Here are 100 books that We Begin at the End fans have personally recommended if you like
We Begin at the End.
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I love to read. I always have. I also love to write mysteries that, hopefully, keep my reader guessing until the end of the book. I look for books that not only provide me with a mystery to solve but also inform me of situations and/or places I would otherwise never learn about. I have found all the books on my list to fill that need. They are just an example of the many I have found and read.
A murder mystery and so much more. Set in the marshlands of North Carolina in the United States, it’s an unusual read with the emotional content tugging at my heartstrings. It describes life in the marsh and a child’s heartbreaking struggle to survive.
Nevertheless, I found the author’s description of the natural world in the marshlands brilliant and the haunting tale stayed with me long after I finished reading the book.
OVER 12 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE A NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
For years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be…
I may be a writer of psychological dramas, but I am first and foremost an avid reader who is addicted to books. My go-to genre is the psychological thriller, but I also love any books that use light and shade, balancing humour and darkness, inverting stereotypes, and generally keeping me guessing on plot twists and turns. All of the books I have recommended would keep you warm and cosy – and certainly distracted – on an autumnal evening when the nights are long and cold.
This is a memoir that took me straight back to those beige culinary days of my Geordie upbringing, when the best thing about Autumn was rice pudding and the comfort food of the eighties. Grace writes with charm and wit, interspersing her career highs and lows with some wonderfully warm moments of nostalgia. Very moving and will make you reach for a can of Heinz tomato soup.
'So funny and so delicious. I could eat it.' DAWN O'PORTER
'Delicious.' THE OBSERVER
From an early age, Grace Dent was hungry. As a little girl growing up in Currock, Carlisle, she yearned to be something bigger, to go somewhere better.
Hungry traces her story from growing up eating beige food to becoming one of Britain's best-loved food writers. It's also everyone's story - from cheese and pineapple hedgehogs and treats with your nan, to…
I grew up reading Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and everything British. My first novel celebrated American literature and small towns, and my first murder mystery was a love letter to England. I once spent twenty days visiting almost thirty bookshops and reading my way all over England, and let me tell you, I learned a thing or two about murders.
Harbinder Kaur, the lead detective in Elly Griffiths's charming series, describes herself as “the best gay sikh detective in West Sussex,” and together with a few amateur sleuths, she forms a delightful cast in a sort of modern-day Miss Marple-romp.
It begins with an old lady using her binoculars to take careful note of what’s happening in her sleepy seaside village, and as all fans of British cozy crime know, where there are nosy neighbors, dead bodies will soon turn up. I loved Elly Griffiths's series about archeologist Ruth Galloway, and this new series does not disappoint. In fact, Elly Griffiths herself makes a small and entirely involuntary cameo in my book.
The ultimate gripping murder mystery to curl up with, from the bestselling author of The Stranger Diaries and the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries
The death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition should absolutely not be suspicious. DS Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing to concern her in carer Natalka's account of Peggy Smith's death.
But when Natalka reveals that Peggy lied about her heart condition and that she had been sure someone was following her...
And that Peggy Smith had been a 'murder consultant'…
I’m a book lover from in utero. My mom was an avid and very fast reader, and I grew up finding respite, insight, and understanding in the pages of books. When I went to college, I studied English, and then got a Masters in literature before going on to learn more about writing the books I loved in an MFA program. This formal education just built on what I already knew – books are my first love, my guide through life, and often, the things that save me from the darkest moments of this world.
I am a Southern woman, and I have been a part of many a book club full of Southern women. So Hendrix’s book and his spot-on but not stereotypical descriptions of the archetypes of women in these groups is what drew me in, but then, when he brings in vampires – I adore a great vampire book – I was hooked and determined to read through and find out exactly what was going on. Who is to blame? And how do we support – or not support – one another through things we don’t understand? Powerful themes in a captivating read.
"This funny and fresh take on a classic tale manages to comment on gender roles, racial disparities, and white privilege all while creeping me all the way out. So good."-Zakiya Dalila Harris, author of The Other Black Girl
Now in paperback, Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town.
Bonus features: * Reading group guide for book clubs * Hand-drawn map of Mt. Pleasant * Annotated true-crime reading list by Grady Hendrix * And more!
Hello. I write make-believe. My stories are scary and gross. Some think I’m like that. I assure you I’m not. The truth is I don’t write most of the stuff—Logan does. Logan lives in a cage in my basement. Sometimes he has different names like Henry, Owen, or Finn. I even had one named Lincoln, just like the president. Good fit since Lincoln also had a beard and died due to unfortunate circumstances. Logan’s a cool name like that superhero who claws his enemies to death. Claws would be handy, though I bet they are a real pain to clean. The whip ensures Logan writes stories you’ll enjoy.
Some animal attack stories are terrifying, some are social critiques, and some are just plain gross-out ridiculous fun. Slugs by Shaun Hutson is the latter—a trashy pulp novel filled with a roller-coaster of shock entertainment. As an animal to fear, slugs aren’t really that scary, but boy are they gross. Hutson delivers on this premise through shocking scenes of descriptive gore. If popped eyeballs and ripped flesh are your thing, Slugs delivers in troves. Do not take anything in this book seriously—the plot is absurd, the characters shallow, and the sex stuff sounds like it was written by a middle-school virgin, however, it’s impossible to put down. There’s no social commentary or character growth, only pulpy escapist fantasy. And sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
One hot summer, a new breed of slugs begins to multiply with terrifying consequences for the townsfolk of Merton. The author also wrote "Assassin", "Death Day" and "Spawn".
I'm an actor turned journalist and writer. After a series of roles on low-budget movies and forgettable soap operas, I moved to Latin America to write about travel and life and all the heartbreak and humour it entails. El Flamingo follows the misadventure of a struggling actor who gets mistaken for a rogue assassin in Mexico and is forced to assume the mysterious identity in order to survive. It is a preposterous plot that could never happen in real life, yet the essence of it all was inspired by places I went, people I crossed paths with, and a sense of adventure that, to me, was authentic.
This is somewhat of an underground, little-known novel that I came across deep in the midst of a rural second-hand bookshop a few years back.
Set in 1958, the novel follows its deputy sheriff protagonist on a journey from the mid-west to Los Angeles via the famous Route 66. It has elements of noir, suspense, romance, adventure, and a good-guy vs mafia dynamic, all while tipping its hat to the American Road genre.
As a reader, you feel like you’re just another guy along for the ride, passing through state lines, watching the story unfold.
An innocent cup of coffee at a roadside diner on Route 66 embroils vacationing deputy sheriff Kevin Pulaski in a dangerous case involving a beautiful woman and missing fortune in Mafia loot.
Human psychology – particularly the “abnormal” kind – has always fascinated me, enough to study the topic at university. What makes us tick? Why do seemingly ordinary people commit terrible crimes? Psychological crime thrillers allow me to explore our dark side further, and I sprinkle nuggets from that research throughout my novels.
Memories and relationships may appear in disguise. Stories are our way of sharing our experiences – the ones too intense and intimate to express in other ways.
Born and raised in South Africa, I now live in Israel with my wife and daughters. When I’m not writing my next thriller, you’ll find me writing computer code and generally being curious about the world.
I don’t like blood. That may surprise readers. My novels don’t dwell on gore, but I’ve written my share of grisly murders. (Maybe it’s just my blood that disturbs me?)
Anyway, a few years ago I found myself hospitalized overnight and in desperate need of a distraction. Barelli’s book caught my attention. (A writer who’s just killed her mentor/friend? Perfect!) The story transported me from that miserable ward to a murderous character’s fictional world. Who said crime doesn’t pay?
The book taught me the allure of a criminal protagonist and the healing power of thriller escapism. And it sparked an idea for another book. (Hm. Can you see a pattern developing here?)
If you were asked to put your name to a novel you didnt write, would you?Meet Emma Fern, celebrated author of a literary best-seller, adored by legions of fans everywhere, shortlisted for the prestigious Poulton Prize. But it wasnt always this way, a year earlier you would have met Emma Fern, unremarkable beige wife, running a small housewares store, thinking of starting a family. And maybe it wasnt the perfect life, but to Emma, it was pretty close.But when Emma meets Beatrice, the doyenne of crime fiction and Emmas favorite writer, life suddenly becomes a lot more exciting. Then Beatrice…
I started reading romance because I wanted to drown myself in stories of women stepping into their power and getting everything they wanted. Romance is a genre often looked down upon because of the happy-ever-afters, but I think that’s part of why it can be so deliciously subversive. Most (but not all) romance novels are centered on women, their voices, their sexuality, their desires, and their victories. In a world that’s often cruel, escaping into a world where dreams and fantasies are possible can be liberating. I started writing romance because I wanted to be a part of these stories and craft a world for others to escape into.
I’m a sucker for stories about two outcasts who find belonging together, and this book does that beautifully.
It’s about a ballerina who haunts her beloved home after being murdered in the 1920s. She’s bored and desperately lonely until a crazed vampire becomes imprisoned in her mansion.
Because he’s not human, the vampire can see the beautiful ghost, and sparks fly.
This book is a master class in writing sexual tension since the characters can’t touch initially. Once they could touch, I loved how the heroine was fully comfortable in her sexuality and assertive with her less experienced vampire partner.
The author also does a great job of showing how the two progress and change through their own character arcs, with love being the catalyst for their growth.
On the night lovely Neomi Renate, a famous ballerina at the turn of the century, was murdered, an evil force turned her into a spectre - a phantom that's neither alive nor dead - and cursed her to relive her harrowing death every month during the full moon. Unable to leave her home, she has managed to scare away any trespassers, until she encounters an inhabitant even more terrifying than Neomi herself.
When Conrad Wroth, a vampire warlord who's been half-mad for centuries, first beholds Neomi, he knows nothing will stop him from claiming the ethereal beauty as his own…
I’ve been an avid reader since I could open a book. The stories I’ve mentioned may have been a kick in the rear that made me realize how much I love science fiction and fantasy... with that little twist of magic that can send your imagination flying through the universe, but naturally it didn’t start there. When I was creating worlds, or playing through my friend’s worlds with D&D or Palladium, I always knew I wanted to share them with others. Because, if I can make people love my stories... maybe, just maybe... they’ll be inspired to write a story I’ll read and love.
What would you do if you were just an average, boring man? Living an average boring life. But then you found you had incredible powers. Not little by little... but full-on fire hose-level powers. Then you found out that all you knew about yourself, and your life were lies. And everyone wants you. This is another novel where the protagonist finds himself running for his life or freedom through the universe. Just one this time.
This book appealed to the escapist in me. Just as every teenager wants to be special or miraculous, this was the epitome of a normal man finding he was definitely not normal and trying to live with the consequences. It’s a pretty common theme, but this story took it and ramped it up to a level 10 on the excitement meter.
Once upon a time Emma Wildes picked up a romance novel (she was much too young to have read it, but did anyway) and has been hooked ever since. She not only is a devoted fan of the genre but is a bestselling romance author and still an avid reader. Give her a sexy hero and an independent woman to challenge him, and she is all about it. Besides the book in her hand, picture a nice fire in the hearth and a glass of wine nearby, and that is her perfect evening.
Set in a time when New Orleans was still very French, Rene is a unique hero because he serves a foreign régime and has a different mindset when it comes to the governing of a territory that is now a quintessential part of America. Blake does such a good job of putting you in the setting, and the heroine is absolutely resolute, independent, and courageous. Their love affair is so unlikely, yet made believable and there is a tantalizing mystery and plenty of action due to the unsettled and volatile time of this story.
Cyrene Nolte's two brothers were fiercely protective of her. Because she was a virgin, no man was allowed near her. But when she rescued Rene Lemonnier from certain death and nursed him back to health in her stark little chamber, he aroused more than her interest. Once in his arms, Cyrene knew that the wickedness the brothers had sought to protect her from was a passion too exquisite to deny....
