Here are 29 books that A Good Girl's Guide To Murder fans have personally recommended once you finish the A Good Girl's Guide To Murder series.
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As a former school counselor, I helped students navigate the ups and downs of friendships daily. As I mended relationships as part of my day job, my nights consisted of listening to true crime podcasts, reading murder mysteries, and watching enough thrillers on the Lifetime network to write a book about it. So, I did. Well, not literally, but I am the author of YA thrillers where friendships take centerstage. Now, I help fictional characters navigate friendships—this time, with disastrous results.
I had to include the OG twisty friendship story on this list. Even though I read this novel a decade ago, that final twist stays with me. However, the twist wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t been invested in the relationships.
What really struck me is that the “friends,” in this case, are actually cousins. As someone who considers my cousins to be my best friends, this was the aspect of the novel that resonated the most with me. Also, reading about a vacation home near Martha’s Vineyard didn’t hurt matters.
The TikTok phenomenon and #1 New York Times bestseller.
A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends-the Liars-whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth.
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honouree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
Don't miss FAMILY OF LIARS, the thrilling prequel to We Were Liars, published in May 2022.
I was always a peculiar child with no friends, so I found my friends in books. As I got older I turned to writing my own. I wrote many stories, until one night I wrote my first book. It was paranormal fiction. Quite horrid actually. However, it started my obsession with crime romance. I love romance, but I find them a bit dull at times, but a crime novel never leaves me wanting. I decided to join the two worlds, and create my own. It's the reason even after 20 books published, my books are all linked to the biggest crime of all. But that is a secret you need to figure out for yourself.
When all is not as it seems, and you fall in love with what you don’t know. Faced with a choice, what will you choose?
I chose Ruthless Creatures because it is a crime fiction about love, desire, and growth. Our first choice is not always our best. We sometimes fail to understand why. The more you read, the deeper your understanding grows.
Personally, I love the thrill of an idea, of loving someone who is dark and mysterious. Kage was that for Nat, and he hid a big secret, whether they overcame it or not. Well, you would need to find out for yourself.
This book taught me that we don’t really know to who we open our hearts to until it’s too late.
Five years ago, my fiance disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I'd never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can't be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and a million unanswered questions.
Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town.
Tall, dark, and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he's hiding something, I'm drawn to him like a moth to flame. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I…
Before writing about flawed, funny teens with big hearts, I spent ten years teaching them English. I completed the Stanford University online novel writing program in 2019. Though I’m an East Coast girl at heart, I currently live just outside Denver, Colorado with my husband and two daughters, who thankfully, are all as obsessed with books as I am.
In All the Best Liars, money and privilege drive a wedge between three childhood besties in desert California. Readers know from the beginning that the book ends in flames…and that one of the point-of-view characters gets blamed, one gets away, and the third dies. You’d think that having that information would make the book predictable and boring. Not so. Read if you love morally gray characters and want to watch the world burn.
Amelia Kahaney's All the Best Liars is a dark, modern psychological thriller and coming-of-age story about obsession, manipulation, and the intensity of those first friendships that take hold of you and never let go
Tic-tac-toe, three girls in a row. Nine years old and inseparable. Friends for life, or so they think . . .
Best friends Syd, Rain, and Brie grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in the stifling California desert, desperately wishing for a way out.
When a deadly fire is set two weeks before the end of high school, nothing will ever be the…
I was always a peculiar child with no friends, so I found my friends in books. As I got older I turned to writing my own. I wrote many stories, until one night I wrote my first book. It was paranormal fiction. Quite horrid actually. However, it started my obsession with crime romance. I love romance, but I find them a bit dull at times, but a crime novel never leaves me wanting. I decided to join the two worlds, and create my own. It's the reason even after 20 books published, my books are all linked to the biggest crime of all. But that is a secret you need to figure out for yourself.
If I was stuck on a train, and I could pick any book to reread, What Happened to the Bennetts is my first choice.
As a married woman, with a child of my own. I find myself at times drawn to stories like these. I live in South Africa, so it can become quite dangerous at times. I always wonder, how far does one goes with justice can’t be served? Do we stay a law-abiding citizen? Or do we protect our loved ones? Jason had to figure that out for himself. He tried it the right way, but things don’t always go the way you think they should.
This book taught me a lot when it comes to the way a man sees a situation versus a woman’s point of view. It also affirmed my initial thought that a man, in fact, does have a hero complex and that complex…
From #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline comes a pulse-pounding new novel.
Your family has been attacked, never again to be the same. Now you have to choose between law…and justice.
Jason Bennett is a suburban dad who owns a court-reporting business, but one night, his life takes a horrific turn. He is driving his family home after his daughter’s field hockey game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them, on a dark stretch of road. Suddenly two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. A horrific flash of violence changes his life forever.
I was always a peculiar child with no friends, so I found my friends in books. As I got older I turned to writing my own. I wrote many stories, until one night I wrote my first book. It was paranormal fiction. Quite horrid actually. However, it started my obsession with crime romance. I love romance, but I find them a bit dull at times, but a crime novel never leaves me wanting. I decided to join the two worlds, and create my own. It's the reason even after 20 books published, my books are all linked to the biggest crime of all. But that is a secret you need to figure out for yourself.
I have a thing for Mafia crime books, and I have read plenty. My reason for choosing Bound to Cruelty was because it is still fresh in my mind. I read it three months ago. And it was cruel, brutal but so deliciously breathtaking.
How do you know when you are wrong for someone? When do death and honor intertwine? How do you face yourself, and the one you love, knowing you are the biggest monster?
This book was brilliant because the characters are so well developed, that you are transformed into a world that is thrilling.
I’m the shadows that reach out and take a bite. No one sees me coming, which is why I’m sent to do the things even our fearless leader won’t touch.
After months of watching our enemies it’s time to take them out. I’m ready to feel their blood on my hands, their worthless lives ground to dust.
But I don’t get the chance, when a dark haired beauty comes crashing into my plans, seeking sanctuary from our enemies. Now I’m stuck on guard duty, babysitting a mafia princess.
As tensions rise, the flames of desire flicker between us. We shouldn’t…
I was always a peculiar child with no friends, so I found my friends in books. As I got older I turned to writing my own. I wrote many stories, until one night I wrote my first book. It was paranormal fiction. Quite horrid actually. However, it started my obsession with crime romance. I love romance, but I find them a bit dull at times, but a crime novel never leaves me wanting. I decided to join the two worlds, and create my own. It's the reason even after 20 books published, my books are all linked to the biggest crime of all. But that is a secret you need to figure out for yourself.
I read this book a few months ago. I was looking for a psychological thriller. And to an extent it was, but it is definitely a crime read that will leave you breathless.
The story for me was just brilliant. It helps you understand the mind of a second wife to the point of obsession. How we tend to over analyse everything, scrutinize the very basis of what is real and not.
There is a thin line between perception and misconception. I learned sometimes that the deeper you dwell on finding something that is wrong, the further away from the truth you go.
"Samira Wilder has never had it easy, and when her latest lousy job goes south, things only promise to get harder. Until she unexpectedly meets a man who will change her life forever. Renowned pro golfer Roland Graham is wealthy, handsome, and caring, and Samira is dazzled. Best of all, he seems to understand her better than anyone ever has. And though their relationship moves a bit fast, when Roland proposes, Samira accepts. She even agrees to relocate to his secluded Colorado mansion. After all, there's nothing to keep her in Miami, and the mansion clearly makes him happy. Soon,…
I’m a professor and YA author. Books helped me navigate the difficult choices I faced growing up. I gravitated to characters that I could picture myself befriending and looking up to because they had the bravery and strength that I wanted to have. As an author, I believe we need more stories about people who leave a positive mark on the world. I try to write characters that I can both relate to and would want to be friends with: characters who, in facing difficulty, discover the strength of their humanity because they have a light and goodness that shines somewhere deep inside.
Cristian Florescu is a dreamer and an artist. He’s a seventeen-year-old living under the communist regime in Romania in the late 1980s. He’s up against incredible odds in a country where food and resources are scarce, and the government keeps its citizens under constant surveillance. Yet, his will for a better life drives him to stand up for his beliefs.
Bravery like Cristian’s will inspire anyone. He reminds me that youth bestows upon us some of our greatest characteristics: strength, hope, and determination. Who wouldn’t want someone like Cristian in their corner?
A gut-wrenching, startling historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray.
Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.
Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s…
I was a marathon runner, and then I became a cyclist and started racing bicycles, especially ultra events: 24-hour and 12-hour races. I love activities that require guts and perseverance. Characters who dig deep to accomplish what they want are the ones with whom I want to spend my reading and writing time.
Writing a book, doing good research, and being a good friend require the same characteristics. I know the healing power of activity and of pushing ourselves to excellence. I also know the huge benefit of finding friends who share our passions. When we’ve got those things, we can heal, we can strive, and we can thrive.
I fell in love with T.J. Jones, who is a gifted athlete, but an outcast because he’s multi-racial in a white community. After a rocky start, he’s landed in a loving adoptive family and has learned this kind of wisdom: “…I learned...that the color of a person’s skin has to do only with where their way-long-ago ancestors originated, so my mind tells me all racists are either ignorant or so down on themselves they need somebody to be better than.”
I couldn’t help but root for this unlikely hero who stands up to racism and bullying while training like the dickens to be the best swimmer ever. This is among my favorite stories, but I say that every time I finish one of Crutcher’s books (that's why I included two).
There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway. Bestselling author Chris Crutcher's controversial and acclaimed novel follows a group of outcasts as they take on inequality and injustice in their high school.
"Crutcher's superior gifts as a storyteller and his background as a working therapist combine to make magic in Whale Talk. The thread of truth in his fiction reminds us that heroes can come in any shape,…
I was a marathon runner, and then I became a cyclist and started racing bicycles, especially ultra events: 24-hour and 12-hour races. I love activities that require guts and perseverance. Characters who dig deep to accomplish what they want are the ones with whom I want to spend my reading and writing time.
Writing a book, doing good research, and being a good friend require the same characteristics. I know the healing power of activity and of pushing ourselves to excellence. I also know the huge benefit of finding friends who share our passions. When we’ve got those things, we can heal, we can strive, and we can thrive.
This is one of my favorite books ever. I’ve read it many times, and it’s 500 pages long. The voice of the first-person narrator is so delightful I get hooked on the first page. Set in South Africa, Peekay is the ultimate underdog.
Emotionally deserted by his mom at boarding school, he doesn’t even know his own name and calls himself P.K. He’s a white English kid bullied by the dominant Dutch-descendant Boers as Apartheid (Governmental violent, oppressive racism) becomes law.
Peekay grows to become a champion boxer and champions the oppressed. I became obsessed with South Africa and could not look away from this story. It’s a wonderful example of a novel about an athlete, and even when I don’t like the sport, I adore the character and story.
“The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama.” –The New York Times
“Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence–‘the power of one’–can prevail.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer
In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams–which are nothing compared…
I was a marathon runner, and then I became a cyclist and started racing bicycles, especially ultra events: 24-hour and 12-hour races. I love activities that require guts and perseverance. Characters who dig deep to accomplish what they want are the ones with whom I want to spend my reading and writing time.
Writing a book, doing good research, and being a good friend require the same characteristics. I know the healing power of activity and of pushing ourselves to excellence. I also know the huge benefit of finding friends who share our passions. When we’ve got those things, we can heal, we can strive, and we can thrive.
I have read this book umpteen times. Every time, I am hooked by the second page. Eric “Moby” Calhoune is the best kind of friend every one of us needs—and he proves that in absolute devotion to Sarah Byrnes, whose childhood was the stuff of nightmares.
Eric is also a stellar swimmer, but he’s got no self-delusions. He says, “I’m not a great swimmer, but I’m good—a lot better than you’d think, looking at me…I also like the wake I create for the guy in the next lane.”
Who can’t love that guy? This is one of the saddest books I’ve ever read, and also the funniest—I cry; I laugh on almost every page. This is a powerful, horrible, beautiful story.
Called a "masterpiece" in a starred review from School Library Journal, award-winning author Chris Crutcher's acclaimed Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is an enduring classic.
This bestselling novel is about love, loyalty, and friendship in the face of adversity. "Superb plotting, extraordinary characters, and cracking narrative make this novel unforgettable."-Publishers Weekly
Sarah Byrnes and Eric Calhoune have been friends for years. When they were children, his weight and her scars made them both outcasts. Now Sarah Byrnes-the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known-sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she's hiding before its dark current…
