Seven cozy mysteries that revolve around weddings

Valerie (V. M.) Burns is a mystery writer whose novels and short stories have been finalists for the Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series, as well as the Bailey the Bloodhound Mysteries under the name Kallie E. Benjamin. Burns is a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and the Crime Writers' Association. She is also an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Burns now lives in the southeastern United States with her two poodles.

Burns's new cozy mystery Icing on the Murder.

At CrimeReads the author tagged seven favorite wedding-themed cozies, including:

Jenn McKinlay, Wedding Cake Crumble (Cupcake Bakery Mystery)

The tenth book in the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series, Wedding Cake Crumble, Melanie Cooper, owner of Fairy Tale Cupcakes, is preparing for a wedding and a book signing. However, when the people hired to work at the wedding begin turning up dead, and the bestselling author is the next to bite the dust.

Mel needs to figure out how the murders are connected and why—before the killer brings the entire cupcake crew crumbling down.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top works of dieselpunk

K. W. Colyard is the author of the BNW-nominated “Those Who Forget and Those Who Perish,” which appeared in Seize the Press in 2022. Their fiction has also appeared in Clarkesworld and Diabolical Plots. They are currently working on a horror novel.

At Book Riot Colyard tagged five top works of dieselpunk, steampunk’s darker and dirtier cousin. One title on the list:

Empire State by Adam Christopher

Adam Christopher’s debut novel is the first entry in his “superhero-noir” duology. Set in an alternate version of Prohibition-era New York City, Empire State revolves around the story of the Skyguard. Once the superhero protector of Empire State, the Skyguard has been locked up by the ever-present police, who patrol the city in their ominous blimps. The day after his supposed execution, however, the Skyguard saves a private detective from being attacked by masked men. Has the superhero really avoided execution at the hands of the state? And what does his return mean for the people of Empire State?

Read about the other entries on Colyard's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books that explore the myths of sirens

Kalie Cassidy was born and raised in Southern California and spent over a decade working in LA as a professional theater actor, coach, and acting teacher. She now lives in Cleveland, Ohio with her two children and husband. She spends most of her time dreaming up new stories in her library, gardening, walking the nearby woods, and learning about “real” weather.

Cassidy's new novel is In the Veins of the Drowning.

At Lit Hub she tagged seven titles that explore the myths of sirens. One book on the list:

Emilia Hart, The Sirens

I loved Hart’s debut, Weyward, and waited impatiently for her sophomore novel about sisters separated by time but bound together by the sea. Unsurprisingly, it was worth the wait. The Sirens is a compelling mix of contemporary, historical, and speculative fiction told through multiple points of view, mysterious dreams, and magical revelations.

With one set of sisters on a convict ship set for Australia and the other managing haunting images, a strange skin condition, and stories of men going missing, I was utterly engrossed. And as always, Hart’s prose is immaculate.

Read about the other entries on the list at Lit Hub.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books that show Pittsburgh is a perfect backdrop for drama

Anna Bruno is the author of Fine Young People and Ordinary Hazards. She teaches at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. Previously, Bruno managed public relations and marketing for technology and financial services companies in Silicon Valley. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an MBA from Cornell University, and a BA from Stanford University. She lives in Iowa City with her husband, two sons, and blue heeler.

At Electric Lit Bruno tagged "seven books that show Pittsburgh is the best place to come of age—at any age." One title on the list:

Emily, Alone by Stewart O’Nan

Somehow Stewart O’Nan managed to burrow deeply into the psyche of an old lady for Emily, Alone. There is no character in fiction who feels more real than Emily Maxwell. She reads the newspaper, cleans before the housekeeper arrives, and waits impatiently for thank you notes from her grandchildren.

As Emily traverses Pittsburgh in her cobalt-blue Subaru Outback, I found myself on Google maps, tracing her routes around my hometown. Her journey ends when she leaves the city to visit the rural Pennsylvania outpost where she grew up. There, she finds the house of her childhood, restored to its original white with forest-green shutters, and her mother’s hydrangeas in full bloom. For the first time, she doesn’t wish to distance herself from the child she once was, proving that nobody is ever too old to come of age. Fortunately, Emily will be back this fall in O’Nan’s newest book, Evensong.

Read about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.

Emily, Alone is among Ben Schrank's six notable books on love, betrayal, and creative people who behave badly.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five thriller novels that grab you from page one

Ryan Pote is a twelve-year veteran Navy helicopter pilot who was part of a joint interagency special operations task force, deployed throughout Central and South America conducting counter narcotics. Before the Navy, he was a scuba diving instructor in Hawaii and a lab tech conducting algae-biofuels research. He holds a Masters degree in History from Ashland University. He lives with his wife and children in New England.

Pote's new novel is Blood and Treasure.

At CrimeReads the author tagged five thriller novels that grab you from page one. One title on the list:

Killing Floor by Lee Child

Jack Reacher, a drifter with no baggage, steps off a bus in a sleepy Georgia town and gets arrested for a murder he didn’t commit, sparking a brutal fight for survival.

Lee Child’s Killing Floor is like a punch you didn’t see coming. Reacher’s a towering, no-nonsense ex-military cop who walks into trouble like it’s his day job, and from the first page, you’re strapped in for a gritty, twisty ride. This is the kind of book that makes you miss your beach umbrella’s shade because you’re too busy flipping pages.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Killing Floor is among the Telegraph's twenty-three greatest thrillers ever written.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thirteen top feminist books

Emma Specter is the Culture Writer at Vogue, where she covers film, TV, books, politics, news and (almost) anything queer. She has previously worked at GARAGE and LAist and has freelanced for outlets including The Hairpin, Bon Appetit, them, the Hollywood Reporter and more. Her first book is More Please: On Food, Fat, Bingeing, Longing and the Lust for ‘Enough’.

Specter lives in Los Angeles. In her spare time, she shops for vintage purses and bakes a lot of bagels.

For Vogue she and her colleagues tagged thirteen feminist books that deserve a place on your nightstand. One title on the list:

Love Is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar (2021)

Driving cross-country solo is potentially one of the most empowering things a woman can do, and Jarrar gives a new and distinctive voice to the experience in this memoir about traversing America as a queer, Muslim, Palestinian Egyptian feminist determined to chart the course of her own story.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Also see Adrienne Westenfeld's fifteen feminist books that will inspire, enrage, & educate you.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten "Murderbot" read-alikes with just enough existential dread

At B&N Reads Margarita Polkowska tagged ten "Murderbot read-alikes with just enough existential dread." One title on the list:

Annihilation Aria: Book One of the Space Operas by Michael R. Underwood

A space opera that actually sings, this a fun albeit high-stakes adventure you don’t want to miss out on. It’s an action-packed, heartfelt romp through a highly-controlled galaxy where knowledge is forbidden and songs are — weapons.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight books featuring cults

Lauren Wilson has a degree in Journalism and an MA in Creative Writing, both from Northumbria University. She has previously worked as a freelance radio reporter, set up her own content writing and social media management business, and she currently works for Mslexia, a magazine committed to championing women’s writing.

The Goldens is her first novel.

At CrimeReads Wilson tagged her eight favorite books featuring cults. One title on the list:

The Project – Courtney Summers

In this dark and striking YA thriller, journalist Lo is determined to track down her older sister, Bea, who joined a group called The Unity Project after their parents were killed in a car accident. Lo is determined to both expose The Project for what she believes it really is – a sinister cult led by a charismatic leader – and save her sister at any cost. Told from the perspectives of both Lo and Bea, this is a hard-hitting read that explores both family and cult dynamics.

Read about the other books on Wilson's list at CrimeReads.

Also see Lisa Black's five books about cults, Kate Robards's five essential books about cults, Janice Hallett's five top books on cults, Melanie Abrams's seven novels about crimes in communes, cults, & other alternative communities, Joanna Hershon's seven darkly fascinating books about cults, Claire McGlasson's top ten books about cults, and Sam Jordison's top ten books on cults and religious extremists.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight novels about class & racial tensions in the suburbs

Kate Broad holds a BA from Wellesley College and a PhD in English from the CUNY Graduate Center. She is a Bronx Council on the Arts award winner for fiction, and her writing appears or is forthcoming in The Rumpus, No Tokens, The Brooklyn Review, and elsewhere.

Greenwich is her first novel.

At Electric Lit Broad tagged eight "novels about class and racial tensions in the American suburbs, each of them engrossing and unsettling, concerned with the powerful forces that shape a community. These are books about belonging, about insiders and outsiders, that ask how far we’ll go and how much we’ll risk in pursuit of the good life."

One title on the list:

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan

New to suburban Long Island, Brooklyn transplant Gertie Wilde thinks she’s finally found an idyllic home for her family on Maple Street, especially thanks to her new friend and neighbor Rhea Schroeder. But when a sinkhole opens in the neighborhood and Rhea’s daughter falls in, Rhea turns against the Wildes in a frantic effort to protect her own reputation and find an easy target to blame. She hurls vicious accusations against Gertie’s husband, and things quickly escalate into a frenzied neighborhood witch hunt. Maple Street is majority white, and it’s clear the one Indian American family on the block had better get in line. But class in this novel is as much of a marker of outsider status as race, and the consequences for anyone who doesn’t fit in and follow the rules can be deadly.

Read about the other titles on the list at Electric Lit.

Good Neighbors is among Katrina Monroe's nine terrible mothers in horror, Chris Cander's eight novels about dealing with difficult neighbors, and Amelia Kahaney's six top coming-of-age mysteries & thrillers.

The Page 69 Test: Good Neighbors.

My Book, The Movie: Good Neighbors.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top Civil War historical fiction titles

Rachel Brittain is a writer, Day Dreamer, and Amateur Aerialist. Her short fiction has appeared in Luna Station Quarterly, Andromeda Spaceways, and others. She is a contributing editor for Book Riot, where she screams into the void about her love of books. Brittain lives in Northwest Arkansas with a rambunctious rescue pup, a snake, and a houseful of plants (most of which aren’t carnivorous).

At Book Riot she tagged five "Civil War historical fiction books [that] provide some insight into what it was like for people at the time—to choose sides, to unlearn their own prejudices and misconceptions, and to question everything about what it means to be an American." One entry on the list:

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

When two brothers seek refuge on a farm in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, they kindle an unexpected friendship with the couple who take them in. The brothers save up money in the hopes of going North to reunite with their mother, even as they bring comfort to the grieving couple who lost their only son in the war. A pair of Confederate soldiers, meanwhile, take their tryst to the local woods. When their forbidden romance is discovered, the chaos and repercussions unleashed rock the entire community to its core.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books that feature toxic friendships

Christina Dotson is an Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award runner-up. In addition to writing, she is a licensed clinical social worker for a palliative care practice and lives in Kentucky.

Dotson's new novel is Love You To Death.

At CrimeReads she tagged "five books guaranteed to give you the toxic friendship vibes we love to see." One title on the list:

Jesse Q. Sutanto, I’m Not Done with You Yet

Competition, jealousy, obsession, and betrayal fuel this story of two toxic friends, Jane and Thalia, who meet in college and whose lives take very different paths after the duo lose touch. For Jane, life is a series of mundane events, including her marriage and career.

When she discovers Thalia on The New York Times bestseller list, Jane is determined to reunite with her former bestie and pick up where they left off, but this may not be the reunion either of them expects. Sometimes, reliving the past can have deadly consequences.

Read about the other entries on Dotson's list at CrimeReads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five novels set in realistic but imaginary places

Dan Fesperman served as a foreign correspondent for The Baltimore Sun, based in Berlin. His coverage of the siege of Sarajevo led to his debut novel, Lie in the Dark, which won Britain’s John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for best first crime novel. Subsequent books have won the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller, the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers, the Barry Award for best thriller, and selection by USA Today as the year’s best mystery/thriller novel.

Fesperman's new novel is Pariah.

At Lit Hub he tagged five favorite novels "set in seemingly realistic locations that exist in the here and now, and often within real continents and regions." One title on the list:

Gary Shteyngart, Absurdistan

This satirical romp from 2006 has everything you’d want in a novel set in an imaginary former Soviet Republic. Its unforgettable hero is the obese manchild, Misha Vainberg, son of a murdered Russian oligarch. Vainberg, by using a fake passport, has taken refuge in Absurdsvanï—aka Absurdistan—which is being torn asunder in its post-Soviet rebirth by a clash of Slavic ethnic groups, the Sevo and the Svanï.

The basis of their conflict? A dispute over which direction the footrest of the Orthodox cross should be tilted.

Read about the other entries on the list at Lit Hub.

--Marshal Zeringue