Seven novels that explore the inner life of the detective

Jane Pek was born and grew up in Singapore. She holds a BA from Yale University, a JD from the New York University School of Law, and an MFA in Fiction from Brooklyn College. Her short fiction has appeared in The Brooklyn Review, Witness, Conjunctions, Literary Hub, and twice in The Best American Short Stories. She currently lives in New York, where she works as a lawyer at a global investment company.

Pek's debut novel is The Verifiers.

At Electric Lit she tagged seven novels "that feature wildly different detectives—a Cold War spy, an Scottish journalist in the 1980s, and a multiverse traveller, to name a few—all of whom have deeply compelling voices and personal stories," including:

Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall

Detective Elouise “Lou” Norton is a Black LAPD homicide detective whose sister went missing as a teenager. When, years later, the body of another teenage girl is found in the same neighborhood, Lou becomes convinced that the two crimes are linked and that by solving this murder, she can finally learn what happened to her sister. Lou’s voice pulls you along from the very first page: she’s smart and snarky and driven, her observations spot-on and frequently hilarious, someone whose toughness makes her vulnerability even more poignant. Plus, I love how fully Lou’s life is portrayed—she may be focused on solving a crime, but she also has a circle of close friends, a philandering husband to worry about, and colleagues who respect and also challenge her.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Hall's Lou Norton series is among Amy Stuart's five deeply flawed characters you’ll learn to appreciate and Sara Sligar's seven California crime novels with a nuanced view of of race, class, gender & community. Land of Shadows is among Steph Cha's top ten books about trouble in Los Angeles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten captivating fictional frenemies

Amelia Morris is a writer and gymnastics fan. Her food memoir, Bon Appétempt, was published in 2015 and her debut novel, Wildcat, was released last month. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, McSweeney’s, The Millions, and USA Today.

Morris also co-created the podcast, Mom Rage. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

At Publishers Weekly she tagged ten of the most captivating fictional frenemies (or ten examples of humans being complicated), including:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Though the story is set in the early 1800s, the way that Caroline Bingley tacitly weaponizes her higher social status against our heroine Elizabeth Bennet feels timeless. And maybe we can’t even say that Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a friend of Elizabeth’s, but she does have her over to dinner before completely eviscerating her at a later date when she hears the rumor that Darcy is itching to propose (again). Ah, so good it hurts!

Read about the other entries on the list.

Pride and Prejudice also appears on David Annand's list of the top ten buildings in fiction, Off the Shelf's list of ten of the most fantastical (and sometimes fanatical) parties imaginable in novels, KT Sparks's seven best graceless literary exits, Lit Hub's list of twenty-five actually pretty happy couples in literature, Ellie Eaton's list of eight of literature's notable mean girls, Sarah Vaughan's list of nine fictional bad mothers in fiction, Jessica Francis Kane's top ten list of houseguests in fiction, O: The Oprah Magazine's twenty greatest ever romance novels, Cristina Merrill's list of eight of the sexiest curmudgeons in romance, Sarah Ward's ten top list of brothers and sisters in fiction, Tara Sonin's lists of fifty must-read regency romances and seven sweet and swoony romances for wedding season, Grant Ginder's top ten list of book characters we love to hate, Katy Guest's list of six of the best depictions of shyness in fiction, Garry Trudeau's six favorite books list, Ross Johnson's list of seven of the greatest rivalries in fiction, Helen Dunmore's six best books list, Jenny Kawecki's list of eight fictional characters who would make the best travel companions, Peter James's top ten list of works of fiction set in or around Brighton, Ellen McCarthy's list of six favorite books about weddings and marriage, the Telegraph's list of the ten greatest put-downs in literature, Rebecca Jane Stokes' list of ten fictional families you might enjoy more than the one you'll actually spend the holidays with, Melissa Albert's lists of five fictional characters who deserved better, [fifteen of the] romantic leads (and wannabes) of Austen’s brilliant books and recommended reading for eight villains, Molly Schoemann-McCann's list of ten fictional men who have ruined real live romance, Emma Donoghue's list of five favorite unconventional fictional families, Amelia Schonbek's list of five approachable must-read classics, Jane Stokes's top ten list of the hottest men in required reading, Gwyneth Rees's top ten list of books about siblings, the Observer's list of the ten best fictional mothers, Paula Byrne's list of the ten best Jane Austen characters, Robert McCrum's list of the top ten opening lines of novels in the English language, a top ten list of literary lessons in love, Simon Mason's top ten list of fictional families, Cathy Cassidy's top ten list of stories about sisters, Paul Murray's top ten list of wicked clerics, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best housekeepers in fiction, ten great novels with terrible original titles, and ten of the best visits to Brighton in literature, Luke Leitch's top ten list of the most successful literary sequels ever, and is one of the top ten works of literature according to Norman Mailer. Richard Price has never read it, but it is the book Mary Gordon cares most about sharing with her children.

The Page 99 Test: Pride and Prejudice.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six books that push the limit of acceptable thriller storylines

After a brief career in criminal law, Leanne Kale Sparks is returning to her first love—writing about murder and mayhem. Her new novel, The Wrong Woman, features an FBI agent hunting down her best friend’s murderer. The backdrop is the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the playground of her youth, and the place that will always be home. When not writing, she and her husband spend time reading, mountain biking, and spoiling their German Shepherd, Zoe. And drinking wine.

[Coffee with a Canine: Leanne Kale Sparks & Zoe; The Page 69 Test: The Wrong Woman]

At CrimeReads Sparks tagged "six thrillers that will make even the steeliest readers a little squeamish," including:

Brother by Ania Ahlborn

What could be better—and more troubling—than a serial killer on the loose in the Appalachians? A family of serial killers on the loose in the Appalachians. Taking full advantage of the property where they live and the rugged landscape, the Morrow family has its own version of the killing fields. And the writer does not hold back on the blood, guts, and gore of this family’s favorite pastime.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top 10 world-spanning novels

C.A. Davids's debut novel, The Blacks of Cape Town, was published in South Africa and shortlisted for the Edinburgh Book Fest's First Book Award, the University of Johannesburg Debut Writing Prize, and the SALA First-time Published Author Award, among others.

Her new novel is How to Be a Revolutionary.

At the Guardian Davids tagged ten novels "that seek out interconnectedness, testing and pulling at the idea of nationhood," including:

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Few can cross the centuries, bending genres and language, so that it works effortlessly on the page. From the South Pacific in the mid-19th century to a dystopian, ultimately consumerist future Korea, Cloud Atlas presents a case for the universality of human nature. It’s a joyful, poignant re-read, 18 years after the novel was first published and especially when this notion of what binds us appears to be in question again.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Cloud Atlas is among Sjón's ten top artificial humans in fiction, Naomi Klein's six favorite books, Jeff Somers's seven novels with chronologies that will break you, Christopher Priest’s top five science-fiction books that make use of music, Patrick Hemstreet's five top books for the psychonaut and the six books that changed Maile Meloy's idea of what’s possible in fiction.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight books to better understand Ukraine, past & present

Kalani Pickhart is the recipient of research fellowships from the Virginia G. Piper Center and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Intelligence for Eastern European and Eurasian Studies.

She currently lives and writes in Phoenix, Arizona.

I Will Die in a Foreign Land is Pickhart's first novel.

At Electric Lit she tagged eight books about the fight for Ukrainian democracy. One title on the list:

Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov, translated by Boris Drayluk

This beautiful, heart-wrenching book follows a beekeeper in the gray zone of Eastern Ukraine, where the war has destroyed most of the village and driven out most residents, except the beekeeper and his frenemy. This is a story about survival, friendship, and the powerful significance of home. A must-read to understand life in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five titles about the power of music in fiction

Emme Lund is an author living and writing in Portland, Oregon. She has an MFA from Mills College. Her work has appeared in Electric Literature, Time, The Rumpus, Paper Darts, and many more. In 2019, she was awarded an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship in Fiction.

The Boy with a Bird in His Chest is Lund's first novel.

At Lit Hub she tagged five "books I’ve read recently that speak to the power of music and dancing in our lives," including:

C.R. Foster, Shine of the Ever

C.R. Foster’s collection of short stories is described as “a literary mixtape of queer voices out of 1990s Portland,” so of course grunge, punk, and indie permeate its pages. The collection deals with queer love, addiction, and tenderness in a raw way, while remaining honest and funny throughout. Music is everywhere in the book—the reader is clued into the music playing in the background so often, we can hear the soundtrack to these stories.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top recent hotel thrillers and mysteries

Carolyne Topdjian is a suspense writer with publications in PRISM International, Dreamers Magazine and Firewords Quarterly. She has an interdisciplinary PHD from York University and is a professor in the Faculty of Media and Creative Arts at Humber College in Toronto. She is a two-time Pitch Wars mentor and lives in a 112-year-old haunted house.

The Hitman's Daughter is her first novel.

At CrimeReads Topdjian tagged five recent novels that put an original spin on the creepy hotel setting, including:

One by One by Ruth Ware is another knockout mystery by the author, this time set in a picturesque chalet in the French alps. In fact, it’s not so much a creepy-hotel factor here, but the chalet’s seclusion, small quarters, and promise of “deadly” privacy that makes this destination a winner. In the vein of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Ware offers a “no-escape” setting of the best kind, where eight professionals are isolated together during a mandatory work retreat, along with two 24/7 staff members. You’d think a business trip to a cozy chalet would be paradise, and of course, for Ware’s characters who range from the suspiciously secretive to the sharply manipulative, it’s anything but. As the weather conditions worsen and the plot crescendos toward its killer avalanche, so too, do these characters fall towards their chilling, impending doom.

Read about the other entries on the list.

One by One is among Bonnie Kistler's six best office thrillers, Sandie Jones's six mysteries with large casts of characters and Allie Reynolds's seven chilling winter thrillers and Louise Candlish's ten hardest characters in literature to love.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books that feel like a trippy haunted house

Isaac Fellman is the author of The Breath of the Sun (published under his pre-transition first name), which won the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. He is an archivist at a queer historical society in San Francisco.

His new novel is Dead Collections.

At Tor.com Fellman tagged "five novels that make me feel as if any structure I read them in—the break room, my studio apartment, a bus shelter, a train—is a haunted house," including:

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

A rare foray into genre for Mantel, this is a bitterly funny novel about the English spirit mediums who still ply their trade at seedy theaters and fairs. Alison, Mantel’s unwillingly psychic heroine, is one of those people who live their lives like chess kings, moving in and out of check. A survivor of much childhood trauma and adult loneliness, she’s learned to care for herself in ways that are only a bit self-destructive, and to find helpers who are only mostly terrible, and to live with the dead. Then the tender equilibrium of her life falls apart.

Mantel is a great poet of dissociation, and she’s unusual for her neutral, thoughtful take on what it means to live outside of your body. In book after book, she explores characters who use dissociation to live, like extremophile bacteria, in dangerous situations. Alison is an exception. Mantel portrays her psychic ability—which shows her everything from historical atrocities that took place in her suburban subdivision, to the ghosts of her abusers, to the pain of death—as an inability to dissociate, a constant awareness of everything. The result is a tense, fascinating book full of Dickensian characters and unexpected set pieces. I don’t love all of Beyond Black’s decisions, but it’s my favorite kind of genre writing: a book that explores the psychological consequences of power, including magical power.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Beyond Black is among Laura Purcell's ten top books about spirit mediums, Jess Kidd's ten essential supernatural mysteries, and Sarah Porter's five top books with unusual demons and devils.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven titles to help get through your Olympic hangover

Kathleen West’s novels have been best- books picks by Real Simple, Newsweek, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Good Morning America, and the New York Post. A schoolteacher with more than 20 years’ experience, West is particularly interested in the topics of motherhood, ambition, competitive parenting, and the elusiveness of work-life balance. Her new novel, Home Or Away, publishes in March 2022. She is a life-long Minnesotan and lives in Minneapolis with her family.

[The Page 69 Test: Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes; Writers Read: Kathleen West (February 2020]

At Lit Hub West tagged seven favorite books to help you get through your Olympic hangover, including:

Kwame Alexander, The Crossover

I spent many years as a middle-school English teacher, and never once have I recommended a Kwame Alexander novel to a kid who didn’t finish it. This one is an electrifying, heart-wrenching story about twin basketball players and their dad, a former NBA pro. It screams to be read in one sitting, it’s uber-accessible, and it compels the reader to evaluate the universal themes of family, consequences, identity, and forgiveness. Now that it’s been out for eight years, there’s a good chance the Olympics-obsessed kids in your life might not have read it yet.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight titles about what it means to be human

Edward Ashton is the author of the novels Mickey7, Three Days in April, and The End of Ordinary. His short fiction has appeared in venues ranging from the newsletter of an Italian sausage company to Escape Pod, Analog, and Fireside Fiction. He lives in upstate New York in a cabin in the woods (not that Cabin in the Woods) with his wife, a variable number of daughters, and an adorably mopey dog named Max, where he writes—mostly fiction, occasionally fact—under the watchful eyes of a giant woodpecker and a rotating cast of barred owls. In his free time, he enjoys cancer research, teaching quantum physics to sullen graduate students, and whittling.

At CrimeReads Ashton tagged eight books about what it means to be human, including:

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is by a large margin the most well-known book on this list, and there’s not much to say about it that hasn’t already been said. Never Let Me Go is a coming of age story whose protagonists are clones being raised solely to serve as organ donors for their progenitors—in other words, a coming of age story for those who will never truly be permitted to come of age. As a result, the characters spend much of the book trying to find hope and meaning in a life that is essentially, deliberately devoid of both. This book is brilliant and heartbreaking in equal measure, and just on the off chance that you haven’t read it yet, please take me at my word when I say that you really, really should.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Never Let Me Go is on Bethany Ball's list of the seven weirdest high schools in literature, Zak Salih's eight books about childhood pals—and the adults they become, Rachel Donohue's list of seven coming-of-age novels with elements of mystery or the supernatural, Chris Mooney's list of six top intelligent, page-turning, genre-bending classics, James Scudamore's top ten list of books about boarding school, Caroline Zancan's list of eight novels about students and teachers behaving badly, LitHub's list of the ten books that defined the 2000s, Meg Wolitzer's ten favorite books list, Jeff Somers's lists of nine science fiction novels that imagine the future of healthcare and "five pairs of books that have nothing to do with each other—and yet have everything to do with each other" and eight tales of technology run amok and top seven speculative works for those who think they hate speculative fiction, a list of five books that shaped Jason Gurley's Eleanor, Anne Charnock's list of five favorite books with fictitious works of art, Esther Inglis-Arkell's list of nine great science fiction books for people who don't like science fiction, Sabrina Rojas Weiss's list of ten favorite boarding school novels, Allegra Frazier's top four list of great dystopian novels that made it to the big screen, James Browning's top ten list of boarding school books, Jason Allen Ashlock and Mink Choi's top ten list of tragic love stories, Allegra Frazier's list of seven characters whose jobs are worse than yours, Shani Boianjiu's list of five top novels about coming of age, Karen Thompson Walker's list of five top "What If?" books, Lloyd Shepherd's top ten list of weird histories, and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best men writing as women in literature and ten of the best sentences as titles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five SFF titles featuring protective siblings

Patti Callahan is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and Globe and Mail bestselling novelist of fifteen novels, including Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Surviving Savannah, and Once Upon a Wardrobe. A recipient of the Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year, the Christy Book of the Year, and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year, Callahan is the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series and podcast Friends & Fiction.

At Tor.com Callahan tagged five "favorite stories with protective sibling relationships," including:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

As the child of scientists, Meg is the older sister to Charles Wallace. Their father has vanished and life is more than confusing. Awkward and unpopular, Meg considers herself dumb; she rarely talks to anyone outside her family and yet we almost immediately see her get into a fight while protecting her little brother Charles Wallace when someone makes fun of him. Little do they know that Charles Wallace is a genius who can read minds. Throughout the story, Meg keeps him safe and close as they travel through time with Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which. In protecting Charles Wallace, Meg grows braver and more sure of herself until she finally saves Charles Wallace from IT; her love saves them all.

Read about the other entries on the list.

A Wrinkle in Time is among Leanna Renee Hieber's five titles featuring complex mother/daughter relationships, P.C. Cast’s ten all-time favorite reads for fantasy fans, Melissa Albert's top ten grade-school classics you’ll never be too old to reread, Cressida Cowell's list of ten top mythical creatures, and Steve Cole's top ten space books for kids of all ages.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight retellings that explore the darker side of human nature

M. A. Kuzniar spent six years living in Spain, teaching English and travelling the world which inspired her children’s series The Ship of Shadows.

Her adult debut novel Midnight in Everwood was inspired by her love of ballet and love of The Nutcracker.

At CrimeReads Kuzniar tagged eight "retellings [that are] a mixture of fairy tales and folklore (for they often intersect) that explore deeper themes and do not shy away from the darker side of human nature." One title on the list:

Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

Although Stealing Snow is a young adult novel, this retelling of The Snow Queen fairy tale is a crossover novel that adults would appreciate also. Opening with Snow in an asylum in Upstate New York before she flees into the neighboring woods, this story blurs the lines between fantasy and reality and is packed with secrets, thieves and witches. It’s at times eerie and gritty, and contains lots of little fairy tale references scattered through the text as a bonus.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue