New Horror Books to Haunt and Horrify You in March 2026

Jacquie Waters’ follow-up to 2024’s Dearest is the story of two women separated by centuries but connected by the same lurking darkness. In the 1600s, Edith is a healer who hears strange sounds in the night and feels something watching her in the shadows. In the present day, single mother Claire returns to her childhood home to care for her dying father. The more time she spends there, the more she begins to fear something is lurking beneath the floorboards, longing to resurface.

Alexis Henderson, author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger, turns to YA audiences for her latest horror novel. This one follows Roslyn Volk, a teen girl who lost her sister Adeline a year ago after a mysterious incident in the woods. Looking for answers, Roslyn tracks down the strange traveling group of girls with whom Adeline spent her last summer. The girls are beautiful and intriguing, but Roslyn soon learns they hold a dark secret: in exchange for their lives, the girls travel by caravan, reaping souls for Death himself.

This novel is author Karma Brown’s horror debut. Thirty-nine-year-old art conservator Mathilde “Tilly” Crewson has been tasked with restoring a painting called The Mother. This newly discovered painting, damaged by fire, is believed to be one of only four works by a famed female surgeon-turned-artist still in existence. As soon as Tilly starts working on the painting, strange things begin to happen to her. First, she becomes pregnant out of nowhere. Then, she starts hearing whispers and getting strange visits from her deceased mother.

Ava Morgan’s Only Spell Deep is described as Rebecca meets The Craft. Jude Clark is currently living in Seattle, but 17 years ago, she went by Judeth Coel and lived with her grandfather at his estate by the sea. That is, until the day she started a fire with her secret powers. Now, she spends her days reading books and keeping a low profile. Then one day, she gets an unexpected invitation to meet with a circle of witches who teach her more about the origin of her powers. But as she taps into her magic, she realizes the women’s intentions could be sinister.

Briana N. Cox’s debut horror novel is a chilling examination of racism, classism, and gentrification. Leigh Pierce Estates is a low-income housing complex located in a quickly gentrifying area of Atlanta. Xavier is a young handyman living and working at the Estates who becomes infected with a strange disease that leaves him with an insatiable hunger.

Tamika Thompson’s gothic horror novel is set in Medford, Michigan, in Hester Gardens, an impoverished community where people seek refuge in either religion or drugs. Nona McKinley is raising three boys in the hopes that they can get out and find better lives for themselves. She has high hopes for son Marcus, who is valedictorian and on track to attend an Ivy League school in the fall. But then strange things start happening around her house, and Marcus starts acting like a different person entirely.

This next must-read horror novel is a scathing look at contemporary diet culture. Emmett Truesdale feels stuck in his dead-end job as a retail worker and in his 300+ pound body. He’s tried every diet imaginable, but nothing has worked. So when Emmett hears about a clinical trial for a mysterious new weight loss drug called Obexity, he signs up right away. Right away, he starts shedding pounds. But that’s not the only thing he’s losing. As Emmett continues to take the drug, big chunks of time go missing from his memory, and apparently, there’s also a cannibalistic killer on the loose.