Fans pick 100 books like The Case of the Bygone Brother

This book ticks all my must-haves in a great movie: a compelling story, characters, and setting. Shortly after losing her husband to a debilitating illness, Emma Dance unexpectedly inherits her great-aunt’s beach house where she’d spent happy childhood days. Located at the North Carolina coast, it’s a perfect place to try to hide from the grief and emotional drain of the past few years. Despite her desire to lock herself away from the world, Emma slowly emerges and makes friends, possibly even a new romance. Eventually she finds joy once more in everyday life. While delivering an emotionally satisfying story, the author perfectly captures life at the beach—from the breath-stealing beauty of sunrise and sunset, to the force of a storm’s wind shrieking through the seaside house. 

One thing I look for in my “screen” entertainment is a fascinating location. This story takes place in Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. I’ve never been to either, but both are described so well in this book, I feel like I might have visited at some point. The story follows Raine Endicott, Levi Hill, and several other members of their former college hiking club through a 60-mile, four-day trek through the national park. When one of the members is found dead, the danger for our couple starts. While suspensefully leading the reader through the murder investigation, the author weaves in details of outdoor life—like coming upon bears on the trail—and paints a vivid picture of the beauty and majesty of the settings. 

This story is filled with quirky characters, a beautiful backdrop, suspense, and sweet romance, perfect for a romantic comedy. Escaping an abusive fiancé, Laurel McDowell flees with her feisty feline Rufus and her few belongings to her family home in California’s Big Sur. Trouble quickly follows. Soon, she is embroiled in a money laundering conspiracy and finds herself in the cross-hairs of the Russian Mafia. Luckily, FBI forensic accountant Jake Carlson is on the case. This author has a gift for humor, and I found myself chuckling as I read. The supporting characters—Laurel’s restaurateur mother, her two artist sisters, and a high school friend—are likable to the point I wish I could take a cross-country drive to visit. 

Every once in a while, I like a good, scary movie (as long as there’s a limit on the gore). Little Darlings is one of a collection of short stories featuring a murder taking place on Friday the 13th. I made the dubious decision to start reading it one night before bed. Immediately, I was sucked into the story of three friends on a weekend getaway who find themselves terrorized by four black-eyed children who come knocking. The author did a fantastic job of creeping me out to the point where I was listening for the story’s “little darlings” long after turning out my light. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night. I see this as an episode in a Twilight Zone-type series.

I am a great fan of 20th-century fiction and family sagas, so I was immediately drawn to this book. I love a story in which the author masters the art of what drives characters—success, failure, determination, and resignation.

This book is the most perfect example of a story that digs deep into the attributes as well as the flaws of the Jordache siblings and their parents. It has a Cinderella story, rags to riches, and fall-from-grace elements that never feel formulaic.

I love a book that draws the reader so far into the mindset of the characters that you have no choice but to root for them. And when an author wraps a story in such beautiful prose, I never want it to end. 

This book is the ultimate “lovers torn apart by class differences” story. For me the premise has always held great appeal. I find nothing better in a romance than the longing, the heartbreak, and the anticipation of a lover’s reunion.

This story had double the pleasure since we experience the original slow burn of Jens Harken and Lorna Barnett falling in love and then their passionate reunion.

Ms. Spencer is a master of historical fiction, her research seamlessly drawn on every page. Her book is ripe with details about Gilded Age wealth, tall ships, and regattas. But it’s ultimately the characters and how well-crafted and complex the various relationships are that kept me spellbound. I shed every tear and felt every pain right along with them.

The simplicity of this book is breathtaking—there’s just one central idea: life should feel easy.

And yet we all instinctively answer, “No, it’s not. It never will be.” And that’s Hamrick’s genius: she asks you to live, for a moment, in a world that lacks any resistance to your dreams or goals. A world where life fully and effectively supports you.

And then she unravels all your own resistance to this idea. 

I would not normally be drawn to a title about being financially capable as I like to think I am already (whether that is true or not)!

It starts with statements about how difficult it is for people to talk about money, and how wary people are of asking questions about managing their finances. A great starting point asks the reader to remember their first memory about money, then discusses how this impacts dealings in later life.

It is well written, easy to follow, with question-and-answer sections at the end of each chapter. While he includes eight key areas of wellbeing, the focus is on managing and improving, if necessary, your own financial position. So yes, I did find it interesting and considered all the points raised to check my own situation. 

This book inspires the reader to connect their mind with movement. The author has filled the days of the year with practice prompts, ideas to help boost self-awareness and push past adversity, and wisdom from artists and scholars as well. Sole to Soul motivated me to connect with nature, my own stillness, and with others. A great daily devotional. And a great gift especially during these tough times.

This is the book that convinced me to dive into romantic suspense after writing only contemporary romance for many years. I’d always been tempted to branch into this genre, but I wanted to delve more into psychological suspense and character development, ala Hitchcock. Yet most of what I saw on the market took the constant-action thriller approach to storytelling, often at the expense of character development. Then I read this book. The characters were complex, the plot was compelling but left breathing space in between the action for character development, and the romance was a slow burn. So I took the plunge into suspense—and have never looked back.