78 Books Like Bonnie

I don’t often read nonfiction, but Kate Summerscale’s meticulously researched book, with all the gritty details about a Victorian-era matricide, reads like a suspenseful novel.

The discussions of views about insanity, criminality, penny dreadfuls (or penny bloodies as some called them), and treatment of criminals and the insane at the time absolutely fascinated me. Summerscale follows Robert Coombes, who was only 13 when the crime was committed, from his childhood into adulthood.

I found this book a completely edifying experience—by the end of the story, I felt like I knew Robert, even if I couldn’t understand his crime.

I can’t help myself—I’m an author: I love an elegantly structured novel.

Ariel Lawhon’s novel is so entertaining and so well-paced that it was easy to lose myself in it. It all starts with the 1930 disappearance of Justice Joseph Crater.

Then we get chapters told from the points of view of his wife, maid, and mistress, with the chapters alternating and dovetailing in such a way as to provide a fascinating peek into the lives of the characters who revolve around the judge.

When I reached the final chapter, I felt like a big Rubik’s cube had clicked into place. 

I love an atmospheric read, and this one is Gothic and foreboding.

It’s 1889 Liverpool, and Constance Sullivan has been accused of murdering her husband, a chronic consumer of arsenic. At the time, arsenic was thought to have many health benefits.

Mitchell’s novel kicks off with the arrest of Constance and then unfolds into a back-and-forth narrative about their marriage and her trial. I wondered at every turn how Constance could be guilty. Even though she claims she’s innocent, I couldn’t see how she could possibly overcome all the testimony against her.

I was drawn in from the first page and could hardly put the book down.

I enjoy stories about unsolved crimes, and Emma Donoghue starts with a murder in 1876 San Francisco and builds a story around a character trying to solve the crime.

The main characters, Burlesque dancer Blanche and frog catcher Jenny, quickly drew me into the story. When Jenny is murdered, Blanche believes she knows who murdered Jenny—and thinks she is responsible. I loved how Donoghue captured the rough and gritty San Francisco of the times.

I’m a great fan of author’s notes at the end of historical novels, and Donoghue’s lengthy afterword reveals much about what parts of the novel are based on fact and which imagined—and how she went about researching the story.

Gabino Iglesias has become a phenomenon in horror through a lot of hustle and plain hard work. His 2022 novel cemented his reputation as the king of border horror.

This novel follows the fate of Mario, a man broken by debt due to his family’s crushing medical bills. With a failing marriage, he reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, agreeing to do one last job hijacking a cartel’s cash shipment before it can reach Mexico.

Mario reluctantly works with his meth-addicted friend and a cartel insider. To make this dangerous endeavor worse, enter supernatural horrors that shocked me—and I am not easily shocked.

Is there blood? Of course! Gore? Plenty! Monsters and demons? Yes! You are guaranteed to lose sleep after reading this novel.

It has been years since I read this novel and I still vividly remember the “Wow, this is good stuff and I want to write something just like this” feeling it gave me.

Take a strong woman beset by unbelievable odds, add a dark, dangerous, tortured anti-hero. Sprinkle a little vengeance on top, then mess it all up with love.

Oh, baby! Yes, please!

Most people with even a casual familiarity with Billy the Kid know at least three things about the young outlaw:

1) Billy was captured and found guilty of murder.

2) Before he could be hanged, he affected a spectacular escape.

3) He was hunted down and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett. Because of the high drama of that last point (a shooting in a dark room at midnight near the bedroom of Billy’s paramour) and because of the machinations of the sheriff’s ghostwriter and publicist, Garrett has received all the glory for the Kid being brought to justice.

But there was another lawman who deserves just as much credit—Frank Stewart, lead detective for a Texas cattleman’s association. Stewart played an equal role in Billy’s capture, but his name was suppressed by those who did not want to divvy up fame. This new information is the subject of this book.

Oklahoma’s history of outlawry is as depraved as Texas’s—or any state, for that matter. In the 1930s, Texas birthed the Barrow Gang, but Bonnie & Clyde were practically Sonny & Cher compared to the Daltons, a band of criminal brothers active in Oklahoma during the latter years of the 19th century. Clavin’s story makes clear why a career in violent crime does not generally attract the brightest bulbs.

Reading the details of their invariably ill-considered escapades is like watching a YouTube video of a guy taunting a bear; you know it’s going to end in blood-soaked catastrophe, but you still can’t take your eyes away. 

In contrast to his books about the Old West, McMurtry’s contemporary Westerns tell a more unvarnished truth. I read this book for the umpteenth time just prior to beginning my first novel, Where the Hurt Is. My book was a crime novel. McMurtry’s was a coming-of-age story. Nevertheless, his depiction of his book’s quasi-fictional Thalia, Texas rang so many bells and reminded me so much of the small Oklahoma towns where I grew up, I can’t deny being influenced by it.

At times, I would grow short of breath as I was reminded of parallel characters and events from my own childhood. Even today, the claustrophobia of Thalia and its characters’ fear of being unable to escape scares the crap out of me.

Almost every character in this book has something to hide, and I listened to this book quickly to find out their secrets. I don’t always opt for audiobooks, but the narrator differentiated the characters beautifully and added a layer of emotion.

I don’t want to spoil any of the characters’ secrets, but let’s just say the relationship between the living and the dead gets a little complicated. Eric’s love for his daughters and willingness to do anything for them resonated with me, especially when any one of them was in the house.