Here are 95 books that Madam fans have personally recommended if you like
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Gabriella Lepore is a YA author from Wales in the UK. When she isn’t reading or writing, she can usually be found exploring the coastline or perusing a bookstore. She enjoys autumn days and cups of tea and is always searching for the next mystery!
Moving away from YA and into adult thrillers, this book has a major plot twist that left me shook!
In a final effort to fix their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Wright retreat to a secluded cottage in Scotland. However, they’re soon confronted with the ghosts of their past, leaving them vulnerable.
With the clever inclusion of diary entries, which serve as a breadcrumb trail for readers to follow, this story weaves a complex narrative of deceit, fixation, and deception.
“Feeney lives up to her reputation as the “queen of the twist”…This page-turner will keep you guessing.” —Real Simple Think you know the person you married? Think again…
Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.
Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts--paper, cotton, pottery, tin--and each…
I’ve loved Scotland ever since I spent a year studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh. In fact, I loved it so much that I returned to the University a couple of years later to complete my master’s degree in creative writing. Between the rugged dramatic landscapes, the stunning Gothic architecture, and the dark cold weather, Scotland was the perfect place to inspire a young aspiring suspense author such as myself—and the ideal setting for a creepy, atmospheric thriller like my debut novel. Although I’ve since moved back to the U.S., I’m always on the lookout for a Scottish-set thriller to take me back to the country where I left my heart but—blissfully—found my husband.
I was gripped from the first page of this propulsive psychologic thriller set on a windswept Scottish island.
Just thinking about it, I can feel myself being transported back to the dreary, rain-lashed shores of Angus. I can feel the claustrophobia and desperation of Sarah’s dilemma. I found myself chained to the story, my understanding of the characters and their situation yanked to and fro with every new twist and turn. I couldn’t stop reading.
But like the best fiction,The Ice Twinsstayed with me long after I closed the book. It encapsulates some of my favorite literary elements—a dark brooding atmosphere, characters at odds with their own perceptions of reality, and a suggestion of the supernatural.
In the tradition of The Girl on the Train comes the UK bestseller The Ice Twins, a terrifying psychological thriller with a twisting plot worthy of Gillian Flynn.
One of Sarah's daughters died. But can she be sure which one?
A year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah Moorcroft move to the tiny Scottish island Angus inherited from his grandmother, hoping to put together the pieces of their shattered lives.
But when their surviving daughter, Kirstie, claims they have mistaken her identity--that she, in fact, is Lydia--their world comes crashing down…
I’ve loved Scotland ever since I spent a year studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh. In fact, I loved it so much that I returned to the University a couple of years later to complete my master’s degree in creative writing. Between the rugged dramatic landscapes, the stunning Gothic architecture, and the dark cold weather, Scotland was the perfect place to inspire a young aspiring suspense author such as myself—and the ideal setting for a creepy, atmospheric thriller like my debut novel. Although I’ve since moved back to the U.S., I’m always on the lookout for a Scottish-set thriller to take me back to the country where I left my heart but—blissfully—found my husband.
This book is a masterclass in suspense, but it's the central brother duo, Paul and Mikey, that brought this novel to life for me.
I was engrossed by their unique relationship—their tension, their devotion, their secrets. Like Paul, I have a brother who was convicted and incarcerated, and it was fascinating to see that dynamic play out on the page in gripping, psychologically nuanced, and unexpected ways.
Fallow is a tense, thrilling literary novel combining elements of dark comedy and surrealism. At its heart is the relationship between two brothers bound by a terrible crime. Paul and Mikey are on the run, apparently from the press surrounding their house after Mikey's release from prison. His crime, child murder, committed when he was a boy. As they travel, moving from one disturbing scenario to the next, they encounter a group of dishonest archaeologists, an unhinged born-again Christian, two American tourists researching their genealogy, the inhabitants of a peace camp and a religious cult headed by the powerful Brother…
I’ve loved Scotland ever since I spent a year studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh. In fact, I loved it so much that I returned to the University a couple of years later to complete my master’s degree in creative writing. Between the rugged dramatic landscapes, the stunning Gothic architecture, and the dark cold weather, Scotland was the perfect place to inspire a young aspiring suspense author such as myself—and the ideal setting for a creepy, atmospheric thriller like my debut novel. Although I’ve since moved back to the U.S., I’m always on the lookout for a Scottish-set thriller to take me back to the country where I left my heart but—blissfully—found my husband.
I have not infrequently fantasized about running away to a remote Scottish island, so the premise and American protagonist of this novel immediately spoke to me.
Add to that a big creepy house, unexplained ghostly occurrences, and elegant literary writing, and this is a big winner for me. I loved the brooding, sensitive atmosphere of this novel, and it kept me guessing until the end.
A PACY, CHILLING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP READING!
'Intensely atmospheric' Mail on Sunday
A house full of secrets... The McBride house lies on a remote Scottish island, isolated and abandoned. A century ago, a young widow and her son died mysteriously there. Last year a local boy, visiting for a dare, disappeared without a trace.
A woman alone at night... For Zoe Adams, the house offers an escape from her failing marriage. But when night falls, her peaceful retreat is disrupted-scratches at the door, strange voices-and Zoe is convinced she is being watched.
While the werewolf curse isn’t real (as far as we know/thank goodness!), I do know what it’s like to have my life turned upside down by a painful illness that seems like a curse. When I was 23, I almost died from a rare autoimmune disease that tried to devour my lungs. More than a decade later, I’m still here and fighting, and my escapist love of reading fantasy books turned into a passion to write them. I also love metaphors and werewolves, and it all combined nicely with my BA in English! Aside from writing, I help other “underdog” authors as COO for indie publisher Thinklings Books.
This book is at the top of my list because it’s one of my very favorites. Dunkle spins a gripping, atmospheric story with memorable characters, and you can tell she’s done her research on medieval Scotland. I love the old Celtic tales woven in, and the sweet romance between Maddie and the woodcarver. But what I like most of all is the theme of redemption. Maddie is a true hero, brave in the face of an unimaginably powerful, ancient evil. She showed me that you don’t have to be big or strong or rich or “somebody” to make a difference. You just have to be willing, have faith, and do your part.
There’s hidden places all over this land-old, old places. Places with a chain for them to chain up the wolf when it’s time. A mysterious young man has come to a small Highland town. His talent for wood carving soon wins the admiration of the weaver’s daughter, Maddie. Fascinated by the silent carver, she sets out to gain his trust, only to find herself drawn into a terrifying secret that threatens everything she loves. There is an evil presence in the carver’s life that cannot be controlled, and Maddie watches her town fall under a shadow. One by one, people…
I was born on Halloween, so I’m officially a card-carrying member of all things creepy, right? However, I’m definitely drawn to books with mood and atmosphere over outright horror and gore. I find the subtle aspects of fear so much more interesting—how is it that one person’s reality can be so different than another’s? I write domestic suspense because I think the people we are closest to and the places we think are safest are often the ones that can hurt us the most. Where a story takes place is so very important. I need to know the geography, the feel, the history of a place—then I can put people in it and make bad things happen.
Ever been to a bad dinner party? I can bet it wasn’t as bad as the one in this book! I adored the spooky small-town insular setting in this book, and the mood contributes to the claustrophobic feel of the plot. As you read to try to figure out who did it, you realize that everyone has secrets—and no one can be trusted.
Who do you turn to, when everyone's a stranger and you stop believing what your own eyes see?
Finnie Doyle and Paddy Lamb are leaving city life in Edinburgh behind them and moving to the little town of Simmerton. Paddy has landed a partnership in a local solicitors and Finnie's snagged a job as a church deacon. Their rented cottage is quaint; their new colleagues are charming, and they can't believe their luck.
But witnessing the bloody aftermath of a brutal murder changes everything. They've each been keeping secrets about their pasts. And they both know their precious new start…
After completing a psychology degree, I became an interventions facilitator in a prison and worked with offenders who'd committed serious violent crimes. It was while I was in this role that my fascination for criminal psychology grew. Once I left the profession, I put my experiences to good use in fiction, going on to write The Serial Killer series of three psychological thrillers. With the most recent, The Serial Killer’s Sister, I incorporated my love of puzzles and games into a twisted story of a serial killer who uses a childhood game known to his sister as ‘The Hunt’ to track her down and torment her.
This story centres on four friends who met and forged their friendship at boarding school where they played a lying game – targeting others and gaining points for an elaborate lie successfully believed. These were sometimes harmless… but sometimes not.
Years later, summoned by one of the friends, they reunite. A buried secret from their past now threatens to resurface. I thought this was an intense read with the tension slowly building and with some great revelations that kept me turning the pages. I love the way the author paints such a vivid, atmospheric picture so you can become fully immersed in the story.
'To read [The Lying Game] is to have your nerves slowly but inexorably shredded as, over and again, the tension builds and then evaporates until the final, unexpected denouement' Metro
'A gripping, unpredictable narrative that shifts like sand underfoot, and a plot that turns like the tide.' ERIN KELLY bestselling author of HE SAID SHE SAID
'Thank goodness for Ruth Ware...[The Lying Game is] gripping enough to be devoured in a single sitting' Independent
Four friends. One promise. But someone isn't telling the truth. The twisting new mystery from bestselling phenomenon Ruth Ware.
I live in the past, even as the wellness industry tells me to be present. I try to be present! Of course, I also worry about the future. Time for me, inexorably, moves both backward and forward. I’m always writing things down, scared of forgetting. How do other people do it? That’s why I read fiction (or one of the reasons). As Philip Roth said of his father in Patrimony, “To be alive, to him, is to be made of memory—to him if a man’s not made of memory, he’s made of nothing.”
The popularity of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie may have obscured its structural genius.
Never have I read a book so comfortable drifting between present and future within a single paragraph, even a single sentence. The short novel simultaneously exists inside a classroom in the 1930s and throughout the lives the students will later have as women.
If the Scottish author Muriel Spark had a literary model for this design, I’ve yet to discover it. Sometimes an artist creates something entirely new.
The brevity of Muriel Spark's novels is equaled only by their brilliance. These four novels, each a miniature masterpiece, illustrate her development over four decades. Despite the seriousness of their themes, all four are fantastic comedies of manners, bristling with wit. Spark's most celebrated novel, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, tells the story of a charismatic schoolteacher's catastrophic effect on her pupils. THE GIRLS OF SLENDER MEANS is a beautifully drawn portrait of young women living in a hostel in London in the giddy postwar days of 1945. THE DRIVER'S SEAT follows the final haunted hours of a woman…
I have loved Halloween horror my whole life. As a teacher of literature, I always looked forward to October when I had a green light to incorporate the greatest horror authors into my lessons. The desire to share new horror stories did not fade when I retired. There are so many wonderful new authors of horror it’s impossible to read them all! But there’s also a lot of trash out there—I know, I’ve read it! My lifelong love of spooky things and my background in literature make me confident that I won’t be steering readers wrong when they look to me for the best new reads in horror.
I think author Shawn Burgess loves Halloween as much as I do, and it shows in his writing. We connected, as many writers do, through social media before I had read his debut novel. I was thrilled to find that I did not have to offer only polite compliments after reading it; I genuinely loved it! The story involves a group of boys who are drawn into the mystery surrounding the death of an autistic girl in their small Appalachian community. The feel of the group is reminiscent of the pre-teen characters in Stephen King’s short story, “The Body” (later made into the Rob Reiner’s movie Stand By Me) but unlike King’s story, this one definitely has otherworldly elements. Note: The title of this novel has just recently changed from The Tear Collector as Burgess has expanded the storyline into a series. I’ll definitely keep reading.
The misdeeds of our ancestors are debts passed from generation to generation. They lurk, hidden in the shadows, waiting for the right time to be collected. For the residents of Harper Pass—their debt is due.
When a young autistic girl goes missing from a small Appalachian community, the residents of Harper Pass descend into chaos. Brooks Raker and his friends stumble across the police investigation, and as they dig deeper into the mysterious events, the boys realize the fate of their missing classmate pales in comparison with the evil lurking in the shadows of the quiet little town.
I've written over 100 picture books for children, and am best known for the Aliens Love Underpants series of books, some of which have been turned into touring theatre shows worldwide, and TV animations. My books are all fiction picture books, aimed at children aged from babyhood to seven years. I write gentle bedtime stories to lull your little ones to sleep, fun and zany laugh-out-loud stories, rhyming books, and encouraging and inspiring tales to make children smile and reach for the sky. I enjoy visiting schools and libraries via Zoom, and love to share my passion for reading and writing, to hopefully encourage the next generation of budding young authors.
Alan the crocodile is famed for his big razor-sharp scary teeth. Oh-oh!
Everyday Alan goes sneaking into the jungle to scare all the animals. But Alan has a big secret! What he really loves is to relax and run a warm mud bath and take out his false scary teeth! When, one day Alan’s false teeth go missing, he is frantic. Can he still be scary without them?
A very amusing uplifting story with fabulous, bright illustrations.
An alligator who snaps, becomes an alligator who th-naps in this hilarious, heart-warming story of making new friends and discovering who you really are.
The Winner of the 2017 V&A Best Illustrated Book Award
Meet Alan, an alligator with a secret. Famed for his big, scary teeth, he sneaks into the jungle every day to scare the jungle animals ... "I'm big, scary Alan! Fear my razor-sharp teeth!" But after a long day of scaring, Alan likes nothing better than to run a warm mud bath and take out his false teeth, which nobody knows about! That is, until his…
