New Horror Books Creeping On To Your Shelves in July 2026

Kicking off July is a new feminist reimagining of the gothic horror classic Dracula. Just like Bram Stoker’s novel, this book is told through diary entries and letters. But rather than reading the perspectives of men, these are the words of four women who, in 1884, travel to Transylvania and fall into the clutches of a mysterious and charismatic nobleman with sinister intentions. This mixed-media novel immerses readers in the victims’ stories.

Chuck Tingle is back with another chilling camp-horror novel. Think Beetlejuice with the thrills and gore of Drive. By day, Poppy Stringer is just your average mom and aspiring fashion influencer. But since fashion isn’t paying the bills, Poppy makes money by robbing graves at night. When rockstar Eddie Michaels unexpectedly dies, Poppy is sent to retrieve the body. She’s hopeful that nabbing the remains of a queer icon will earn her enough money to get out of this business once and for all. She didn’t count on Eddie coming back to life.

This genre mash-up is the ultimate summer read: a little mystery/thriller, a little horror, a little romance, and a lot of fun. True crime podcaster Ella Takeda returns to her hometown in disgrace after falsely identifying an innocent man as the serial killer dubbed the “Canceled Killer.” She soon finds herself entangled in three different romantic prospects. There’s the sexy nerd Jude, the hot detective Aaron, and Hollywood stunt double Mateo. But are they all interested in romance? Or is one the real Canceled Killer, targeting her?

Speaking of boyfriends and bad intentions! In Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die, three women discover that they’ve all been dating the same man and decide to exact revenge on him. So they take him to a remote cabin in the snowy wilderness. The plan is payback, but it backfires when the women find their boyfriend dead in the cabin. Now they’re snowed in together and suspicious of each other. Is one of them a killer? Or is there someone else in the house?

Kelly McWilliams’s latest YA gothic horror is set in 1921. Four debutantes are invited to compete to win a massive inheritance at the crumbling Greystone Manor. Each girl has their own motive for competing. Dorothea wants to know what happened to her mother, who disappeared at Greystone Manor years ago. Birdie thinks divine forces have brought her to this moment. Vaughn is trying to rehab her social standing. And Elspeth has a special ability to see things others can’t see, like all of the strange things happening in the manor (and the sinister secrets hiding in its walls).

If you love Uketsu’s Strange Pictures series, then you’ll love this new graphic novel adaptation, with manga art by Kikou Aiba. Just like the novels, this graphic novel uses puzzles to draw readers into the story’s dark mystery. Each image holds clues to shocking crimes, and readers can uncover the secrets alongside the investigators in the stories. This is the first of what is expected to be five volumes. The second volume will be out in September.

Abigail Rose-Marie’s latest novel is a haunting, atmospheric coming-of-age story. Eleven-year-old Penelope Willows lives in a yellow house on the edge of a cliff with her grieving mother. To help herself deal with the sudden disappearance of her father, Penelope sticks to counting routines to keep her world in order. But she is also supported by an unexpected companion: the ghost of Sylvia Plath, who once lived in this very house.

If you’re like me and love ghost-hunting YouTube videos, then you’re going to love this YA horror novel. Georgia Perry and Jules Park are girlfriends and co-hosts of a ghost-hunting YouTube channel, which is really just a front for their art theft. But when a heist in De Lys Manor goes awry, Jules ends up dead, and Georgia wakes up in a pool of blood with no memory of what happened. Months later, Georgia and her crew are forced to return to the scene of the crime to finish the job they started. But what really happened in that manor months ago? Maybe ghosts are real after all.