Books like City of Miracles — picked by fans

Mistaken identity, a deadly game, and confusing desires make for a fun read. This book was one of my instant favourites because of its sassy style and the female main character psycho-analysing the people around her because of her studies in psychology.

Rowan is determined to find her mother’s killer, but her plan falls apart when a demon kidnaps her and accuses her of being someone else.

I love the way she plays two roles as herself and her shadow self and how she uses that to play games with Orion, who may or may not want to kill her. It makes for a unique character and a very interesting story.

I’ve always been a sucker for a good curse to thicken a cozy mystery plot, and this one has a doozy: a stunning Russian shawl worn by a fortune-teller at a bridal shower that Washington, D.C. fashion reporter Lacey Smithsonian attends for her BFF Stella. I love the plucky amateur sleuth who uses her Extra-Fashionary Perception to capture a villain who vowed that nobody at this wedding will live happily ever after.

Agent of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, Fatma el-Sha'arawi is the spectacularly well-dressed protagonist tasked with saving the world (again) in an alternate 1912 Cairo. This award-winning novel awed me with its detail and invention. What I loved most was the way the world building relegated the British Empire to relative unimportance. Come to think of it, I loved the Ministry library almost as much.

In the world of crime, the “two-minute rule” is sacrosanct: linger longer than two minutes during a heist, and you’re destined for a lifetime behind bars. But not everyone plays by the rules. When ex-con Max Holman is released from prison, his thoughts are consumed by the hope of reconciling with his estranged son, a police officer.

Tragically, he learns that his son and three fellow LAPD officers were brutally murdered the night before his release. Crais’s storytelling prowess shines through in this tightly plotted psychological thriller, where every page is essential. The plot is both inventive and realistic, with richly drawn characters that resonate. New writers can learn from his presentation of setting, characterization, as well as crisp plotting. I admit that I unabashedly love Robert Crais’ serial work, but this stand-alone resonated with me from the moment I read it.

I’m going even further back with this one. Unusual pick certainly, a YA novel from 1989 that I stole off my sister’s shelf circa 1994.

I was ten and ready for something darker than The Baby-Sitters Club. This was one of those early reads that made me want to write in the first place. The first real suspense book that had me staying up late, wondering how does one create a story like this? I still have that book, tattered and sitting on my shelf as a reminder of that first spark.

Christopher Pike is able to write stories to young readers in a timeless way. The nostalgia and sheer thrill from this story about a young woman who finds herself dead after falling four stories will bring you back to nights with covers over your head. Did she jump or was something more sinister behind her death? Only her… show more.

James Lee Burke is now 85 as of the date of this submission and writes every day. As I just turned 76 this month, his remarkable work habits are a goal to which I can aspire. 

James Lee Burke’s writing is filled with memorable metaphors and similes that no one uses quite as well as this Southern man of letters

In Robicheaux: A Novel, Burke reminds us that Robicheaux is plagued by the acts he committed in Vietnam, now manifested in the ghosts of his alcoholism and tendency to violence. Complicating his life even more is the sudden death of his beloved wife, Molly. The New Iberia man who killed Molly is also killed, and colleagues accuse Robicheaux of murdering the man who killed Molly.

Dave Robicheaux is a good man who does not tolerate evil deeds by others, even though he must battle his tendency to react violently when… show more.

This novel masterfully blends journalism, magical realism, and detective fiction. The story is told by a narrator who returns to his town to reconstruct the events that provoked Nasar’s death. Nasar was young and wealthy and was accused of dishonoring Angele Vicario. 

Garcia Marquez explores the concept of honor in Latin American culture and how it drives individuals to commit extreme acts. The community's failure to prevent the murder highlights themes of complicity and social responsibility. I recommend this novel because of its rich details and the author’s ability to blend reality with elements of magical realism, creating a haunting and entertaining narrative. 

I read a lot of Agatha Christie growing up and Ten by Gretchen McNeil is a modern And Then There Were None with a cast full of snarky teens with secrets stranded on an island with a killer who just might be one of them. I love a good mystery and this one had me at hello. Gretchen knows how to write a good twist and delivers such clever one-liners that I bet she would make an excellent script writer. This is the sort of book that plays in my head like a movie. I read it all in one go and stayed up way too late, but I regret nothing.

Not a big romance/romcom reader? No worries, Never Coming Home is the perfect poolside book for you.

This summer YA mystery/thriller follows a group of teen influencers who are invited to a hot new exclusive island, but everyone’s hiding secrets, and then people start dying. I enjoyed this book as a poolside summer read because it’s so fast-paced and intriguing that I was sucked right into the story.

It’s a summer slasher read full of twists and perfectly unlikeable characters that kept me turning pages until it was done in one sitting.

What woman hasn’t desired justice for some horrible crime that a man has gotten away with? What mother wouldn’t want revenge for something done to her child?

These are the kinds of questions that swept me up in the believable “fantasy” of an underground group of women taking justice into their own hands when law enforcement and civil society fail. It’s the kind of book where I cheered for people to do very bad things for vigilante justice and only felt slightly bad about it later. It’s also a taut thriller full of believable characters. I loved every dark minute of it.