Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves created and hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out Lisa’s introductory post, here.

The Craftsman
by Sharon Bolton

Catching him will make her career – and change her forever.

August, 1999
On the hottest day of the year, Assistant Commissioner Florence Lovelady attends the funeral of Larry Glassbrook, the convicted murderer she arrested thirty years earlier. A master carpenter and funeral director, Larry imprisoned his victims, alive, in the caskets he made himself. Clay effigies found entombed with their bodies suggested a motive beyond the worst human depravity.

June, 1969
13-year- old Patsy Wood has been missing for two days, the third teenager to disappear in as many months. New to the Lancashire police force and struggling to fit in, WPC Lovelady is sent to investigate an unlikely report from school children claiming to have heard a voice calling for help. A voice from deep within a recent grave.

August, 1999
As she tries to lay her ghosts to rest, Florence is drawn back to the Glassbrooks’ old house, in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where she once lodged with the family. She is chilled by the discovery of another effigy – one bearing a remarkable resemblance to herself. Is the killer still at large? Is Florence once again in terrible danger? Or, this time, could the fate in store be worse than even her darkest imaginings?

While summer is often the time of year I’m most likely to reach for a thriller, I do love finding a particularly creepy one during the autumn, too, and this one sounds like the perfect autumnal thriller. I’ve heard such good things about this book, and I love that it’s set in Lancashire, in the shadow of Pendle Hill which is most famous for its links to the Pendle Witch Trials. I went to university in Lancaster, so I love revisiting this part of the world through fiction.

What do you like to read in the autumn? Are there any thrillers you’d recommend?

My spooky and spoopy reading is in full swing! I’m so excited about all the books I could pick up this month and I want to try and read (and enjoy!) as many as I can. It’s also my birthday tomorrow, so I’m that extra bit excited this week because this weekend I’m going to Hampton Court for the very first time! The huge Tudor nerd that I am, I’ve always wanted to go and I can’t believe it’s finally happening.

Before

I keep meaning to read more Middle Grade and this book reminded me why I need to read more of it. I had so much fun with Darkwood – it’s genuinely funny and so well-written. Gabby Hutchinson Crouch doesn’t patronise her readers, and that makes for the ideal MG read.

Now

I’ve owned The Diviners for around 4 years and, much like Seraphina, I feel like it’s been waiting patiently for me to pick it up at the right time. I’m loving this book so far! Why has it taken me so long to read Libba Bray? She’s brought 1920s New York to life and, when I’m not reading this book, I can’t wait to pick it up again.

Next

I’m trying to read more Latinx authors and Labyrinth Lost has been on my TBR for a while now. You all know by now how much I love my books about witches, and considering Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Signal to Noise is one of my favourite novels, it’s kind of crazy that I haven’t reached for this other Latinx witch novel yet. When I finish The Diviners, I think it’ll be interesting to read another supernatural book set in New York!

What are you reading right now?