88 books like The Gallery of Beauties

By Nina Wachsman,

Here are 88 books that The Gallery of Beauties fans have personally recommended if you like The Gallery of Beauties. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Murder in G Major

Elizabeth Amber Love Author Of Full Body Manslaughter: A Farrah Wethers Mystery

From my list on women starting over.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve spent my life recreating myself as many times as Madonna. If things aren’t working, I move on to something new. I’ll go to classes, learn something else, change careers, and struggle the whole way as I look for pieces of life that fit the puzzle of me. It takes me a lot longer to read so when I try to diversify my bookshelf and don’t always stick to my genre (as the professionals tell an author to do). What I “stick to” is finding female characters who struggle and want to give up, but somehow, something deep inside them makes them move forward one step at a time.

Elizabeth's book list on women starting over

Elizabeth Amber Love Why did Elizabeth love this book?

Gethsemane Brown is a vibrant, ambitious, and brave. She’ll strike out anywhere in the world to be a Maestra as long as her life is filled with music.

The offers aren’t what she would like and takes a job in an Irish boys’ academy. The boys were rebellious (of course they are). The school won’t support her recommendations. As the only black woman in the village (and an American), the entire town knew her business before she could even unpack her boxes.

Readers should be prepared for a touch of the paranormal here. Gethsemane lives in a haunted house. Despite this quirk, the mystery is completely grounded in the realism of the town, its people, the church, etc. 

By Alexia Gordon,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Murder in G Major as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“The captivating southwestern Irish countryside adds a delightful element to this paranormal series launch. Gethsemane is an appealing protagonist who is doing the best she can against overwhelming odds.” – Library Journal (starred review) With few other options, African-American classical musician Gethsemane Brown accepts a less-than-ideal position turning a group of rowdy schoolboys into an award-winning orchestra. Stranded without luggage or money in the Irish countryside, she figures any job is better than none. The perk? Housesitting a lovely cliffside cottage. The catch? The ghost of the cottage’s murdered owner haunts the place. Falsely accused of killing his wife (and…


Book cover of The Twist of a Knife

M. A. Monnin Author Of Death in The Aegean

From my list on vacation spots perfect for hiding a body.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a mystery writer, I’ve always got my eye out for a great place to hide a body. I can’t help it, it’s a hazard of the job. I also love to travel, and a mix of the two has always been irresistible to me, whether I’m reading or writing. I’d say I’m not the only one who enjoys a little sightseeing with my whodunits, because my first book, Death in the Aegean, was nominated for an Agatha Best First Novel Award by the Malice Domestic community. I hope you enjoy these picks that combine some of my ideal vacation spots with entertaining whodunits.

M. A.'s book list on vacation spots perfect for hiding a body

M. A. Monnin Why did M. A. love this book?

This one takes place in London, a city I love and have visited many times, but there’s a bigger reason I enjoy this mystery so much.

Horowitz tackles the writing world as only he can do, with himself as the protagonist, addressing aspects big and small that every writer today will find familiar. And when the murder occurs—well, all I can say is you’ll have to read it.

He calls in his own character Daniel Hawthorne to help. As a mystery writer, I find that so appealing!

By Anthony Horowitz,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked The Twist of a Knife as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

By global bestselling Anthony Horowitz, a brilliantly entertaining new locked-room mystery with a key that only Hawthorne can find.

'EASILY THE GREATEST OF OUR CRIME WRITERS' SUNDAY TIMES

'Funny, addictive and clever, and the crime fighting duo of Hawthorne and Horowitz are as entertaining as ever. Brilliant. I can't wait for more.' ADAM HANDY

''There's a lovely Hitchcockian feel to TWIST. The clock is ticking. It's a lot of fun.' IAN RANKIN

'The Twist of a Knife is a beautifully turned locked-room whodunit' THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

'A total joy. Anthony is a master entertainer, the genius twists and turns of…


Book cover of The Bones Remember

M. A. Monnin Author Of Death in The Aegean

From my list on vacation spots perfect for hiding a body.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a mystery writer, I’ve always got my eye out for a great place to hide a body. I can’t help it, it’s a hazard of the job. I also love to travel, and a mix of the two has always been irresistible to me, whether I’m reading or writing. I’d say I’m not the only one who enjoys a little sightseeing with my whodunits, because my first book, Death in the Aegean, was nominated for an Agatha Best First Novel Award by the Malice Domestic community. I hope you enjoy these picks that combine some of my ideal vacation spots with entertaining whodunits.

M. A.'s book list on vacation spots perfect for hiding a body

M. A. Monnin Why did M. A. love this book?

I’ve never been to New Zealand, and this book makes me feel like I’m there with forensic odontologist Alexa Glock, who identifies bodies via dental records.

She navigates men, murder, and the ocean in this tightly woven murder mystery that’s as much about her personal life as her professional one. I learned quite a bit about sharks and whales, and bonus, this mystery includes quicksand!

By Sara E. Johnson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A new title in the Alexa Glock Forensics Mysteries. When bodies wash up on the beach, is man or animal the culprit? It'll take everything forensic specialist Alexa Glock has to seek out the truth. Because lips may lie, but teeth never do...
These thrilling New Zealand mysteries are:Perfect for Fans of Kathy Reichs and Candice FoxFor readers of forensic mysteries and international mysteriesFor lovers of police procedurals and marine scienceAt first, Alexa Glock's initial case as a traveling forensic investigator seems straightforward-her expertise in teeth helps her identify the skeletal remains of a hunter found on the remote Stewart…


Book cover of Death Takes a Bath: A Cotswold Crimes Mystery

M. A. Monnin Author Of Death in The Aegean

From my list on vacation spots perfect for hiding a body.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a mystery writer, I’ve always got my eye out for a great place to hide a body. I can’t help it, it’s a hazard of the job. I also love to travel, and a mix of the two has always been irresistible to me, whether I’m reading or writing. I’d say I’m not the only one who enjoys a little sightseeing with my whodunits, because my first book, Death in the Aegean, was nominated for an Agatha Best First Novel Award by the Malice Domestic community. I hope you enjoy these picks that combine some of my ideal vacation spots with entertaining whodunits.

M. A.'s book list on vacation spots perfect for hiding a body

M. A. Monnin Why did M. A. love this book?

Nothing piques my interest like an archaeological site!

In Death Takes a Bath, the unsinkable Maddie McGuire talks her way into an internship at the Roman baths in Bath, England. I’ve been there myself, and enjoyed experiencing it again through the eyes of a heroine who doesn’t let her naivete stand in her way.

Fan of Sherlock Holmes stories? You’ll get more references than I did. This one is quirky and fun.

By Sharon Lynn,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

When Maddie McGuire lands an archeology internship at the Roman Baths in England, she assumes everything will go her way. But when this college sophomore discovers a severed human ear on her doorstep, she must solve its meaning before she becomes the next victim, or worse, gets deported. Her tentative friendship with young constable Edward Bailey and the beauty of the Bath Abbey are no comfort as her aristocratic coworker Simon Pacock sabotages her every move. And the danger only increases when she discovers a dead body, both ears intact.


Book cover of Sarra Copia Sulam: A Jewish Salonnière and the Press in Counter-Reformation Venice

Meredith K. Ray Author Of Twenty-Five Women Who Shaped the Italian Renaissance

From my list on women’s lives in the Renaissance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated by the lives of women in the Renaissance for as long as I can remember – growing up I devoured biographies of Lucrezia Borgia, Mary Stuart, and Elizabeth Tudor. Now, as a professor, author, and researcher, I feel lucky to have turned my passion into my profession! Along with writing about Renaissance women, I edit a series dedicated to women’s global history. I love books that explore the richness and complexity of the female experience, and which help us to understand how women in other historical eras dealt with questions of autonomy, power and gender inequality – issues that are still with us today. 

Meredith's book list on women’s lives in the Renaissance

Meredith K. Ray Why did Meredith love this book?

I wanted to include this book because it focuses not only on women in the Renaissance but on the particular experience of a Jewish woman living and writing in seventeenth-century Venice.

Even though the Venetian republic proclaimed justice and equality, those ideals did not extend to women nor to the thousands of Jews and other non-Christians who made their home in the city. As a Jewish woman, Sarra Copia Sulam had to navigate prejudice and suspicion on two fronts, yet she courageously defended herself and her faith in print.

The book does a wonderful job of showing how Sulam used her dexterous pen to take on her critics, and Westwater’s account reveals new biographical information about Sulam, her family, and Jewish life in the Renaissance.

By Lynn Lara Westwater,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sarra Copia Sulam as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For nearly a decade at the height of the Counter-Reformation in Italy, the Jewish poet and polemicist Sarra Copia Sulam (ca. 1592-1641) hosted a literary salon at her house in the Venetian ghetto, providing one of the most public and enduring forums for Jewish-Christian interaction in early modern Venice. Though Copia Sulam built a powerful intellectual network, published a popular work on the immortality of the soul, and gained fame for her erudition, her literary career foundered under the weight of slanderous charges against her sexual, professional, and religious integrity.

This first biography of Copia Sulam examines the explosive relationship…


Book cover of The World of Venice

Kenneth R. Bartlett Author Of The Smithsonian Guide to Essential Italy: The Great Courses

From my list on Venice.

Why am I passionate about this?

My first encounter with Venice was as a PhD student consulting the state archives in the former monastery attached to the basilica of the Frari, a place redolent of the history and culture of the city, lined with the tombs of doges. This inspired me to learn more about this improbable city, a curiosity that has never waned. Since then, I have visited the city more times than I can count, taking students, cultural tours, and visiting my many friends. Consequently, I was invited to produce my Essential Italy for Smithsonian Journeys and later their first virtual reality tour of the city. I can never tire of Venice nor completely know it.

Kenneth's book list on Venice

Kenneth R. Bartlett Why did Kenneth love this book?

The greatest travel writer of her generation (she died in November of 2020) produced a popular introduction to the city, mixing fact and story in her uniquely engaging style. It is a book that rivals Honour’s guide but focuses more on the patterns and rituals of life in Venice, linked by a profound appreciation for that unusual place, a city where the “streets are full of water”. If you like Morris, you might also be interested in her old but still engaging Venice, written when she was still James Morris.

By Jan Morris,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A fascinating exploration of the history, sights, seasons, arts, food, and people of an incomparable city. “A highly intelligent portrait of an eccentric city, written in powerful prose and enlivened by many curious mosaics of information...a beautiful book to read and to possess” (The Observer). New Foreword by the Author. Index.


Book cover of The Companion Guide to Venice (Companion Guides)

Kenneth R. Bartlett Author Of The Smithsonian Guide to Essential Italy: The Great Courses

From my list on Venice.

Why am I passionate about this?

My first encounter with Venice was as a PhD student consulting the state archives in the former monastery attached to the basilica of the Frari, a place redolent of the history and culture of the city, lined with the tombs of doges. This inspired me to learn more about this improbable city, a curiosity that has never waned. Since then, I have visited the city more times than I can count, taking students, cultural tours, and visiting my many friends. Consequently, I was invited to produce my Essential Italy for Smithsonian Journeys and later their first virtual reality tour of the city. I can never tire of Venice nor completely know it.

Kenneth's book list on Venice

Kenneth R. Bartlett Why did Kenneth love this book?

Every visitor, regardless of how often he or she has been somewhere, needs an engaging, accurate, and timely guidebook. Hugh Honour’s Companion Guide to Venice is my choice because it was written by an art historian who lived in Italy (he died sadly in 2016) and because it falls into that rarified category of guides that not only describe what you are seeing and how to get there but also places the artwork, building or site in a broader context. Thus, the book functions as a history of Venice and Venetian culture and an insight into its unique society. It is also beautifully written in carefully crafted and modulated sections that evoke the grandeur of the city and its lagoon.

By Hugh Honour,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Companion Guide to Venice (Companion Guides) as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Offers all that the visitor with a concern for beauty and for leisurely sight-seeing will require. FINANCIAL TIMES

The best guide book I have ever encountered... and a book I found it impossible not to read from beginning to end. OBSERVER

There are few pleasanter ways of passing a summer's evening than sitting over a cup of coffee, and perhaps a glass of Aurum, in the Piazza San Marco. It is especially agreeable on those nights when the Venetian city band thunders away at some throbbingly romantic piece... And all the while the younger inhabitants parade around the square, chattering,…


Book cover of The Mask of Aribella

Nancy McConnell Author Of Into the Lion's Mouth

From my list on kids traveling to Italy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I fell in love with Italy when I traveled there with my family in 2013. While touring through this fascinating country, I felt inspired to write about it. When I came home, I threw myself into research. That research spawned my debut novel, Into the Lion’s Mouth, which is set in Renaissance Venice. I am always on the lookout for all things Italian, podcasts, TV shows, and definitely books. Since middle grade is my sweet spot, I am a sucker for a middle grade book set in Italy. Here are some of my favorites that will have you browsing airplane tickets to Italy and beyond.

Nancy's book list on kids traveling to Italy

Nancy McConnell Why did Nancy love this book?

Here’s another magical adventure that has such potential to be a series. Set in a Venice that is full of actual magic this book will appeal to the Harry Potter lovers in your life. Aribella must use her newly found magic to save the city from a grim future at the hands of the villain Zio. Although a fantastical Venice there are plenty of true-to-life details like the Lion’s Mouth, gondolas, and a ruling doge. I really loved the twists at the end. Middle grade readers will be captivated. 

By Anna Hoghton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mask of Aribella as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

Perfect for fans of The Thief Lord!

Aribella
lives in Venice, the daughter of an impoverished lace-maker.
But she has a deadly secret: when angered, sparks shoot from her
fingertips. Unable to keep her power hidden, she flees - but when
dark spectres rise from the lagoon, the fire in her hands saves
her life. A stranger witnesses the attack - and through him, Aribella
leaves her old life behind and discovers the world of the Cannovacci,
magical warriors sworn to defeat the strange spectres menacing
the city ...

WINNER of the North Somerset Teachers'
Quality Fiction Award 2020


Book cover of Virgins of Venice: Broken Vows and Cloistered Lives in the Renaissance Convent

Gina Buonaguro Author Of The Virgins of Venice

From my list on women in Renaissance Venice.

Why am I passionate about this?

My goal as a writer is to revive lost women’s stories through historical fiction. After co-authoring several historical novels, our last mystery set in Renaissance Rome, we decided to set the sequel in Venice. When we decided to split amicably before finishing that novel, I had spent so much time researching Renaissance Venice that I instantly knew I wanted to set my first solo novel there and focus on girls and women whose stories are so frequently lost to history. So began a quest to learn everything I could about the females of 15th and 16th-century Venice, leading me toward both academic and fictional works of the era.

Gina's book list on women in Renaissance Venice

Gina Buonaguro Why did Gina love this book?

Mary Laven’s readable academic book Virgins of Venice is the definitive resource on the topic of nuns in Renaissance Venice. She explores every aspect of what it was like to be and live as a nun during a roughly two-hundred-year period, when most convents were filled with high-status women of no religious calling, forced to live there by their fathers and the strict social conventions of the time.

By Mary Laven,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A portrait of 16th and 17th century Italian convent life, set in the vibrant culture of late Renaissance Venice. Early 16th century Venice had 50 convents and about 3000 nuns. Far from being places of religious devotion, the convents were often little more than dumping-grounds for unmarried women fron the upper ranks of Venetian society. Often entering a convent at seven years old, these young women remained emotionally and socially attached to their families and to their way of life outside the convent. Supported by their private incomes, the nuns ate, dressed and behaved as gentlewomen. In contravention of their…


Book cover of Venice

Sally Stone Author Of Inside Information: The Defining Concepts of Interior Design

From my list on the future of the interior.

Why am I passionate about this?

For more than thirty years I have been discussing, formulating ideas, and writing about Architecture, Building Reuse, and Interiors. I lead the MA Architecture and Adaptive Reuse programme and direct graduate atelier Continuity in Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture. I am currently the Visiting Professor at the University IUAV of Venice where I am conducting research on the sustainable adaptation of existing buildings with particular emphasis on the environmental concerns within the inherently fragile city of Venice.

Sally's book list on the future of the interior

Sally Stone Why did Sally love this book?

Jan Morris’s book is a fantastic discussion about the evolution of Venice. It explores why the city looks as it does, why the inhabitants behave in a particular manner, it explains how the buildings are constructed, why the boats are shaped as they are, how the navy constructed their Arsenale, what is best to eat, and when, what the climate is like and how this has informed behaviour and so much more...

By Jan Morris,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Often hailed as one of the best travel books ever written, Venice is neither a guide nor a history book, but a beautifully written immersion in Venetian life and character, set against the background of the city's past. Analysing the particular temperament of Venetians, as well as its waterways, its architecture, its bridges, its tourists, its curiosities, its smells, sounds, lights and colours, there is scarcely a corner of Venice that Jan Morris has not investigated and brought vividly to life.

Jan Morris first visited the city of Venice as young James Morris, during World War II. As she writes…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Venice, Italian Renaissance, and Italy?

Venice 70 books
Italy 406 books