Here are 100 books that Real Bad Things fans have personally recommended if you like
Real Bad Things.
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I came of age reading Mary Stewart, Daphne du Maurier, and Phyllis Whitney by flashlight after my school night bedtimes. Their plots mingled romance and murder so elegantly, heightening the already incredible stakes of whether they would physically survive intertwined with the anxiety over the couple’s relationship surviving. All these years later, I still love a good story that makes me wonder how in the world the pair will make it through danger—and if there’ll be a kiss at the end.
I do love a good revenge story, and Dylan—the main character—is all about vengeance. Aided and abetted by her best friend, Daniel, that she’s carrying a torch for, the will-they-or-won’t-they as they try to bring down the bad guy has the propulsive plot exploding in more ways than one. This is set in the Bay Area, so it feels like a little mini-vacation if you’ve never been!
Revenge meets Promising Young Woman in this thrilling debut about a vigilante on a mission to take down predatory men, perfect for fans of Jeneva Rose and Layne Fargo.
Dylan Truman, better known under her alias Lady Justice, is the bane of every grifter, cheater, and bully in the Bay Area. Alongside her best friend and hacktivist, Daniel Haas, she works as a revenge-for-hire vigilante, seeking retribution on behalf of her (predominantly female) clientele. When a prospective client brings up a fraud complaint against pharmaceutical CEO Brent Wilder, Dylan's business becomes personal: Years earlier, Wilder assaulted Dylan’s sister and got…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I came of age reading Mary Stewart, Daphne du Maurier, and Phyllis Whitney by flashlight after my school night bedtimes. Their plots mingled romance and murder so elegantly, heightening the already incredible stakes of whether they would physically survive intertwined with the anxiety over the couple’s relationship surviving. All these years later, I still love a good story that makes me wonder how in the world the pair will make it through danger—and if there’ll be a kiss at the end.
Growing up in rural East Texas, some of my earliest memories center around the fire station where my father was a volunteer firefighter.
Although this book is set in Northern California, it manages to render the small town and its politics familiar enough that I can almost smell the smoke. Lex’s reluctance to return to where everyone else in her immediate family died is tempered by the romance igniting between her and an old flame, but everyone has secrets here—and some can be deadly.
From the author of One of Those Faces comes the haunting story of a young woman's return home to face her tragic past, the fire that killed her family, and what remains in the ashes.
Alexis "Lex" Blake swore she would never return to the town where she'd lost her home and her family in a devastating fire that only she survived and can barely remember. But when her aunt dies, leaving behind a mountain of debt, Lex has no choice but to head back to Northern California to settle her family's estate.
I came of age reading Mary Stewart, Daphne du Maurier, and Phyllis Whitney by flashlight after my school night bedtimes. Their plots mingled romance and murder so elegantly, heightening the already incredible stakes of whether they would physically survive intertwined with the anxiety over the couple’s relationship surviving. All these years later, I still love a good story that makes me wonder how in the world the pair will make it through danger—and if there’ll be a kiss at the end.
Some books may shy away from taboos, but Heather Levy writes fearlessly, dragging topics into the open and spotlighting them, so talking about them is unavoidable.
This isn’t only the story of a woman trying to clear her or her stepbrother’s names after the man who abused her throughout her adolescence turns up murdered; it’s a coming of age as she leans into what she desires and steps into that power.
I love that this is set in rural Oklahoma, a part of the country I feel gets overlooked as far as thrillers and noir go, and the second chance romance and potential that builds between Sam and Eric. This book does feature frank discussions of BDSM/kink and how an abuser exploits it, so please read the content warnings before diving in!
A riveting, dark debut psychological thriller perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, S.J. Watson, and Megan Abbott
From an early age, Sam Mayfair knew she was different. Like any young girl, she developed infatuations and lust-but her desires were always tinged with darkness. Then, when Sam was sixteen, her life was shattered by an abuser close to her. And she made one shocking decision whose ramifications would reverberate throughout her life.
Now, fifteen years later, Sam learns that her abuser has been murdered. The death of the man who plagued her dreams for years should have put an end to…
The Everlasting Life of Charlie Wall
by
Paul Wilborn,
It’s 1985, and Ronald Armstrong, known in the magic mushroom trade as “Trip,” takes a “sober” job as a driver for a retired Tampa mobster. His boss, Charlie Wall, has survived four attempts on his life, the last one in 1955. When Charlie falls into depression, Trip rebuilds his boss’…
I came of age reading Mary Stewart, Daphne du Maurier, and Phyllis Whitney by flashlight after my school night bedtimes. Their plots mingled romance and murder so elegantly, heightening the already incredible stakes of whether they would physically survive intertwined with the anxiety over the couple’s relationship surviving. All these years later, I still love a good story that makes me wonder how in the world the pair will make it through danger—and if there’ll be a kiss at the end.
I love May Cobb books because of the messy drama, and this one serves this up in spades. A murder, a spicy love triangle, East Texas, and a handsome stranger all at the center of it—count me in!
As the mother of a preteen and a teenager, I also appreciated the inclusion of a teen daughter and how her involvement impacted the plot. While at times I’ve grieved that my two best friends from high school and I no longer live in the same city, this book laced my nostalgia with a healthy heaping of reality and showed that sometimes the people who’ve grown with you may also be the ones holding you back from further maturation.
Three lifelong friends plus a dangerous, sexy new stranger in their wealthy, Texas town adds up to a scorching summer of manipulation, obsession, and murder, from the acclaimed author of The Hunting Wives.
Jen Hansen, Kittie Spears, and Cynthia Nichols have been friends since childhood. They are now approaching forty and their lives have changed, but their insular East Texas town has not. They stay sane by drinking wine in the afternoons, dishing about other women in the neighborhood, and bonding over the heartache of their own encroaching middle age and raising ungrateful teens.
I am a reader and an author. Both my reading and writing diets are deeply grounded in gothic novels. This list mixes up some of the classics from way back with more recent works. All of them give the flavor of this fascinating realm in literature. There is nothing more satisfying than lucking into a story that is truly original, too, which these recommendations are. Find a comfy perch with a drink of your choosing and take some time with these books. I wouldn’t steer you wrong, and I stand behind all five of these recommendations.
This author masterfully captures rich elements from the gothic genre and its subgenres in The Artist of Blackberry Grange.
The setting and timeframe of Kansas City, Missouri, and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in the 1920s provide a wonderful backdrop for this tale of many, many layers about a plucky heroine named Sadie.
An undercurrent weaving throughout is caregiving for a loved one with dementia, which many readers (including myself) can identify with. With shades of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and undertones from Daphne du Maurier, The Artist of Blackberry Grange is truly gothic lightning in a bottle, and I did not want it to end.
For a young caregiver in the Ozarks, an old house holds haunting memories in a ghostly novel about family secrets, sacrifice, and lost loves by the author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.
In the summer of 1925, the winds of change are particularly chilling for a young woman whose life has suddenly become unbalanced.
Devastated by her mother's death and a cruel, broken engagement, Sadie Halloran learns that her great-aunt Marguerite, a renowned artist now in the throes of dementia, needs a live-in companion. Grasping at newfound purpose, Sadie leaves her desolate Kansas City boardinghouse for Blackberry Grange, Marguerite's…
Before I became an author, I was a sales exec. As a female ladies’ apparel rep in a traditionally male-dominated industry in the Deep Southern states, I had to prove myself every day. When I started, there were no other women road reps in the region. No one, except my mentor father, thought I’d last a season. Grit and stubborn perseverance to prove the industry wrong kept me going. I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. I took a sledgehammer to every glass ceiling I encountered and smashed it to smithereens.
Nothing much happens in Maggody, Arkansas, so Arly Hanks figures her job as the first female police chief will be a yawn. Life is so boring that the locals resorted to gobbling up every rumor of creatures from outer space invading their burg.
Give me an irreverent protagonist, dialogue dripping with sarcasm, and a zany plot that spits in the eye of society’s absurdity. I love the way life-long Arkansan Hess gleefully makes mincemeat of the hypocrisy of the caste hierarchy often found in small southern towns by reducing them to a parody of themselves.
I’m a happy camper when a Queen of Cozies like Hess pushes a mystery to the brink of merry madness—and then pushes it even farther.
When crop circles begin appearing in her little town, Police Chief Arly Hanks finds herself more than occupied with tabloid reporters, officers for UFORIA (Unidentified Flying Objects Reported in Arkansas), cattle mutilations, and the murder of a young ufo-ologist. 20,000 first printing. Tour.
Delve into this internationally best-selling series, now complete! A fast paced laugh-out-loud mix of Urban Fantasy and Mystery.
I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx, a PI hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar–yet my gut…
I’ve been reading mysteries since I “borrowed” my Grandpa’s Miss Marple’s as an elementary schooler. (And yes, my maiden name really IS Marple) And I’ve always been drawn to smart, competent women characters–even better if they’re funny. Women who do their own fighting and their own detecting and then hand the killer off to the cops with a smile and a great line. These women inspired me–and now I get to write a lady who at least belongs in the room with them!
I love a quirky small-town mystery with screwball comedy, and this one absolutely delivers–with a wonderful twist: the detective is Sheriff Arly Hanks, a woman forced to go home and start over after a meltdown in the big city.
I love Arly’s intelligence and spirit…and the fact that while she has a gun (and even a bullet or two), she doesn’t need more than her wits and the help of the crazy locals–including her own mother–to catch the killer. She’s my favorite funny, badass woman sleuth.
After a crossbow killing at a cheap roadside motel, Ozarks police chief Arly Hanks finds herself investigating her first murder case.
Her marriage over and career gone bust, Arly Hanks flees Manhattan for her hometown: Maggody, Arkansas. In a town this size, nothing much ever happens, so Arly figures she's safe as the town's first female chief of police-until the husband of one of the local barmaids escapes from state prison and heads for town. And that's not all. An EPA official with ties to polluting the local fishing hole has suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.
Having grown up in segregated Knoxville, TN, I've often wondered what having a black friend as a child would have been like. My MFA thesis, in the 1980s, was a novella about just such a friendship. A small group of my (white) MFA classmates insisted that I could not, should not write about black characters. Although I believed them to be mistaken, I put my thesis away and haven’t looked at it since. About ten years ago, I decided to try again. I took an early draft of a new novel to a workshop with John Dufresne, who encouraged me to continue. The result was Beginning with Cannonballs, which received positive reviews and won the 2021 IPPY Silver Medal for Multicultural Fiction.
I was struck by the beautiful writing in this novel and the way the author, a woman, convincingly depicts male friendship. Augustus Lee Rivers, a black farmer in Arkansas, is happiest when playing his guitar; he has dreams of making it big in Chicago. David Duncan, an enthusiastic fan of Hummin’ Gusty’s music, comes from a wealthy white family. What can happen to a black man’s dreams in rural Arkansas in the 1950s? Trust me, you’ll keep reading to find out.
Independent Publisher Book Awards Bronze Medal for Regional Fiction (2017) Set in Arkansas in 1957, the complexities of identity, yearnings for love and acceptance, and racial tension are all unmasked in the riveting literary drama, Melting the Blues, by debut author Tracy Chiles McGhee. Augustus Lee Rivers, a farmer and bluesman, has two obsessions: his relationship with the Duncan family and his desire to leave small town Chinaberry to become a musician in Chicago. When his plans are prevented by a devastating betrayal, Augustus is driven into the belly of the blues where he must reckon with his past if…
I’m a writer and a lifelong baseball fan with a weakness for baseball-ish fiction. For a lot of folks, this means reading the usual suspects: Kinsella, Malamud, Coover, Roth, DeLillo... But I especially enjoy stumbling across under-the-radar novels that can’t help but surprise in their own ways. I enjoy this so much, in fact, I went out and wrote one of my own – inspired by the life and career of an all-but-forgotten ballplayer from the 1880s named Fred “Sure Shot” Dunlap, one of the greats of the game in his time. In the stuff of his life there was the stuff of meaning and moment… of the sort you’ll find in the books I’m recommending here.
I was working as a flak at Simon & Schuster when this book came out, and I helped to write the flap copy, so it feels to me like I had a hand in it. As an aspiring writer, I remember admiring the hell out of this novel. On a recent re-read, as a grizzled, wizened veteran writer, I still do. Hays gives us a collection of memorable characters, and a wild, vagabonding tale that offers a glimpse at minor league life in the deep South. There’s humor and heartache and all that good stuff.
An account of a season with baseball team, the Arkansas Reds. Their line-up includes an ex-con first baseman, a couple of real Reds on loan from Castro, young bucks on the way up and old-timers on the way down, all led by a one-armed Marxist and ex-major leaguer named Lefty.
The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.
Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…
As a white child bused to African American schools in Richmond, Virginia in the 1970s, I unwittingly stepped into a Civil Rights experiment that would shatter social norms and put me on a path to learning history not taught in textbooks. At first, I never expected to look back at this fraught time. Then I had children. The more I tried to tell them about my past, the more I wanted to understand the context. Why did we fall so short of America’s founding ideals? I have been reading and writing about American history ever since, completing a master’s degree and publishing books, essays, and poems.
One of nine Black students to integrate the high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, Beals faces threats to her life as well as constant cruelty not only from white people but also from members of her own community, who disapprove of her decision. Her book gives us an unflinching account of what it feels like to be inside the maelstrom. Education seems almost beside the point when she needs protection from the National Guard. Most resonant to me, Beals admits that being a warrior for social change is exhausting. “Sometimes,” she writes in her diary, “I just need to be a girl.”
In this essential autobiographical account by one of the Civil Rights Movement’s most powerful figures, Melba Pattillo Beals of the Little Rock Nine explores not only the oppressive force of racism, but the ability of young people to change ideas of race and identity.
In 1957, well before Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Melba Pattillo Beals and eight other teenagers became iconic symbols for the Civil Rights Movement and the dismantling of Jim Crow in the American South as they integrated Little Rock’s Central High School in the wake of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown…
