Here are 49 books that The Psychic Detective and the Editor fans have personally recommended if you like
The Psychic Detective and the Editor.
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I didn’t grow up fearless; I grew up quiet. I learned early how schools and communities can press a girl into something smaller than herself until she feels like a shadow. Horror was the first place I saw that pressure explode into power. When I read Carrie, I felt seen in a way I couldn’t explain. I am drawn to stories where shame turns feral, and silence becomes dangerous. These books speak to that breaking point where a voice is stolen and then reclaimed, proving the most terrifying "monster" is simply a girl who refuses to disappear.
This was the book that made me realize horror could terrify in a way that felt entirely familiar.
I read it when the cruelty of school was still a raw wound because I understood exactly how laughter is used to flatten a person until they start to disappear. It wasn’t the supernatural elements that stayed with me, but the profound loneliness of a girl shamed into a silence that eventually caught fire.
I finished it with the understanding that a "final snap" is never an accident, but the inevitable result of humiliation accumulating like a slow-burning medicine. King showed me that even the most quiet, discarded person carries a power that the world should be afraid of.
Stephen King's legendary debut, about a teenage outcast and the revenge she enacts on her classmates, is a Classic. CARRIE is the novel which set him on the road to the Number One bestselling author King is today.
Carrie White is no ordinary girl.
Carrie White has the gift of telekinesis.
To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie - the first step towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues.
But events will take a decidedly macabre turn on that horrifying and endless night as she is forced to exercise her…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Growing up, I witnessed my mother have a number of precognitive episodes. I later realized I was very intuitive at times. As a technical analyst in commodities I recognized that intuition was playing a huge part in my success in calling the markets. Feeling uncomfortable in groups, I became very much an introvert. I feel others’ strong emotions and even their physical pain at times. It’s painful to watch shows where people are fighting or being hurt. Later in life I realized there was a name for my discomfort. Clairsentience. Writing/reading paranormal stories about others is not only comforting to me, but psychologically grounding as well.
Fun paranormal: If you’re new to paranormal books, the first book in the Bloomin’ Psychic series is a great place to start. It’s a fun series. New Yorker Mia Thorne is a hot mess when it comes to relationships and self-esteem after proposing to her boyfriend and being turned down in a viral flash mob and losing her job. Desperate, she discovers her eccentric Aunt Hazel has left her house to her, but she has to live in Newberry at least a year. Here is where her weird experiences become normal and her journey as a psychic begins. As you move through the series with her newfound friends, you get to experience her journey of self-discovery. I love a good ensemble of characters!
Forty-two-year-old Mia Thorne is not living her best life. After a disastrous career-and-relationship-ending event, she escapes New York City and moves to a sleepy river town in Pennsylvania, courtesy of a dead aunt she never knew. Aunt Hazel was the reclusive family nut, a self-proclaimed psychic. Of course, Mia’s dad always told her that she, too, had the gift, but after his death, her mother made sure to squelch the notion. No square pegs allowed!
Aunt Hazel’s old cottage is only slightly better than the decrepit gardens surrounding it. Mia doesn’t know the first thing about gardening and expects this…
It wasn’t until high school when I read Stephen King’s Night Shift that illuminated the genre for me—horror. My first short story was The Dark Shadow, and it fit me like a glove. My writing is inspired by the books I like to read, as I’m sure it is with all writers, and I write characters that I know and in settings I am familiar with for authenticity. The years of experience have honed my craft, and my books are a culmination of my favorite things—supernatural horror, suspense, heart, drama, westerns, and action.
This book had me at the main character hiring a private eye to follow him because he is waking up in a different location each morning with no memory of how he got there but his pockets are filled with diamonds.
This story delved into the madness of psychos while also plummeting me into other worlds and satisfying my hunger for supernatural elements. I couldn’t love this book more.
Frank Pollard awakens in an alley, knowing nothing but his name and that he is in danger. Over the next few days he develops a fear of sleep because when he wakes he finds blood on his hands and bizarre and terrifying objects in his pockets. Distraught and desperate, Frank begs husband-and wife detective team Bobby and Julie Dakota to get to the bottom of his mysterious, amnesiac fugues. It seems a simple job, but they are drawn into ever-darkening realms where they encounter the nightmare, hate-filled figure stalking Frank. And their lives are threatened, as is that of Julie's…
Trapped in our world, the fae are dying from drugs, contaminants, and hopelessness. Kicked out of the dark fae court for tainting his body and magic, Riasg only wants one thing: to die a bit faster. It’s already the end of his world, after all.
Growing up, I witnessed my mother have a number of precognitive episodes. I later realized I was very intuitive at times. As a technical analyst in commodities I recognized that intuition was playing a huge part in my success in calling the markets. Feeling uncomfortable in groups, I became very much an introvert. I feel others’ strong emotions and even their physical pain at times. It’s painful to watch shows where people are fighting or being hurt. Later in life I realized there was a name for my discomfort. Clairsentience. Writing/reading paranormal stories about others is not only comforting to me, but psychologically grounding as well.
Paranormal Women’s Fiction:This is a relatively new genre that “celebrates either a midlife or older woman who navigates her life while discovering or developing her own magical powers. Being an older woman, I leapt on this one! Magic realism is present here as is often the case with the paranormal. Interweaving individual paranormal abilities within the town of Myrtlewood, which is itself a city of quirks, with a mystery and a murder demanding to be solved.
The personalities of the two main characters seem to ruffle the feathers of some readers. However, I viewed the interactions of the mother and daughter as evolutionary journeys, individually and in their relationships with each other. Did it present frustrating moments? Of course, but this is what makes it good.
Welcome to Myrtlewood, a quirky town, steeped in magic, tea, and mystery…
Life’s a struggle for Rosemary Thorn and her teen daughter, Athena. But their regular troubles are turned upside down after Granny Thorn’s mysterious death.
Despite her cousin's sinister manoeuvrings, Rosemary returns to Myrtlewood and the sprawling, dilapidated Thorn Manor. But there's more to the old house than meets the eye, as Rosemary and Athena soon find out — in a whirlwind of magic, adventure, mystical creatures, and endless cups of tea.
Life in Myrtlewood would be bliss if Rosemary could only clear her name in a certain murder…
I believe many writers suspect they are Strangers in a Strange Land. How ironic that I, a confirmed atheist, should use a biblical quote to describe the mindset of authors. Some discover where they belong through their writing. My book recommendations have a strong sense of place, whether it be the Old West, wartime Berlin, or modern-day Scotland. I was born into a 300-year-old N. Ireland Protestant Plantation family, yet many people saw us as interlopers: we weren’t quite Irish, and we weren’t quite British, yet we held dual passports. It was not until I left Ireland that I realized my Irish Heritage exerted a stronger pull than my British.
Like myself, Rankin didn’t start writing fiction until he left his native country. His books could only be set in a city like Edinburgh, with its blend of Puritan zeal, parsimony, and violence. His depiction of his hometown is so enthralling that it started a tourist boom, much like Oxford experienced with Colin Dexter.
I adore how he brings back Rebus after retirement as a detective and straight into conflict with former colleagues and criminals. Rankin realizes that a good detective must be closer to the dark side to be effective. I admire Rebus’s imperfections, even how he copes with his health problems. He’s no white hat, but he gets the job done—his way.
A series of seemingly random disappearances - stretching back to the millennium. A mother determined to find the truth. A retired cop desperate to get his old life back...
It's been some time since Rebus was forced to retire, and he now works as a civilian in a cold-case unit. So when a long-dead case bursts back to life, he can't resist the opportunity to get his feet under the CID desk once more. But Rebus is as stubborn and anarchic as ever, and he quickly finds himself in deep with pretty much everyone, including DI Siobhan Clarke.
One of my first newspaper jobs was as a crime writer, covering and discovering crime stories in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. There's a lot of chaff among the wheat in the true crime genre. Some books are padded with the author's personal lives. Some have paper-thin plots. The books I've recommended are well-told, well-researched stories that are hard to put down.
Michelle McNamara waded into a new area of criminal investigation—hive investigation.
McNamara, a crime writer, got crime buffs together online, each using specific talents to search for the burglar-kidnapper-murderer who terrorized Californians for 12 years. With their help and DNA from an ancestry website, police were able to arrest ex-cop Joseph DeAngelo.
He pled guilty to 13 counts of murder and kidnapping in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. Prosecutors called DeAngelo a poster boy for the death penalty.
Mc Namara's dogged detective work helped nab him and she is credited with the appellation Golden State Killer.
THE BASIS FOR THE MAJOR 6-PART HBO® DOCUMENTARY SERIES
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR:
Washington Post | Maureen Corrigan, NPR | Paste | Seattle Times | Entertainment Weekly | Esquire | Slate | Buzzfeed | Jezebel | Philadelphia Inquirer | Publishers Weekly | Kirkus Reviews | Library Journal | Bustle
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for Nonfiction | Anthony Award Winner | SCIBA Book Award Winner | Finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime | Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence
The haunting true story of the elusive serial rapist…
Everyday Medical Miracles
by
Joseph S. Sanfilippo (editor),
Frontiers of Women from the healthcare perspective. A compilation of 60 true short stories written by an extensive array of healthcare providers, physicians, and advanced practice providers.
All designed to give you, the reader, a glimpse into the day-to-day activities of all of us who provide your health care. Come…
I retired from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, as a detective assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, but I’ve always been a writer at heart and an avid reader. I graduated from California State University in Long Beach, CA, with a major in Film. I am the author of six crime fiction books, three of which involve retired detective turned PI Frank Marr. This trilogy was critically acclaimed.
I’ve always been a big fan of police procedurals and courtroom drama books, and I am even bigger a fan of books with great characterizations. This book has all that.
Lissa Marie Redmond is a former cold case homicide detective for the Buffalo Police Department. Her protagonist, Lauren Riley, is also a retired cold case homicide detective, and this book is the first in a series with her. I loved this book because it has a lot of memorable courtroom scenes with nice dialogue, and I was surprised by the ending, which is not easy to do.
Lauren's job as a cold case homicide detective is her life. And life just got complicated.
Lauren Riley is an accomplished detective who has always been on the opposite side of the courtroom from slick defense attorney Frank Violanti. Now he's begging to hire her as a private investigator to help clear his client of a brutal murder. At first Lauren refuses, wanting nothing to do with the media circus surrounding the case―until she meets the eighteen-year-old suspect.
To keep an innocent teen from life in prison, Lauren must unravel the conflicting evidence and changing stories to get at the…
I love jewelry that calls to me. When I make jewelry, I believe some of my spirit is infused in it. Later, the buyer’s spirit takes over the piece. I believe in life after death, and I interviewed a medium who performed spirit releases, which helped me build my ghost framework. A cold case of a missing teen I knew gave me a scene I still cry about. The best mysteries have revelations of the heart. My book, even after revising many times, still makes me laugh and cry too. In my opinion, there is no clock or calendar dictating forgiveness for the living or dead. There is only hope.
I love the supernatural, and the premise for this book is amazing: cold cases and a wall of photos that speak.
I enjoyed the psychological angle: a cop with more than the average baggage coming off bereavement leave and a woman who suffers from seizures and is medicated. I found myself questioning how reliable either was and whether either of them could solve the crime. Or was it a crime?
I loved the detective assigned to this “easy” case and the vulnerable Cassandra. When these two damaged characters teamed up, I was cheering them on. I read this in about 24 hours because I couldn’t put it down.
Drawn into a wealthy family's long, sordid history, a grieving detective faces a choice: overlook a socialite's death and save his career, or risk it all for the chance to hear his daughter's voice again.
If photos could speak. Still grieving his toddler's death, Detective Dan Brennan of the Philadelphia P.D. returns to the force and is assigned to investigate a socialite's fatal fall down her mansion's staircase. But the open-and-shut case is turned on its head when the victim's epileptic daughter alleges her mother was murdered. Her evidence? The dead. Vintage crime-scene photographs displayed on the mansion's walls have…
I’ve been a fan of thrillers since I first read Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot back in, well, you know. A long time ago. I was an investigative journalist for many years before I tried my hand at writing books, but I always knew what my genre would be. Books that make your heart thump with characters you can’t easily forget. Militia Men is my third suspense novel set in the Pacific Northwest. I hope you like it – and the books on this list!
This book is on the list because it affected me. Rather deeply.
The story is impossible to label – part thriller, part mystery, part dark comedy – but I recommend taking the journey. It’s the tale of two long unsolved crimes, a brutal armed robbery and the disappearance of a teenage girl, and a quest to find the truth.
Lou Berney is a gifted storyteller. I hope you enjoy him too!
WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD, THE MACAVITY AWARD, THE ANTHONY AWARD, AND THE BARRY AWARD FOR BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOMINATED FOR THE 2015 LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE With the compelling narrative tension and psychological complexity of the works of Laura Lippman, Dennis Lehane, Kate Atkinson, and Michael Connelly, Edgar Award-nominee Lou Berney's The Long and Faraway Gone is a smart, fiercely compassionate crime story that explores the mysteries of memory and the impact of violence on survivors-and the lengths they will go to find the painful truth of the events that scarred their lives. In the summer of 1986, two…
Karl's War is a coming-of-age-meets-thriller set in Germany on the eve of Hitler coming to power. Karl – a reluctant poster boy for the Nazis – meets Jewish Ben and his world is up-turned.
Ben and his family flee to France. Karl joins the German army but deserts and finds…
I am obsessed with books about people fighting for social justice—particularly around racism and the climate crisis (which are definitely interconnected). I have two main approaches: people with longstanding commitments to making change who take increasingly bold steps to fight for justice, and the accidental activists, who had no intention of taking on injustice, but found themselves in unexpected circumstances and rose to the occasion. I write stories about people—mostly women of color—who are part of teams and movements who fight to make the world right, and win. I think of myself as trying to create roadmaps for us to win in the fight against racism and the climate crisis in the real world.
Cadie Kessler has spent decades trying to cover up one truth. One moment. But deep down, didn’t she always know her secret would surface? An urgent message from her long-estranged best friend Daniela Garcia brings Cadie, now a forestry researcher, back to her childhood home. Now grown up, bound by long-held oaths, and faced with truths she does not wish to see, Cadie must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to protect the people and the forest she loves, as drought, foreclosures, and wildfire spark tensions between displaced migrant farmworkers and locals.
I love how Carrick-Dalton gives us parallel storylines about a secret buried by her protagonist and the truth of the climate crisis that the fossil fuel industry wants to bury.
Named a Most Anticipated book by Newsweek * USA Today * CNN * Parade * Buzzfeed * Medium * GoodReads * PopSugar * Frolic Media * Betches * The Nerd Daily * SheReads and more
"Smart and searingly passionate...an illuminating snapshot of nature, betrayal, and sacrifices set in the evocative New Hampshire wilderness."--Kim Michele Richardson, bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
A startling and timely debut, Julie Carrick Dalton's Waiting for the Night Song is a moving, brilliant novel about friendships forged in childhood magic and ruptured by the high price of secrets that leave you forever…
