept. writing tutor at a local college. Right now, I am exploring the medium of cardboard. Cardboard taps into a material that is so ubiquitous and common, it’s often maligned as being inconsequential, but I’m positively tickled to be working in a material that was wonderfully simple and presents a simply wonderful challenge.

Michael's book list on artistic doodads, thingamabobs, and whatzits

Michael Fleishman Why did Michael love this book?

Boy, I have so many “favorite” artists! But if I had to name only one artist to study on that desert island, it just might be Ben Shahn.

An icon of Social Realism, Shahn was the epitome of an individual who kinda did it all, in his own, sweet way. By highlighting both his writings and his art, this book introduced me to Shahn as a person and an artist, and presented a whole picture of this wonderful, complex man.

It introduced me to the idea that you can wear many hats as long as you own the hats and aren’t afraid to wear ‘em. There’s nobody more connected to his world than Ben Shahn.

By Frances K. Pohl, Ben Shahn,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ben Shahn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of Milton Glaser: Graphic Design

Michael Fleishman Author Of Drawing Inspiration: Visual Artists at Work

From my list on artistic doodads, thingamabobs, and whatzits.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been a guest lecturer and featured presenter at colleges and conferences, served on the Board of Directors for ICON6, and authored eight published books on illustration and design. I'm a retired college art professor and freelance illustrator and still teach fine art, design, and cartoon classes for kids and adults; I’m also an English Dept. writing tutor at a local college. Right now, I am exploring the medium of cardboard. Cardboard taps into a material that is so ubiquitous and common, it’s often maligned as being inconsequential, but I’m positively tickled to be working in a material that was wonderfully simple and presents a simply wonderful challenge.

Michael's book list on artistic doodads, thingamabobs, and whatzits

Michael Fleishman Why did Michael love this book?

I guess, if you polled illustrators and designers as to who was the GOAT, it would probably be Milton Glaser. On my list, he’s certainly up there.

A supreme talent, Glaser was (still is, and I think, always will be) incredibly influential; when you read this book, you’ll see why.

While writing my book, I had the honor and pleasure to work with his life-long friends and studio mates, Reynold Ruffins and Simms Taback. All three of these guys demonstrated superlative skills coupled with super smart concepts. I should also mention they were just plain mensches.

By Milton Glaser,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Milton Glaser as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Available again, the enduring, iconic volume showcasing the key early-career work and process of the godfather of modern graphic design

Milton Glaser: Graphic Design, perhaps the most famous book of its kind, explores the early decades of America's pre-eminent graphic artist. Glaser's work ranges from the psychedelic Bob Dylan poster to book and record covers; from store and restaurant design to toy creations; and magazine formats including New York magazine and logotypes, all of which define the look of our time. Here Glaser undertakes not only a remarkably wide-ranging representation of his oeuvre from the incredibly fertile early years, but,…


Book cover of Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, 16th Edition: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines

Michael Fleishman Author Of Drawing Inspiration: Visual Artists at Work

From my list on artistic doodads, thingamabobs, and whatzits.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been a guest lecturer and featured presenter at colleges and conferences, served on the Board of Directors for ICON6, and authored eight published books on illustration and design. I'm a retired college art professor and freelance illustrator and still teach fine art, design, and cartoon classes for kids and adults; I’m also an English Dept. writing tutor at a local college. Right now, I am exploring the medium of cardboard. Cardboard taps into a material that is so ubiquitous and common, it’s often maligned as being inconsequential, but I’m positively tickled to be working in a material that was wonderfully simple and presents a simply wonderful challenge.

Michael's book list on artistic doodads, thingamabobs, and whatzits

Michael Fleishman Why did Michael love this book?

In a book that thoroughly examines the world of art and design, it would be remiss to not discuss the business side of things. So, in my book, I do.

Why? I can’t think of a better way to earn a living than to make a living by doing something you love and that replenishes your soul. And no, selling your art does not mean you are selling your soul.

Hear me out: selling shoes is a worthy occupation. I’ve done that; people will always need shoes. But me, I’d rather sell art. This is the bible of how to sell your work cleanly and not get taken to the cleaners. 

By Graphic Artists Guild,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, 16th Edition as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The industry bible for communication design and illustration professionals, with updated information, listings, and pricing guidelines.

Graphic Artists Guild Handbook is the industry bible for communication design and illustration professionals. A comprehensive reference guide, the Handbook helps graphic artists navigate the world of pricing, collecting payment, and protecting their creative work, with essential advice for growing a freelance business to create a sustainable and rewarding livelihood.
 
This sixteenth edition provides excellent, up-to-date guidance, incorporating new information, listings, and pricing guidelines. It offers graphic artists practical tips on how to negotiate the best deals, price their services accurately, and create contracts…


Book cover of Hellboy Volume 2: Wake The Devil

Michael Fleishman Author Of Drawing Inspiration: Visual Artists at Work

From my list on artistic doodads, thingamabobs, and whatzits.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been a guest lecturer and featured presenter at colleges and conferences, served on the Board of Directors for ICON6, and authored eight published books on illustration and design. I'm a retired college art professor and freelance illustrator and still teach fine art, design, and cartoon classes for kids and adults; I’m also an English Dept. writing tutor at a local college. Right now, I am exploring the medium of cardboard. Cardboard taps into a material that is so ubiquitous and common, it’s often maligned as being inconsequential, but I’m positively tickled to be working in a material that was wonderfully simple and presents a simply wonderful challenge.

Michael's book list on artistic doodads, thingamabobs, and whatzits

Michael Fleishman Why did Michael love this book?

There are some artists who are so talented they are, simultaneously, incredibly inspirational and discouraging.

Mike Mignola is one of those guys. Mignola is the commander of figure/ground. His beautiful sense of shape and form and utter control of black and white is just amazing. He builds story beautifully and constructs his pages cinematically.

When I looked for people to grace the pages of my book, I shot for consummate talent like that, and, if I can blow my own horn just a bit, the book succeeds along those lines. When I grow up, I want to be able to draw like that.

By Mike Mignola,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hellboy Volume 2 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A murder in a New York wax museum and a missing corpse lead Hellboy into ancient Romanian castles on the trail of a sleeping legend: the original nobleman vampire. Nazi scientists prepare for the return of their occult master and the end of the world, and Hellboy confronts his purpose on earth.


Book cover of Maybe This Time

Susan B. James Author Of Time and Forever

From my list on romances with seasoned heroines.

Why am I passionate about this?

My real name is Susan Berger and I'm a certified bookaholic. I'm also an actor and I love my work. Being older has been very lucky for me. I wrote children’s books as Susan J Berger. COVID closed my publisher and I'm not actively submitting at the moment. I write romance as Susan B James because I didn’t want my children to have to acknowledge that their mother knew anything about sex. Falling in love and living happily ever after is an ageless state. But in romance novels heroines are mostly under thirty. I happen to be chronologically gifted myself. And many of my favorite romances feature older heroines. I think we need more.

Susan's book list on romances with seasoned heroines

Susan B. James Why did Susan love this book?

Jennifer Crusie writes some of the funniest heroines I ever met. I adore her voice and I wanted to add her to my list. When I went to Jen’s blog ArghInk to ask her which of her heroines was over forty. She said Andie.

Andie’s ex-husband North wants one last favor from her as closure. Help him settle the two delinquent orphans he inherited from a distant relative. He knows Andie can handle anything.

Her new fiancée isn’t pleased. When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren't your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What's worse, Andie's fiancé thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right.

I read…

By Jennifer Crusie,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Maybe This Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Andie Miller is ready to move on with her life. She wants to marry her fiancé and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, North asks one last favor: Since the death of a distant cousin, he's become the guardian of two orphans who have already driven away three nannies. North needs someone to take care of the situation―and he knows Andie can handle anything.

Carter and Alice aren't your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper…


Book cover of The Haunting of Hill House

David Demchuk Author Of The Bone Mother

From my list on chills and thrills on a dark and stormy night.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer of Gothic-inflected suspense and horror fiction, I just can’t help it: I love to be scared! We are lucky to be in a time when so many wonderful thrillers, mysteries, suspense, and horror stories are being written and published, but I have a great love for the classics of the genre. These are the books I turn to again and again, not just to marvel at their craft and ingenuity, but to feel the skin prickle on my arms and shoulders and the hairs rise on the back of my neck. Whether for the first or the twentieth time, let these masterworks cast their spells over you.

David's book list on chills and thrills on a dark and stormy night

David Demchuk Why did David love this book?

Of the many ghost stories in my collection, this must be my favorite and the one I recommend most to both newcomers and veterans of Gothic literature. (With nary a ghost in sight!) Once again, none of the adaptations can fully capture the dark magic at the novel’s heart.

Building on the emotional and psychological elements first touched on in Henry James’s, The Turn of the Screw, Jackson reinvented the haunted house genre and gave us an instant classic to which all other such tales must inevitably be compared. Cherished by horror writers and readers everywhere, this book captivates from its celebrated first paragraph to its very last line. Hill House, not sane, is waiting for you.

By Shirley Jackson,

Why should I read it?

30 authors picked The Haunting of Hill House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Part of a new six-volume series of the best in classic horror, selected by Academy Award-winning director of The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro

Filmmaker and longtime horror literature fan Guillermo del Toro serves as the curator for the Penguin Horror series, a new collection of classic tales and poems by masters of the genre. Included here are some of del Toro's favorites, from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ray Russell's short story "Sardonicus," considered by Stephen King to be "perhaps the finest example of the modern Gothic ever written," to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and stories…


Book cover of The Crying Child

Linda Griffin Author Of Stonebridge

From my list on good old-fashioned haunted house.

Why am I passionate about this?

Maybe because I grew up in San Diego, a city that boasts what ghost hunter Hans Holzer called the most haunted house in America, I’ve always loved ghost stories. I never encountered a ghost when I visited the Whaley House Museum, as Regis Philbin did when he spent the night, but I once took a photograph there that had an unexplained light streak on it. Although I conceived a passion for the printed word with my first Dick and Jane reader and wrote my first story at the age of six, it took me a few decades to fulfill my long-held desire to write a ghost story of my own.

Linda's book list on good old-fashioned haunted house

Linda Griffin Why did Linda love this book?

It started out with the hoariest of romance novel cliches—the bickering couple I knew would end up in love—but the setting alone was enough to guarantee spookier plot developments.

Barbara Michaels, better known for her mystery novels as Elizabeth Peters, never fails to entertain, and the descriptions of eerie ghostly manifestations here are top-notch.

By Barbara Michaels,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Crying Child as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Joanne McMullen's fears for her sister's sanity have brought her to remote King's Island, Maine. Mary's grief over the loss of her child is threatening to send her over the edge—and her insistence that she has heard an eerie, childlike wailing in the woods fuels Joanne's anxiety. And now Mary's taken to disappearing at midnight in search of the source of the heartrending moans. But it's not just her sister's encroaching madness that is chilling Joanne's blood—it's her own. Because suddenly, impossibly, she also hears the crying child.


Book cover of Horrorstör

Rebecca Turkewitz Author Of Here in the Night

From my list on night’s tantalizing and terrifying potential.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been intrigued by the way night transforms familiar landscapes, creates a sense of loosened boundaries, and seems to be rich with almost magical potential. One of my most beloved books as a kid was The BFG, partly because of its magnificent passage about the witching hour, “the special moment…when all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world to themselves.” Later, I discovered Hamlet’s take on it and was equally charmed. It’s no surprise that many of the key moments in my debut collection, Here in the Night, take place after dark. Here are my five favorite books that capture the beguiling power of nighttime. 

Rebecca's book list on night’s tantalizing and terrifying potential

Rebecca Turkewitz Why did Rebecca love this book?

This horror novel about a haunted IKEA-like store is playful and fun in every way—from its inventive narrative structure to the book’s mimicry of an IKEA catalogue, complete with a store map and advertisements for furniture that become increasingly deranged.

During daylight, Orsk is a regular furniture store in the suburbs of Cleveland, but when several employees attempt to stay overnight to find out why products keep getting damaged, the building’s dark history begins to bleed into the present. This book perfectly captures the uncanny way nighttime makes familiar landscapes, such as stores and schools, seem entirely unfamiliar, a phenomenon that has always fascinated me. 

By Grady Hendrix,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Horrorstör as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It's a classic old-fashioned haunted house story - set in a big box Swedish furniture superstore. Designed like a retail catalogue, Horrorstor offers a creepy read with mass appeal-perfect for Halloween tables! Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring wardrobes, shattered Bracken glassware, and vandalized Liripip sofabeds-clearly, someone or something is up to no good. To unravel the mystery, five young employees volunteer for a long dusk-til-dawn shift-and they encounter horrors that defy imagination. Along the way, author Grady Hendrix infuses sly social commentary on the nature…


Book cover of No One Gets Out Alive

Catherine Cavendish Author Of The After-Death of Caroline Rand

From my list on transporting you to a haunted house.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m Catherine Cavendish – writer of Gothic and ghostly horror stories. I lived in a haunted house. It didn’t scare me because our ghost seemed to go out of her way to make us welcome. Elsewhere in the building was a different matter. This was occupied by a social club and in one room in particular, an entity targeted lone females, taking delight in poking and shoving them. Since we left there, I wonder about our friendly ghost. Does she continue to watch over her old home? As for the malevolent spirit – one encounter was quite enough for me! My experiences left me fascinated by the power of buildings to absorb its ghosts.

Catherine's book list on transporting you to a haunted house

Catherine Cavendish Why did Catherine love this book?

Adam Nevill is a British horror writer – you may know of him through The Ritual which was made into a successful film a few years ago.

This is an earlier work and tells the story of Stephanie – down on her luck and reduced to taking a cheap, seedy room in an even seedier house where it is soon apparent that there is something horribly wrong. The chilling and menacing atmosphere of the building is overwhelming, while the landlord is certainly not on the level.

As for his ghastly cousin…. Then there are the noises… Something is going on here that transcends the norm. It’s unnatural, maybe supernatural, and things are about to turn a lot worse when Stephanie digs deeper. This is a house like no other. And the truth of it will take her beyond her wildest fears.

Recently filmed, this is one of Adam Nevill’s most…

By Adam Nevill,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked No One Gets Out Alive as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major Netflix film.

Winner of the August Derleth Award, No One Gets Out Alive is the ultimate haunted house thriller from horror writer Adam Nevill.

Darkness lives within . . .

Cash-strapped, working for agencies and living in shared accommodation, Stephanie Booth feels she can fall no further. So when she takes a new room at the right price, she believes her luck has finally turned. But 82 Edgware Road is not what it appears to be.

It's not only the eerie atmosphere of the vast, neglected house, or the disturbing attitude of her new landlord, Knacker McGuire,…


Book cover of The Elementals

Charlotte Greene Author Of Gnarled Hollow

From my list on haunted houses to scare the bejesus out of you.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a writer of sapphic horror and romance fiction, and a professor of nineteenth and twentieth literature and Women’s and Gender Studies. I’ve been an avid reader of ghost-focused fiction since I was a little kid. This fascination was, in part, encouraged by my horror-loving parents, but I think I’ve just always loved being scared, and for me, the scariest thing imaginable is a haunted house. I’ve read widely in the genre, by turns spooked, thrilled, and baffled, and this reading eventually encouraged me to write my own haunted house novels. If you love a chilling tale, you’re going to love the books on this list.

Charlotte's book list on haunted houses to scare the bejesus out of you

Charlotte Greene Why did Charlotte love this book?

This is one of those books that creeps up on you. The setting is unusual and it uses the tropes of Southern Gothic in unexpected ways. For one thing, McDowell’s novel is set at the beach during a vacation. Most of the haunted activity takes place during the day in the oppressively sunny landscape of the vacation home for a group of visitors recovering from various ills. For another, and like a lot of Southern Gothic stories, family dynamics and history are a big part of the backstory here, but there are unpredictable elements as well, including the very nature or un-nature of the setting itself.

By Michael McDowell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Elementals as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"The finest writer of paperback originals in America." - Stephen King

"Surely one of the most terrifying novels ever written." - Poppy Z. Brite

"Beyond any trace of doubt, one of the best writers of horror in this or any other country." - Peter Straub

"Readers of weak constitution should beware!" - Publishers Weekly

"McDowell has a flair for the gruesome." - Washington Post

After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in haunted houses, engineering, and classical antiquity?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about haunted houses, engineering, and classical antiquity.

Haunted Houses Explore 77 books about haunted houses
Engineering Explore 593 books about engineering
Classical Antiquity Explore 53 books about classical antiquity