Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve always adored mysteries. My dad has the entire collection of Agatha Christie books, but even before I read those, I worked through his ancient original hardbacks of Enid Blyton's Famous Five books and the less well-known Malcolm Saville Lone Pine series. I love getting totally engrossed in a series, so I really get to BE the main characterā€“I am one of four siblings, and when I wasnā€™t too busy reading, we were the Famous Five. I was George. I think I still am, to be perfectly honestā€“she was fiery, passionate, loved her dog, and wanted to serve justice and out the bad guys. What a role model!


I wrote

Claude, Gord, Alice, and Maud

By Jinny Alexander,

Book cover of Claude, Gord, Alice, and Maud

What is my book about?

My book is a quirky, fun, cozy mystery. Visually impaired 74-year-old Sally Smith stumbles over a body in the hairā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Appeal

Jinny Alexander Why did I love this book?

This book was such fun to read! It's really unusual in that it's told entirely by letters, emails, and text messages. It has no chapters and invites lots of flicking pages back and forth to go back and check things, so it's super interactive (I was glad I got the paperback!). I really liked that most of the characters are unlikeable, and none of them seem to like each other very much, either. I LOVE unlikeable characters.

On top of that, much of the information they give in the letters is unreliable at best or completely untrue at worst. This book is a murder mystery, but it takes ages to find out who's dead, and by the time I found out, I'd wanted most of the characters to have been killed offā€“they really are a nasty lot! This book was totally original and very clever, and I adored it from start to finish. It's so, so cleverā€¦did I mention that?

By Janice Hallett,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Appeal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Winner of the CWA New Blood Dagger Award

ā€œ[W]itty, originalā€¦a delight.ā€ ā€”The New York Times

Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, this international bestseller and ā€œdazzlingly cleverā€ (The Sunday Times, London) murder mystery follows a community rallying around a sick childā€”but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the playā€™s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, andā€¦


Book cover of Anxious People

Jinny Alexander Why did I love this book?

Is this a cozy mystery? Iā€™m saying yes, but honestly, itā€™s so good Iā€™d squeeze it into any genre just so I can talk about it. It has a crime, a small community, a couple of bumbling policemen, a locked room, a bunch of people trying, amateurishly, to solve a crime, and a lot of ā€˜keep the reader guessingā€™ elements.

So far, so cozy. It also has a lot of anxious people and explores their unhappy and complicated lives in a hilarious, satirical tone. It is also just a little bit sad, as well as funny and happy, so, all right, it probably isnā€™t really a cozy mystery, but itā€™s been one of the best listens on my audiobook library so far this yearā€“Iā€™ve already listened to it twice in 2024, and itā€™s only July.

By Fredrik Backman,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked Anxious People as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The funny, touching and unpredictable No. 1 New York Times bestseller, now a major Netflix TV series

'A brilliant and comforting read' MATT HAIG
'Funny, compassionate and wise. An absolute joy' A.J. PEARCE
'A surefooted insight into the absurdity, beauty and ache of life' GUARDIAN
'I laughed, I sobbed, I recommended it to literally everyone I know' BUZZFEED
'Captures the messy essence of being human' WASHINGTON POST

From the 18 million copy internationally bestselling author of A Man Called Ove
_______

It's New Year's Eve and House Tricks estate agents are hosting an open viewing in an up-market apartment whenā€¦


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Book cover of Andromache's Story: What Really Happened in Troy

Andromache's Story by Nancy MacCreery,

This fresh retelling of the Trojan War is action-packed and fun. Hectorā€™s intelligent wife, Andromache, spins the story as if she's sitting across from you at a campfire, finally setting the record straight. Her wry perspective brings ancient Troy to life, with Paris, the lighthearted lover of beauty, dependable Hector,ā€¦

Book cover of Death and the Conjuror

Jinny Alexander Why did I love this book?

I love London. I love old mysteries. I love the Art Deco era. I love magic. As a child, my dad was part of the Magic Circle, and my brother and I learned some of the tricksā€“and when I say ā€˜my brother and I learned tricks,ā€™ I mean I twirled endless chiffon scarfs from thin air and tried not to get cut in half, and he tried to cut me in half.

Tom Meadā€™s tale of conjuring, stage trickery, and locked room mystery somehow transports me back to my childhood, even though his 1930s setting is far further back than my 70s childhood! He gives us that Golden Age impossible puzzleā€“how is a man killed inside a locked room?ā€“and I admit, my guess was quite wrong in this cleverly woven tale of intrigue and deceit, but the magic of smoke, mirrors, trickery, and Art Deco theatre more than made up for my failure as a sleuth!

By Tom Mead,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Death and the Conjuror as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Best Mysteries of 2022 Selection

In this "sharply-drawn period piece" (New York Times), a magician-turned-sleuth in pre-war London solves three impossible crimes

In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study, and there seems to be no way that a killer could have escaped unseen. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, the Scotland Yard detective on the case calls on retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth Joseph Spector. For who better to make sense of the impossible than one whoā€¦


Book cover of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Jinny Alexander Why did I love this book?

This whole series always makes me smileā€“Mma Ramotswe remains one of the most hilarious main characters in any cozy mystery Iā€™ve ever read. The crimes she comes up against are usually low-key, usually secondary to the backdrop of Botswana, and often solved by accident as much as design.

Precious Ramotsweā€™s commentary on Botswanan life is simply brilliant, but almost even more amusing is her sidekick, Grace Makutsi, who bumbles through her role as secretary-promoted-to-assistant-detective, and the interaction between the characters never fails to give me laugh-out-loud moments.

This whole series has to be the most feel-good series ever, and now Iā€™m rediscovering it as an audio production of the radio series; itā€™s as heart-warming as a bright bunch of flowers on a dull day, a bowl of hot soup when youā€™re sick; a hot bubble bath when itā€™s snowing outsideā€¦I love it, love it, love it!

By Alexander McCall Smith,

Why should I read it?

10 authors picked The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Precious Ramotswe, a cheerful woman of traditional build, is the founder of Botswana's first and only ladies' detective agency. Here is a gentle interpretation of the detective role: solving her cases through her innate wisdom and understanding of human nature, she 'helps people with problems in their lives'. With a tone that is as elegant as that which is unfailingly used by his protagonist, Alexander McCall Smith tenderly unfolds a picture of life in Gaborone with a mastery of comic understatement and an evident sympathy for his subjects and their milieu. In the background of all this is Botswana, aā€¦


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Book cover of Party Girl

Party Girl by Anna David,

When I first wrote Party Girl in 2005, it was before "Quit Lit" was a genre or such a thing as a "sober influencer" existed.

I, too, was quite a different person than I am todayā€” more conservative, you could say. "Far more boring" would be another way to putā€¦

Book cover of The Bangalore Detectives Club

Jinny Alexander Why did I love this book?

A year or so ago, I read a lot of factual books about India, so I was delighted to find this Golden Age cozy mystery set in a land I was falling in love with through books. This book took me back to a pre-partition India still under British rule, with a realistic glimpse of life under colonialism alongside a heftyā€“hopefully less realisticā€“dose of murder and mystery.

I adored how Harini Nagendra created a strong, independent female character who still feels genuine and believable in the time and place in which the book is setā€“a time when most women were stifled, submissive, and governed by their husbandsā€“and how the observations of colonization feel true to life while remaining both sympathetic and observant to the Indian culture and ways of life.

The setting is vividly portrayed, and the sights and sounds of 1920s India are an absolute delight. The main characters are easy to fall in love with, and the headstrong, fun, young woman main character is supported well by her modern-thinking husband. I loved reading a book set away from rainy England and being transported to a glamourous-yet-tough, vibrant, warm 1920s India.

By Harini Nagendra,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bangalore Detectives Club as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'The first in an effervescent new mystery series. . . a treat for historical mystery lovers looking for a new series to savour (or devour)' NEW YORK TIMES

'A gorgeous debut mystery with a charming and fearless sleuth . . . spellbinding' SUJATA MASSEY

'Told with real warmth and wit. . . A perfect read for fans of Alexander McCall Smith and Vaseem Khan' - ABIR MUKHERJEE

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2022

Murder and mayhem . . . monsoon season is coming.
_____________________________

Solving crimes isn't easy.

Add a jealous mother-in-law and having to wear a flowingā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Claude, Gord, Alice, and Maud

By Jinny Alexander,

Book cover of Claude, Gord, Alice, and Maud

What is my book about?

My book is a quirky, fun, cozy mystery. Visually impaired 74-year-old Sally Smith stumbles over a body in the hair salon, resulting in a lock-in for the clients and salon staff until the culprit is caught. Mrs. Smith may not be able to see whatā€™s going on, but sheā€™s as sharp as a pair of hairdressing scissors. She used to be a teacher, and thatā€™s almost like being a police officer, right? She narrows the suspects to four, but surely it canā€™t be Claude, Gord, Alice, or Maud, not when everyone in the small English high-street town of Little Wittering is so nice?

Sally Smith is witty, wry, unapologetically judgmental, and terribly unreliable. The world, through her senses, is never dull, thatā€™s for sure.

Book cover of The Appeal
Book cover of Anxious People
Book cover of Death and the Conjuror

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