62 Books Like Elysium

I loved this book from the first page. There’s something both eerie and comforting about a boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard. I was enamored by the atmosphere, soft fog, ancient tombstones, and strange creatures lurking just out of sight.

Gaiman has a gift for writing stories that feel like old folktales, but are still fresh and full of heart. I didn’t want it to end because I fell in love with the idea of this unconventional “family” protecting a boy as he grows up surrounded by the dead. It’s dark, magical, and unexpectedly warm.

Greg Melville’s Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America’s Cemeteries is a highly personal yet richly researched investigation into the history of U.S. cemeteries. Best of all, Melville doesn’t just study gravestones or the final resting place of famous people, he takes a deep dive into nearly every aspect of memorialization, including landscapes, mortuary practices, economics, and social rituals.

Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries is two books in one. It is a traditional survey of a particular region’s graveyards that is rich in history and lore. But it also exposes historical racial inequities in the care of a city’s dead and sets the stage for current activism that is seeking to reclaim important sites of memorialization for the area’s disenfranchised population and its current descendants.

For many of us who study cemeteries, there is a danger of thinking that these landscapes of the dead are just bodies and gravestones. Katherine Ramsland’s Cemetery Stories: Haunted Graveyards, Embalming Secrets, and the Life of a Corpse After Death is one of the few books out there that details every step between death and internment, which are just as revealing about American culture as a fancy gravestone epitaph or a biography of a deceased local celebrity.

As the name implies, Midnight Bayou is another romantic ghost story set in New Orleans—a place I’ve now been fortunate enough to visit!

Sometimes called the “City of the Dead”, NOLA makes a perfect location for this haunting mystery. I literally could not put this book down, despite having young children when I read it! Once again, the past and present intertwine as a sassy Cajun heroine and a hunky carpenter unravel the dark secrets of Manet Hall in a passionate journey.  

I was approached by Jerry Pushcar's brother when he first published this book, and I agreed to take a look, but was skeptical, being as it was self-published. But when I read it, I was blown away.

Not only is the writing beautiful and literary, but the journey is hard to believe: paddling 9,000 miles over three years, from New Orleans, up the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, along the shore of Lake Superior, over the Grand Portage, across Canada and all the way to Nome, Alaska. If you're wondering what that was like, you'll have to read along.

I had never read a romance novel before, and it only took a few pages to absolutely fall in love with it and the fantasy romance genre. It really set the bar for every romance novel I’ve read since!

Witty bantering, sweet, and touching moments—sexy ones too—and the best part is the main character wasn’t a total damsel in distress! She had her s*** together…mostly. Very relatable! Smart, funny, and she’s a fighter? Sign me up.

Though the male main character was hot as hell, powerful, and darkly funny, it was really the way they played off each other and worked together that really hooked me and resonated. I absolutely love this book and I have read it easily ten times.

In 1967 I worked for seven months at DePaul psychiatric hospital in New Orleans, LA as an attendant during the 11 pm to 7 am shift. During that time period, there was often nothing to do but stay awake, because schizophrenics, like everybody else, usually sleep through the night. There was a tiny library in the "Seton Unit" section of the hospital where I worked that featured a dozen or more Nero Wolfe murder mysteries by Rex Stout. I read them all, some of them more than once. The books brought me back to my late childhood years when I read all of the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories. What fascinated me about both these sets of books later when I became a writer was the relationships between the storytellers (John Watson/Archie Goodwin) and the larger-than-life detectives (Sherlock Holmes/Nero Wolfe). They acted like bickering but loving married couples while… show more.

My love of New Orleans started with Anne Rice and my love of mysteries began with Nancy Drew books.

So when I found New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith, my obsession with both was satisfied. Skip Langdon is a New Orleans native and police detective.

With wonderful details about the city and its residents, and great mysteries, I read through the series as fast as I could.

This is a mystery set in the gritty side of New Orleans, back alleys of the French Quarter and neighborhoods that tourists don’t see.

The murder setup is well-written and the author keeps the reader guessing about the outcome. Music lovers will appreciate the references to real singers and musicians that are woven into the story.

This is the 7th book in the Sleepy Carter detective series. There are a few references to previous books, but if you have not previously read any in this series, you won’t be lost. Fans of Walter Mosely will enjoy. I love New Orleans, (there are many mouth-watering food references in the story) and this book takes me there.