By Michele McGraw 

As days grow shorter, leaves tumble, and political campaigns reach fever pitch, readers are looking for books that bring intrigue and suspense, and maybe even a few titles about things that go bump in the night.

The best news for fans of thriller fiction is the creation of International Thriller Writers, an association of writers of thrillers and suspense fiction from around the world. Their website http://www.thrillerwriters.org/ is an excellent source of current suspense and thriller reads, and it also provides great information on popular authors and events to keep readers abreast of what’s coming next.

The group also launched the Thriller Awards in 2006, which recognizes the best novel, best first novel, and best paperback original thriller published each year. Go online to Hennepin County Library’s Bookspace page for lists of new thrillers by genre. You’ll find medical and forensic thrillers, legal thrillers, and other books to keep you on the edge of your seat! ttp://www.hclib.org/pub/bookspace/FindAGoodBook.cfm?Genre=mysteries/thrillers/suspense.

Bookspace also has lots of great classic and contemporary horror titles if you’re looking for something a little scarier. http://www.hclib.org/pub/bookspace/FindAGoodBook.cfm?Genre=science%20fiction/fantasy/horror

These Bookspace pages also feature library staff's favorite reads as well as links to titles newly added to the library’s collection. You can also browse book lists posted by other readers and even post your own list of thrillers and chillers for other readers!

Suggested titles: The 2008 Thriller Award winners

* The Ghost by Robert Harris. In this political thriller, retired British Prime Minister Adam Lang begins writing his explosive memoirs, which will include details of how his career ended after he sided with America in an unpopular war. When his first ghostwriter winds up dead, he finds another writer to help tell a few of his secrets – but what the new "ghost" learns may be more than he bargained for.

* Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Aging rock star Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre, so when he stumbles across an Internet auction in which a woman is selling her stepfather’s ghost, he can’t resist. What begins as a box with a dead man’s suit inside becomes a harrowing adventure, forcing Judas to examine his past and the secrets that the ghost brings with him.

* The Midnight Road by Tom Piccirilli. From the moment he saw the girl in the snowstorm, Flynn had less than an hour to live. But he’ll remember his last fifty minutes long after he’s dead. As an investigator for Suffolk County Child Protective Services, Flynn has seen more than his share of misery, but nothing could prepare him for the nightmare inside the Shepards’ million-dollar Long Island home. In less than an hour, that nightmare will send him plunging into a frozen harbor—and awaken him to a reality even more terrifying. Michele McGraw is senior librarian with the Eden Prairie Library.