Downtime Halloween Cozy Houses

Every house on this block went all in on Halloween, and none of them mind if you stop to look. Wander past cottages with pumpkins stacked on the steps, Victorians strung with lanterns, farmhouses guarded by a skeleton who clearly lives there now, and a Tudor or two that gave the front lawn over entirely to bats and tombstones. Some porches keep it simple, one cat and a candle. Others commit fully, scarecrows and all. Nothing here means you any harm; the ghosts are neighborly, the atmosphere is more cider than dread, and the only real suspense is which house you'll pick up your pencil for first. The detail is generous enough to lose an evening in without ever feeling like homework, which makes this a comfortable book for a slower kind of October night, in whatever company you keep.