64 books like Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind

By Ann B. Ross,

Here are 64 books that Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind fans have personally recommended if you like Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Malice in Maggody

Kathleen Marple Kalb Author Of A Fatal Finale

From my list on brilliant women sleuths who catch killers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been reading mysteries since I “borrowed” my Grandpa’s Miss Marple’s as an elementary schooler. (And yes, my maiden name really IS Marple) And I’ve always been drawn to smart, competent women characters–even better if they’re funny. Women who do their own fighting and their own detecting and then hand the killer off to the cops with a smile and a great line. These women inspired me–and now I get to write a lady who at least belongs in the room with them!

Kathleen's book list on brilliant women sleuths who catch killers

Kathleen Marple Kalb Why did Kathleen love this book?

I love a quirky small-town mystery with screwball comedy, and this one absolutely delivers–with a wonderful twist: the detective is Sheriff Arly Hanks, a woman forced to go home and start over after a meltdown in the big city.

I love Arly’s intelligence and spirit…and the fact that while she has a gun (and even a bullet or two), she doesn’t need more than her wits and the help of the crazy locals–including her own mother–to catch the killer. She’s my favorite funny, badass woman sleuth. 

By Joan Hess,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Malice in Maggody as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

After a crossbow killing at a cheap roadside motel, Ozarks police chief Arly Hanks finds herself investigating her first murder case.

Her marriage over and career gone bust, Arly Hanks flees Manhattan for her hometown: Maggody, Arkansas. In a town this size, nothing much ever happens, so Arly figures she's safe as the town's first female chief of police-until the husband of one of the local barmaids escapes from state prison and heads for town. And that's not all. An EPA official with ties to polluting the local fishing hole has suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.

As…


Book cover of Permed to Death

Susie Black Author Of Death by Surfboard

From my list on humorous mysteries in the south by female authors.

Why am I passionate about this?

Prior to my becoming a cozy mystery author, I was a ladies’ apparel sales rep traveling a territory in the deep southern states. During my four-year stint I spent a great deal of time in a variety of southern cities and small towns. I interacted with progressive as well as traditional, conservative people. My experiences gave me a unique perspective with respect to the social mores and hierarchy of Southern society. 

Susie's book list on humorous mysteries in the south by female authors

Susie Black Why did Susie love this book?

Maybe it’s because I am naturally curious and ask a lot of questions, I’m a sucker for a protagonist who sticks her nose everywhere it doesn’t belong.

South Florida hairstylist Marla Shore is already having a bad hair day when one of her clients dies in the shampoo chair at her salon. Then Detective Dalton Vail accuses Marla of putting poison in the woman’s coffee creamer. Grumpy Bertha Kravitz might not have been Marla’s favorite customer, but the hairstylist wouldn’t have murdered the lady.

I love that no matter how much danger she gets herself into, Marla stands up for herself and leaves no stone unturned when she decides it’s up to her to unmask the real killer.

By Nancy J. Cohen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Permed to Death as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Meet Marla Shore, a Florida hairstylist and salon owner with a knack for styling hair and solving mysteries.

Hairstylist Marla Shore is already having a bad hair day when one of her clients dies in the shampoo chair at her salon. Then Detective Dalton Vail accuses her of putting poison in the wealthy woman's coffee creamer. Grumpy Bertha Kravitz might not have been Marla's favorite customer, but she wouldn't have murdered the lady. With her reputation at stake, Marla decides it's up to her to unmask the killer.

Combing the woman's privileged world for clues, Marla discovers the town is…


Book cover of Elvis and the Dearly Departed

Susie Black Author Of Death by Surfboard

From my list on humorous mysteries in the south by female authors.

Why am I passionate about this?

Prior to my becoming a cozy mystery author, I was a ladies’ apparel sales rep traveling a territory in the deep southern states. During my four-year stint I spent a great deal of time in a variety of southern cities and small towns. I interacted with progressive as well as traditional, conservative people. My experiences gave me a unique perspective with respect to the social mores and hierarchy of Southern society. 

Susie's book list on humorous mysteries in the south by female authors

Susie Black Why did Susie love this book?

Nothing tickles my funny bone more than my husband describing the antics of his boyhood family dog, a singing ninety-pound boxer aptly named Troubadour.

So, naturally, I fell in love with mortician Callie Valentine Jones’ basset hound who’s convinced he is the reincarnation of the King of Rock n’ Roll. Business takes a nasty nosedive when the corpse of a local doctor goes missing from the Eternal Rest Funeral Home.

I almost died laughing when kookie Callie and her wake caterer cousin Lovie race in hot pursuit of the recently embalmed, last seen bound for Las Vegas by way of downtown Tupelo, Mississippi.

The fast-paced plot is nothing short of sheer Southern fried lunacy as Callie, Lovie, and Elvis track the dearly departed doctor inside a freezer owned by his showgirl mistress. 

By Peggy Webb,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Elvis and the Dearly Departed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

They say you can't get to Heaven without passing through the Eternal Rest Funeral Home. And no one gets into Eternal Rest without passing muster with Elvis--the basset hound who's convinced he's the reincarnation of the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Brewing up a big ol' pitcher of Mississippi mystery, Peggy Webb's delightful new series is as intoxicating as the Delta breeze.

Normally, Callie Valentine Jones spends her days fixing up the hairdos of the dead, but when the corpse of local, prominent physician Dr. Leonard Laton goes missing, it's bad for business. So Callie and her cousin Lovie (Eternal…


Book cover of Iced Chiffon

Susie Black Author Of Death by Surfboard

From my list on humorous mysteries in the south by female authors.

Why am I passionate about this?

Prior to my becoming a cozy mystery author, I was a ladies’ apparel sales rep traveling a territory in the deep southern states. During my four-year stint I spent a great deal of time in a variety of southern cities and small towns. I interacted with progressive as well as traditional, conservative people. My experiences gave me a unique perspective with respect to the social mores and hierarchy of Southern society. 

Susie's book list on humorous mysteries in the south by female authors

Susie Black Why did Susie love this book?

Maybe it’s because I had to do it throughout my career as a sales exec in a historically male-dominated industry before I became an author, that I am a hopeless sap for a heroine who picks herself up no matter how many times she gets knocked down.

So, it is no surprise that Savannah, Georgia-based recent divorcee Reagan Summerside has a special place in my heart. Reagan, left with almost nothing, thanks to the ruthless tactics of her husband’s divorce lawyer, discovers the bimbo her ex dumped her for dead in her former Lexus.

I cheered the consignment shop owner on as she relentlessly searched for the murderer.

By Duffy Brown,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

There's always something to gossip about in Savannah, Georgia, and Reagan Summerside always seems to be in the middle of it. She's busy enough running her consignment shop, The Prissy Fox, with her vivacious Auntie KiKi, but now the gossip-and the sales-are about to pick up after a gruesome discovery...

Reagan's messy divorce has left her with nothing but a run-down Victorian and a bunch of designer clothes. Strapped for cash, Reagan makes use of the two things she has left, turning the first floor of her home into a consignment shop and filling it with the remnants of her…


Book cover of The Cocktail Waitress

Lily Sparks Author Of Teen Killers Club

From my list on with narrators that may or may not be psychopaths.

Why am I passionate about this?

Since my mom pressed an Agatha Christie into my hands at age eight, I’ve been fascinated by mystery novels; when I got older that bled into true crime, and from there psychological non-fiction about psychopathy. What evolutionary purpose do psychopaths serve, is this a label we can confidently assign people or is the spectrum of human behavior a gray horizon we’re still approaching? These are questions I’m always happy to spend an hour or six debating, and this interest in psychopaths was definitely heightened by learning I’m closely related to one. 

Lily's book list on with narrators that may or may not be psychopaths

Lily Sparks Why did Lily love this book?

The Cocktail Waitress is the last work of total master James M. Cain, posthumously published in 2014. I started this on a hike and did not stop listening until it was done, netting me quite a bit of cardio. This firsthand explanation of a tabloid murder scandal, as told by its prime suspect, is often hilarious, surprisingly feminist, and darkly sinister. As the titular waitress innocently recalls meeting and marrying a much older millionaire and his baffling demise soon after, it’s clear she’s lying through her teeth. But deducing how and why is the fun of the book. Still, the ending is a gut punch. My book hangover was a solid 72 hours (could’ve been the hike though). 

By James M. Cain,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Following her husband's death in an accident, beautiful young widow Joan Medford is forced to take a job serving drinks in a cocktail lounge to make ends meet. At the job she encounters two men who take an interest in her, a handsome young schemer and a wealthy but unwell older man who rewards her for her attentions with a $50,000 tip and an unconventional offer of marriage...


Book cover of The Blind Assassin

Jen Fawkes Author Of Daughters of Chaos

From my list on speculative novels that fictionalize history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I will die on this hill: a knowledge of human history is essential. If we refuse to examine our past, we are truly doomed to repeat it. What we call “history,” however, is told from only one viewpoint: that of the victor, or whatever party lived to record the tale. Since childhood, I’ve been intrigued by the lives of our forebears even as I longed for proof of the uncanny in the waking world. But I’ve only ever encountered the fantastical—not to mention the historical—in texts like those on this list, where the two can commingle, enriching and refining one another for the enlightenment, and the pleasure, of their readers.

Jen's book list on speculative novels that fictionalize history

Jen Fawkes Why did Jen love this book?

The frame-tale—also known as a “story within a story”—is one of my favorite fictional devices, and Margaret Atwood’s deft handling of three separate storylines makes this book a truly astonishing read.

Though her characters are fictional, their story is set against a backdrop of major Canadian historical events of the 1930s and 1940s. The exterior tale carries Iris Chase, an unhappily married upper-class woman, from childhood to death, while the real author of the interior story—a novel about a pair of illicit lovers that contains an embedded science fiction tale (the eponymous Blind Assassin)—is one of the story’s biggest mysteries.

This novel is ambitious, engaging, and wholly surprising. 

By Margaret Atwood,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Winner of the Man Booker Prize

By the author of The Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace

Laura Chase's older sister Iris, married at eighteen to a politically prominent industrialist but now poor and eighty-two, is living in Port Ticonderoga, a town dominated by their once-prosperous family before the First War. While coping with her unreliable body, Iris reflects on her far from exemplary life, in particular the events surrounding her sister's tragic death. Chief among these was the publication of The Blind Assassin, a novel which earned the dead Laura Chase not only notoriety but also a devoted cult following.…


Book cover of The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir

Bonnie J. Buratti Author Of Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar: A Guided Tour of the Solar System

From my list on the planets and life outside the Earth.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child I was fascinated by space, planets, and the stars. Now I am a planetary scientist who has been involved with NASA’s interplanetary missions for four decades. I am curious, passionate about space exploration and discovery, and have been in leadership roles on some of these missions. I am also passionate about communicating these discoveries to the public. Learn about the planets from an expert, an insider who was there in the thick of the action during key times and who wants to communicate this excitement to you.

Bonnie's book list on the planets and life outside the Earth

Bonnie J. Buratti Why did Bonnie love this book?

There can be no question greater than “Is there life outside the Earth?”. Sara Seager places her own search for planets outside the Earth - almost 5000 planets in other solar systems have been discovered in the past three decades, including Earth-like bodies - against her own life story and struggles as a scientist weathering the unexpected loss of a spouse and the raising of her two young sons. Astronomers estimate there are billions of undiscovered planets just in our Galaxy. Seager paints our very own Earth as a bright point of community and connection in the vastness of space as she gives a first-person account of the technical challenges of seeking other planets and life elsewhere.

By Sara Seager,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Smallest Lights in the Universe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology in 2020

'A stunningly original memoir ... her most human tale of love, loss and redemption is illuminated and given meaning by this backdrop. A beautiful and compelling read' Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

In The Smallest Lights in the Universe, MIT astrophysicist Sara Seager interweaves the story of her search for meaning and solace after losing her first husband to cancer, her unflagging search for an Earth-like exoplanet and her unexpected discovery of new love.

Sara Seager has made it her life's work to peer…


Book cover of The Dig: A Novel Based on True Events

Jim Metzner Author Of Sacred Mounds

From my list on ancient mounds.

Why am I passionate about this?

To me, it seemed the ancient mounds were fertile ground for literary exploration, a living metaphor – evidence of what was likely the first places of spiritual practice in our country, ancient, unknown, and buried, what a symbol to form the basis of a novel! When I began my research, I soon came into contact with the Natchez. I attended their annual gathering and eventually became close friends with the Principal Chief of the Natchez Nation, who vetted Sacred Mounds and wrote its foreword. The book includes historical figures like the Great Sun, descended from the Sun Itself, and his war chief, the Tattooed Serpent. They are part of the tapestry of history woven in Sacred Mounds.

Jim's book list on ancient mounds

Jim Metzner Why did Jim love this book?

The popular Netflix film The Dig was based on this book, one of the few works of historical fiction that deal with ancient mounds. It tells the story of the 1930-era excavation of a Celtic Burial Mound. Not all mounds were burials, however. Some were ceremonial and their purpose remains largely unknown. The book gives a good sense of what archaeology was like a hundred years ago, both the practice and the politics behind what yielded the largest buried treasure in Britain's history.

By John D. Preston,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In the long hot summer of 1939 Britain is preparing for war. But on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind: Mrs Petty, the widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes clear though that this is no ordinary find ... And pretty soon the discovery leads to all kinds of jealousies and tensions. John Preston's recreation of the Sutton Hoo dig - the greatest Anglo-Saxon discovery ever in Britain - brilliantly and…


Book cover of The Translator

Geoffrey P. Nash Author Of From Empire to Orient: Travellers to the Middle East 1830-1926

From my list on understanding Imperialism in the Middle East.

Why am I passionate about this?

I graduated from Oxford University in 1975 at a time of social and economic crisis for Great Britain. My country has since unraveled from being a world imperial power to a petty nationalist rump on the western fringes of Europe. In addition to England I’ve taught at universities in North East Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, areas of the world where the British Empire once held sway. And I’ve also participated in conferences on various Middle Eastern topics in venues in the United States, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Morocco to name but a few. Hence my fascination with the Middle East and how the Western empires have impacted upon it.

Geoffrey's book list on understanding Imperialism in the Middle East

Geoffrey P. Nash Why did Geoffrey love this book?

Now you know about the history and the politics, how about a post-colonial romance that turns out to be a solvent of East-West dichotomy? Aboulela’s re-writing of Jane Eyre as a love match between Scottish academic Rae and his Sudanese translator Sammar carries the reader away from orientalism to a happy union catalyzed by the westerner male’s translation into a Muslim.  

By Leila Aboulela,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A New York Times Notable Book: “Aboulela’s lovely, brief story encompasses worlds of melancholy and gulfs between cultures” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
 
American readers were introduced to the award-winning Sudanese author Leila Aboulela with Minaret, a delicate tale of a privileged young African Muslim woman adjusting to her new life as a maid in London. Now, for the first time in North America, we step back to her extraordinarily assured debut about a widowed Muslim mother living in Aberdeen who falls in love with a Scottish secular academic.
 
Sammar is a Sudanese widow working as an Arabic translator at a…


Book cover of All Passion Spent

Brianne Moore Author Of A Bright Young Thing

From my list on 1930s books featuring women who did it their way.

Why am I passionate about this?

All of my books and stories have at least one thing in common: strong women. I’ve always been fascinated by women who are fighters and who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. Astra, the main character in A Bright Young Thing, is definitely not alone in pushing back against society’s expectations: the women in these books (and many in real life in the 1930s) also find the strength to say no, to stand in their power, and truly live life their way.

Brianne's book list on 1930s books featuring women who did it their way

Brianne Moore Why did Brianne love this book?

After a lifetime of dutiful marriage, the newly widowed Lady Slane shocks her family by striking out on her own, moving from London to a suburban cottage where she will live alone and please herself (for once!). Her decision rumbles through her grown children’s lives and inspires one of her great-granddaughters to pursue an independent life herself.

I love that this book focuses on an older woman (Lady Slane is 88 years old), proving that it’s never too late to live life on your own terms. And in Deborah, her great-granddaughter, we get a glimpse of the new sort of woman who was really making her presence felt in this period: young women exploring their independence and living very different lives from their parents and grandparents.

By Vita Sackville-West,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked All Passion Spent as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A charming extraordinary early 20th century novel about family relationships.

When the great statesman Lord Slane dies, everyone assumes his dutiful wife will slowly fade away, the paying guest of each of her six children. But Lady Slane surprises everyone by escaping to a rented house in Hampstead where she revels in her new freedom, revives youthful ambitions and gathers some very unsuitable companions. Irreverent, entertaining and insightful, this is a tale of the unexpected joys of growing older.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOANNA LUMLEY


Book cover of Malice in Maggody
Book cover of Permed to Death
Book cover of Elvis and the Dearly Departed

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Interested in widows, love triangle, and the South?

Widows 86 books
Love Triangle 77 books
The South 189 books