Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve read crime fiction since I was a kid, starting with Nancy Drew and the mystery magazines—Alfred Hitchcock, Mike Shayne, and Ellery Queen. While in elementary school, I wrote mystery short stories, which my sister illustrated, and we sold them on the street corner for 25 cents apiece. In the nineties, I devoured novels by Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, and P.D. James. The 2000s introduced another generation of favorite authors, including Belinda Bauer, Chris Whitaker, and Tana French. I love too many to name! My current passion is for novels that I can really sink my teeth into, with complex characters hiding dark secrets.


I wrote...

What You Made Me Do

By Barbara Gayle Austin,

Book cover of What You Made Me Do

What is my book about?

My book is a thriller packed with dark family secrets. Willem Veldkamp has a nightmarish childhood, thanks to his domineering…

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Family Upstairs

Barbara Gayle Austin Why did I love this book?

The first line had me hooked: “It would be inaccurate to say that my childhood was normal before they came.”

That one sentence fired up my imagination, and the story kept me turning the pages late into the night. Libby, an adoptee, unexpectedly inherits a once-grand mansion in London’s Chelsea, only to discover it comes with a grim family history that’s nothing like the fanciful one she’d imagined.

I’m particularly drawn to novels like this one, with multiple narrators and intertwining timelines.

By Lisa Jewell,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Family Upstairs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'I swear I didn't breathe the whole time I was reading it. Gripping, pacy, brilliantly twisty.' CLARE MACKINTOSH

'Creepy, intricate and utterly immersive: an excellent holiday read.' GUARDIAN

'A twisty and engrossing story of betrayal and redemption.' IAN RANKIN
____________________________

FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THEN SHE WAS GONE

In a large house in London's fashionable Chelsea, a baby is awake in her cot. Well-fed and cared for, she is happily waiting for someone to pick her up.

In the kitchen lie three decomposing corpses. Close to them is a hastily scrawled note.

They've been dead for several days.…


Book cover of Sharp Objects

Barbara Gayle Austin Why did I love this book?

This is Flynn’s debut novel and my favorite. I liked it even more than Gone Girl. Camille, the protagonist, had me cheering for her at every turn, yet I couldn't shake a persistent sense of dread.

Some scenes are so vivid and disturbing that they’ve stuck with me long after I finished the book—especially the chilling scene at a pig farm. And Camille’s mother, Adora? Let’s just say she isn’t adorable.

The ending? Bone-chilling and unforgettable.

By Gillian Flynn,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Sharp Objects as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NOW AN HBO® LIMITED SERIES STARRING AMY ADAMS, NOMINATED FOR EIGHT EMMY AWARDS, INCLUDING OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GONE GIRL

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds…


Book cover of The Guest

Barbara Gayle Austin Why did I love this book?

The twists at the end took me by surprise, though I sensed something wasn’t quite right throughout. I just couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. Iris and Gabriel return from a holiday and are surprised to find their friend Laure staying in their home.

What begins as an annoyance escalates to a threat as long-buried secrets start to surface. The tension kept me swiping the pages on my E-reader. It’s my favorite B. A. Paris thriller so far.

By B. A. Paris,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

New York Times bestselling author B. A. Paris captivated psychological thriller readers everywhere with Behind Closed Doors. Now she invites you into another home full of heart-pounding secrets, in The Guest.

Some secrets never leave.

Iris and Gabriel have just arrived home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their closest friends, Laure, is in their house. The atmosphere quickly becomes tense as she oversteps again and again: sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris' clothes, even rearranging the furniture.

Laure has walked out on her husband―and their good friend―Pierre, over his confession of an affair and…


Book cover of The Death of Mrs. Westaway

Barbara Gayle Austin Why did I love this book?

“No, Hal. Don’t do it,” I kept muttering as I read. After her mother’s sudden death, Hal is alone and in debt to dangerous money lenders. She can barely buy food or keep her flat warm. Just as she hits rock bottom, a letter arrives informing her that her grandmother has passed away, and Hal is a beneficiary under her will. She’s convinced that it’s a case of mistaken identity. But she’s desperate and stakes her claim anyway.

I paused in my reading to puzzle over a seemingly innocent photo Hal found, but the truth remained tantalizingly out of my grasp until the end. This book has that classic mystery vibe that makes me want to crawl under the covers and read it on a cold winter night.

By Ruth Ware,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'I read this in two lightning-quick sittings...I absolutely adored it' Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of The Family Upstairs

HAL MUST KEEP GOING OR RISK LOSING EVERYTHING...EVEN HER LIFE.

When Harriet Westaway receives an unexpected letter telling her she's inherited a substantial bequest from her Cornish grandmother, it seems like the answer to her prayers.

There's just one problem - Hal's real grandparents died more than twenty years ago.

Hal desperately needs the cash and makes a choice that will change her life for ever. She knows that her skills as a seaside fortune teller could help her con her way…


Book cover of The Thirteenth Tale

Barbara Gayle Austin Why did I love this book?

There were a lot of juicy secrets to unravel in this gothic thriller. Murder, feral twins, a devastating fire, an abandoned baby, and a ghost child.

Vida Winter, old and ill, has been safeguarding the family’s secrets, but she doesn’t want to take them with her to the grave. She hires biographer Margaret Lea to write her life story. But Vida isn’t the most reliable narrator, forcing Margaret to conduct her own investigation to uncover the truth. Eventually, the secrets are laid bare, but one question remains open at the end...

I had fun trying to figure out the answer myself. 

By Diane Setterfield,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Thirteenth Tale as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Simply brilliant' Kate Mosse, international bestselling author of Labyrinth

***

Everybody has a story...

Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten.

It was once home to the March family: fascinating, manipulative Isabelle; brutal, dangerous Charlie; and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But the house hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart...

Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past, and its mysterious connection to the enigmatic writer Vida Winter. Vida's history is mesmering - a tale of ghosts, governesses, and gothic strangeness. But as Margaret succumbs to the power…


Explore my book 😀

What You Made Me Do

By Barbara Gayle Austin,

Book cover of What You Made Me Do

What is my book about?

My book is a thriller packed with dark family secrets. Willem Veldkamp has a nightmarish childhood, thanks to his domineering mother. When she vanishes without a trace, one nightmare ends, but another begins. Then there’s little Anneliese Bakker, who survives her own troubled childhood. She leaves home as soon as she can, vowing never to return.

Fast forward to adulthood. Willem and Anneliese meet, fall head over heels in love, and get engaged. Yet they keep silent about the darkness in their pasts. A mistake. Because if there’s one thing about secrets, it’s that they surface at the worst possible moment. The story shifts between perspectives and timelines, drawing the reader into the lives of the characters.

You might also like...

Love Love TV

By Gabriel Ruesso,

Book cover of Love Love TV

Gabriel Ruesso

New book alert!

What is my book about?

Christopher Jope was supposed to be the next great celebrity heartthrob. But then he was demoted to third wheel in the supernatural throuple romance he starred in years ago. Now, he’s a B-list celebrity at best, struggling to find success in his work or love in his personal life. 

Things are looking up, though, when Christopher is tapped to be next season's star of the best trashy reality show on television. In Star x Lovers, ten bachelors and ten bachelorettes compete to try and win Christopher's heart and mind. The show is run by the charming yet jaded host Ted…

Love Love TV

By Gabriel Ruesso,

What is this book about?

Love Love TV is a 1st person bisexual romance novel that quickly morphs into a 'whodunnit' murder mystery. Fans of Agatha Christie meets Black Mirror will love this modern story about love, loss, reality TV, and being so famous it hurts.

Star x Lovers is the best trash reality show on TV. Twenty bachelors and bachelorettes on a gorgeous island try to win the heart of Christopher Jope, the B-list celebrity from an old, popular supernatural teenage series. Love Love TV, the secretive television network behind Star x Lovers, does a masterful job at getting as much drama out of…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in inheritances, murder, and murder mystery?

Inheritances 88 books
Murder 1,047 books
Murder Mystery 551 books