Picked by Ferrara Family Mysteries fans

Here are 4 books that Ferrara Family Mysteries fans have personally recommended once you finish the Ferrara Family Mysteries series. Book DNA is a community of authors and super-readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Book cover of A Pocket Full of Rye

J.J. Cagney Author Of Bayou Venom

From my list on Agatha Christie books you should definitely read.

Why am I passionate about this?

I read my first mystery in second grade, and the genre has captivated me ever since. My mother loves jigsaw puzzles—without the picture, so it’s a challenge—while I prefer to work through clues in books from Agatha Christie to Stephen King, to C. J. Box…no matter the author, my goal is to find the answer before the author reveals it. Seven of my books fall under the mystery, suspense, and thriller categories, and I want to pen many more as I enjoy the thrill of perfectly plotted prose. I hold a bachelor’s degree from TCU, and I’ve spent twenty-plus years immersed in psychology and behavioral science.

J.J.'s book list on Agatha Christie books you should definitely read

J.J. Cagney Why J.J. loves this book

Ah, Miss Marple! She’s probably the most iconic amateur female sleuth and spawned an entire mystery genre (I love a good cozy!).

I chose this novel because the plotting is excellent, and I appreciate Agatha Christie’s subtleties. She respected her readers’ intelligence…and enjoyed playing with our observation skills. We get a slew of culprits, all with the motivation to murder the Fortescue patriarch.

So when Inspector Neele, whose perspective overtakes much of the book, needs help to understand why the bickering family is more interested in Mr. Fortescue’s fortune than his untimely death and pocketful of rye that seem to follow a nursery rhyme, of all things, well, only Miss Marple can solve this tangled web.

By Agatha Christie ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked A Pocket Full of Rye as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A classic Marple mystery, superbly read by Joan Hickson. Available for the first time on audio.

Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' when he suffered an agonising and sudden death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain traces of cereals.

Yet, it was the incident in the parlour which confirmed Jane Marple's suspicion that here she was looking at a case of crime by rhyme...


Book cover of The Postscript Murders

Katarina Bivald Author Of The Murders in Great Diddling

From my list on murder most english dangers of an English village.

Why am I passionate about this?

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.

Katarina's book list on murder most english dangers of an English village

Katarina Bivald Why Katarina loves this book

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. 

By Elly Griffiths ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Postscript Murders as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

INVENTING CRIME STORIES CAN GET YOU KILLED

'A LOVE LETTER TO MURDER MYSTERIES' SUNDAY MIRROR

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'…


Book cover of The Thursday Murder Club

Alexandra Addams Author Of The Self-Made Saint

From my list on menopause as a superpower for women who are happy to jump off the rollercoaster of youth.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started my motherhood journey when I was barely out of my teens. For the next two decades, I only knew myself as a wife and mother. As my brood of five children grew into adults, I found myself poorly equipped to parent independent Gen X and Z’ers. Then, at 46 years of age, when perimenopause hit me like a hurricane, I found myself evolving into another woman altogether. The good news was – I really liked her! I hope you enjoy these books about mid-life women parenting adult children and rediscovering themselves in the never-ever-done-aftermath of motherhood.

Alexandra's book list on menopause as a superpower for women who are happy to jump off the rollercoaster of youth

Alexandra Addams Why Alexandra loves this book

This was one of the first books I read in which the older women were not just the main characters but were the kick-butt heroes of the day.

I read it while in the middle of a messy draft of my own book and felt inspired to stop diluting the age-related experience of my own main character.

By Richard Osman ,

Why should I read it?

34 authors picked The Thursday Murder Club as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment

"Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining." -Wall Street Journal

"Don't trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman's own laugh-out-loud whodunit." -Parade

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to...
THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

When a local developer is found dead…


Book cover of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Elizabeth Sims Author Of Holy Hell

From my list on crime novels with witty female protagonists.

Why am I passionate about this?

People behave rationally and irrationally. Observing and thinking about human nature is the sport of my lifetime. In literature and art, I worship real wit. I thirst for the unusual, the deadpan, the acknowledging of one thing while another slips in unseen. Wit has been, for me, a shield and a tool for good. I try not to use it as a weapon because wit as a weapon often damages a wider target than one intends. I strive to endow my fictional women, my protagonists, with sharp yet understated wit that spares no one, not even themselves. Especially not themselves. The books I recommend here live up to my standards.

Elizabeth's book list on crime novels with witty female protagonists

Elizabeth Sims Why Elizabeth loves this book

I’m not a fan of novels that are paced like greased rockets, as if the author’s afraid you’ll suddenly throw the book across the room, turn on Netflix, and order a pizza. Which is a key reason I love this book. Precious Ramotswe is a “traditionally built” woman who solves crimes in a superbly witty yet unhurried fashion and with deep compassion that stops short of sentimentality.

Her heart (huge) and brain (gently incisive) work in perfect tandem in this book. The plot is simple, which will frustrate readers who prefer intricate puzzles in their crime fiction. But for me, the pleasure lies in leisurely getting to know this wise, ingenious detective and her humble neighborhood in Botswana’s capital city.

By Alexander McCall Smith ,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Precious Ramotswe, a cheerful woman of traditional build, is the founder of Botswana's first and only ladies' detective agency. Here is a gentle interpretation of the detective role: solving her cases through her innate wisdom and understanding of human nature, she 'helps people with problems in their lives'. With a tone that is as elegant as that which is unfailingly used by his protagonist, Alexander McCall Smith tenderly unfolds a picture of life in Gaborone with a mastery of comic understatement and an evident sympathy for his subjects and their milieu. In the background of all this is Botswana, a…