Twenty top feel-good novels

Marion Winik is the author of nine books, including The Big Book of the Dead (2019) and First Comes Love (1996; reissued with a new introduction in 2026). Her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Sun, and elsewhere; her column at BaltimoreFishbowl.com has been running since 2011.

[Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik and Beau (December 2009); Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik and Beau (June 2013); Writers Read: Marion Winik (June 2013)]

A professor at the University of Baltimore, she reviews books for The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and People, among others, and hosts the NPR podcast The Weekly Reader. She was a commentator on All Things Considered for fifteen years. She is the recipient of the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Service Award.

At Oprah Daily Winik tagged twenty novels that "provide the perfect literary antidote to a stressful day," including:

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

While “murder” and “feel-good” might not sound like natural bedfellows, beloved mystery author Lippman manages to turn a crime scene into something genuinely cozy in this amusing, intelligent whodunit, which is all about discovering the hidden blessings of middle age. Mrs. Blossom is a shy, plus-size, habitually self-effacing widow whose life changed dramatically the day she found a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot. At the urging of her children, she has booked a trip on a Seine River cruise for herself and her lifelong best friend, Eleanor. On the way to the Paris embarkation, she is surprised to be taken under the wing of a handsome older man—and even more surprised when he turns up dead a few days later. As Mrs. Blossom discovers she’s become a pawn in an international art heist, she rises to the occasion with brio, realizing that far from being a minor player in other people’s stories, she is the formidable main character in her own life. For women feeling sidelined, and also for those who are no longer, or have never been, a size 10, this book is inspiring and refreshing.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Murder Takes a Vacation is among CrimeReads's top 20 crime fiction, mysteries, and thrillers of 2025 and Sue Hincenbergs's eight mysteries and thrillers featuring older sleuths and criminals.

The Page 69 Test: Murder Takes a Vacation.

--Marshal Zeringue