Books like Spells for Forgetting — picked by fans

How hard would it be to solve a crime in a society where, systemic inequalities aside, you can get away literally with murder thanks to magic? Well this is the question that Constable Reva Lunaria and her new partner Ansee will have to answer, while cutting through a lot of red tape, politics, an elusive killer, and the very foundations of their elven society.

This book (the first of a series) takes the old buddy cop /odd couple comedy set up, mixes with political intrigue, a whodunit thriller, and places it in a fantasy setting, where tensions run high, time runs short, criminals run away, and you are left with a pressing side question: will Reva ever manage to finish her freshly baked sweet roll?

Tapping into Edinburgh’s grim history of graverobbers (which, if you haven’t had the chance to play tourist in Scotland before, is absolutely fascinating), The Resurrectionist of Caligo uses the dark fantasy staples of blood magic and necromancy to explore the death industry, its role in urban environments, and its storied connection to academia and medicine. Following the trials of Caligo’s local “resurrectionist”, Roger, this book examines what happens to the dead in fantasy worlds, tracing the journeys of their cadavers from death to autopsy to burial to exhuming, taking a closer look at the ceremony and taboo surrounding death and how cities manage the nitty-gritty logistics of storing (or utilizing) their dead once the funerals are over.

House of Earth and Blood was the first new adult fantasy book that I read that made me fall back in love with the fantasy genre. I had rediscovered my love for reading in my late teens after not reading much for a few years. Bryce Quinlan reminded me a lot of myself. In that, she was the first lead female character who isn’t thin and petite. Rather, Bryce is curvy and different from other women that Sarah J. Maas has written. I instantly felt drawn in by Bryce and her carefree attitude in the first half of the book. Her strength is admirable and authentic. Her story and struggles captured me much like many readers.

Though Bryce does have her struggles as being defined as a “party girl,” she is so much more than the label. Beneath it all, Bryce is someone you can’t help but to root for,… show more.

Immediately following the events of Gideon the Ninth, the reader is thrust into the wreckage of Harrow just as lost as she is, both reader and character engaged in a mind-bending fight to unravel the mystery of who she is now and what she will become.

This is a sequel, and can’t be read without first reading Gideon the Ninth. And it is impossible to fully articulate this book’s place on this list without robbing the reader of the experience found in Harrow’s self-discovery. But I had to include it anyway; this book made me crazy (positive), it made me despair (as in I will never write something this cool), and it made me reflect on all the ways that queer people compartmentalize ourselves, the ways we perform normativity and queerness, and how mind-bending it can be when we try to sort the pieces of ourselves out into… show more.

The Life I Left Behind is one of my favorite smoothies—a delicious mix of contemporary mystery, psychological thriller, and the paranormal, elevated with the finest spices of intrigue and exceptional writing. Two parallel lives intersect by way of one murderer. Melody barely survived his attack; only her mind has swallowed the memories. But when Eve is found strangled to death, clutching the same calling card left in Melody’s hand, fissures start to form. Of course, Eve knows who did it; she’s a ghost. Good thing Eve left a trail that could lead to the truth. Or, unlucky for Melody, lead to the murderer’s unfinished business. This masterpiece is narrated by Melody and Eve, successfully weaving together the world of the living with the afterlife. Plot, plausibility, characterization, and craft will mesmerize readers!

Although this isn’t the first entry in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series, it’s the first that I read, and it hooked me. What a great idea for an offbeat police series, cleverly handled and featuring two eccentric London detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May. In this mystery, two cases initially appear unrelated, and it takes quite a bit of sleuthing before the links emerge. Bryant and May must unravel encrypted codes and symbols, discover secret rooms and dig through baffling clues as danger mounts. While this series has a darker tone than some of my preferences, it’s engaging and rewarding.

Not only did I laugh all the way through this rollicking novel, but I felt as if author Steve Toltz is a brother writer from a cousin muse to my own.

Angus Mooney, the protagonist, is a thief, a romantic, and a philosopher who is dedicated to the easier path of not learning or understanding anything. And, not a spoiler, he dies.

If you console yourself that a better life awaits you in heaven, or if you're resigned to life being painful, but after all, it's only temporary, and once it's over, it'll be over, think again.

In this shockingly inventive, wildly funny epic about one man's life, death, and beyond, you may have some epiphanies about existence in general and how you want to spend or squander your time.

This is a master class in investigative journalism and in nonfiction storytelling. Radden Keefe is one of my journalistic role models, and this book about the troubles in Northern Ireland is gripping from page one as it investigates the 1972 murder and abduction of Jean McConville in a way that probably only a foreigner could do, given the sensitivity of the topic. It is a vital historical document, a gripping thriller, and an empathetic social observation all in one.  

This book resonated deeply with me because it explored the intricate layers of human nature, beautifully encapsulated in the quote, ‘To know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different things.’

The gripping narrative, based on a true story set in 19th-century Iceland, draws me into the life of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a woman accused of murder, as she awaits her execution. Kent's masterful storytelling skilfully delves into Agnes' complexities, making her a character so vividly real that I fervently hoped for a different outcome despite knowing the inevitable fate that awaited her.

This emotional investment and the stark portrayal of the human condition left a lasting impact. Kent captured both the darkness and light within us all.

The murder of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ is the most famous cold case in British history. Matthew Lewis delves into the context of the disappearance and the characters of the suspects and asks a crucial but often overlooked question: what if there was no murder? Lewis provides a rounded and complete assessment of this most fascinating historical mystery.