I come from worlds that look much like the worlds in these books: raised in poverty, absent father, generational trauma, and mental illness running strong in my genes. I’ve always been interested in the ways our opportunities shape us, and the coping mechanisms we wield—secrecy, denial, anger, violence, even love—as we try to survive.
With two kids in tow, Beth Hanson, a Black divorcee, moves back in with her white father, Earnest, only to find him with a live-in girlfriend, Linda, whom Beth babysat in high school. The move comes right as their neighbor has been arrested for horrific crimes, which Beth was a victim of growing up. Back home, Beth is forced to confront the town’s—and Ernest’s—“benign” racism, and her father’s long denial of the abuse that tainted her childhood.
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You want a book on serious gaslighting? Here it is! Lakewood is about a young woman who, amid financial need, signs up to be a lab rat in an experiment. And it gets dark pretty fast. This book will have you wondering what’s happening and where the character is while she navigates this experiment. And, bonus! It’s set in my home state of Michigan!
Mott surely earned his National Book Award for this! It discusses police brutality of Black people with a main character who is incapable of even acknowledging the latest shooting, and brings in questions like what art is, and what’s an artist’s responsibility to weigh in on these national conversations. The writing is stellar, the character is a little wonky in the best possible way, and the book itself is a page-turner. And if you go to my website, I have a link to where I had the honor of interviewing Mott for this book about a month before it won the NBA! Just scroll to the bottom of the first page where it says “Fox Cities Book Festival.”
Marais does an excellent job of moving among these three point-of-view characters: a Black woman and two white sisters, all brought together by a child and the question of parentage. At the heart of the story is life in apartheid-era South Africa. A must-read for anyone who loves messy families and complex characters.
I love a good gothic, and this does not disappoint. A house full of secrets and magic, and a mentally ill family who guards the secrets and magic. I call this a perfect beach read because Moreno-Garcia writes the kind of strong, willful, clever, active heroine we all wish we could see ourselves in a book.
A young couple of star-crossed lovers: the son of the minister, and the daughter of a woman who committed suicide. And at the helm of their relationship is the church community, steering their path. This book brings up a lot of questions of who gets a say, and who is worthy, all brought to you by Bennet’s gorgeous writing.
5,309 authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about murders, human subject research, and teenagers.
We think you will like Recipes for Love and Murder, The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime, and Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance if you like this list.
From Carmen's list on The best thrillers set in exotic locations.
Having travelled in Africa, I’m always keen to find books set on the continent. It’s a bonus if suspense is involved and a double bonus if the story hinges on the setting. This book gets high marks in both departments. It was a better immersive experience than if I’d rented an Airbnb and watched the action unfold from the front porch.
Rural South Africa is home to advice columnist and cooking authority Tannie Maria (Tannie meaning Auntie, the respectful Afrikaans address for a woman older than you) in the first book in this unique and extraordinary series. A middle-aged widow, she offers advice and recipes to the lovelorn and others who write the local newspaper.
One letter-writer is a woman desperate to escape her abusive husband: an echo of Tannie Maria’s own fraught past. When the woman is murdered, Tannie Maria becomes dangerously entwined in the investigation, despite the best efforts of one striking detective determined to keep her safe.
From clothing to food to the animals who lurk in the night, this book brings you inside Tannie Maria’s world and makes you welcome. The descriptions were sensational. Basically, I absolutely loved it.
From Greg's list on The best books on the history of murder.
This is an amazing book that serves as a template for academic writers seeking to reach a wider readership. Flanders delves into not only Victorian Britain’s obsessive fascination with homicide and its detection, but also how newspaper editors and reporters, playwrights, and novelists benefited from and were influenced by particularly gruesome crimes with compelling victims and perpetrators. The book incorporates academic scholarship and recalls some of the most famous crimes of the era and explores their impact on Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Robert Louis Stevenson, and other cultural producers.
From Mary's list on The best historical mysteries with famous people as the amateur sleuths.
This is the first book in a series that is as witty, complex, charming, and dark as Oscar Wilde himself. (“I can resist everything but temptation.”) The author is steeped in Wilde and his world, quotes him extensively (but appropriately) and also delivers a great mystery set in the fascinating era of Victorian decline and fin de siècle artistic fervor. Arthur Conan Doyle, in a great turnabout, plays “Watson” to Wilde’s “Sherlock” in all the mysteries. A later book in the series takes on Jack the Ripper, with some surprising suspects!
