Here are 100 books that We Solve Murders fans have personally recommended if you like
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This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is about the deeply traumatic years of the US Civil War and its conflicts and shortages of resources. Its focus is on a family that is falling apart and that eventually finds sanctuary in a lunatic asylum (a building that is now listed). I loved this book, although some of the time changes and changes of voice were a bit confusing in the audiobook version. I would suggest reading this in paper or ebook format.
From one of our most accomplished novelists, a mesmerizing story about a mother and daughter seeking refuge in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War
In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has…
Menopause unlocked a previously unknown superpower for Liv Wilde – psychic visions during hot flashes. While her visions rarely have life and death consequences, for the first time Liv sees a dead body in a premonition. When she comes face-to-face with the man…
From Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated novelist Robert Jackson Bennett—an unforgettable new Holmes and Watson–style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with an irresistible mystery twist.
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.
Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all…
I love books that reimagine a story that is well known, challenging reader's assumptions about the characters or the circumstances they find themselves in, while also standing on its own for readers that haven't read the inspiration. JAMES brings Huck Finn's companion to life, giving him wit, intelligence, and agency. I read it twice, back-to-back. Easily my favorite read of 2025!
'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha
James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…
Menopause unlocked a previously unknown superpower for Liv Wilde – psychic visions during hot flashes. While her visions rarely have life and death consequences, for the first time Liv sees a dead body in a premonition. When she comes face-to-face with the man…
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE READS OF SUMMER 2024
“The God of the Woods should be your next summer mystery.” —The Washington Post
“Extraordinary . . . Reminds me of Donna Tartt’s 1992 debut, The Secret History . . . I was so thoroughly submerged in a rich fictional world, that for hours I barely came up for air.” —Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air, NPR
“Riveting from page one to the last breathless word.” —Rebecca Makkai, New York Times bestselling author of I Have Some Questions For You
I loved the crisp, witty dialogue and laugh-at-loud moments. Espach elevates the “outsider at the wedding” set up and continues to surprise the reader as we get drawn deeper into these characters lives.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick
A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming…
This is the best type of self-help memoir - laugh out loud funny, sad at times and truly enlightening. I listened to the audiobook then immediately went out and bought the print edition so I could underline all the a-ha's. It is like reading a Brene Brown book if Brene was a British comedian that talked about puppies, Cher and farting. Pick it up and flip through the book and something is guaranteed to help lift your spirits. From acting like Beyonce at a zebra crossing to addressing what self-care really is (not bubble baths!) and why we all like birdsong, there are so many takeaways. There is even a section that mentions taking away takeaways! This book is a Miranda meander (I like what I did there) through 'treasures' that can help us all. It wasn't perfect. I don't like the title and although the narration is great, some…
LAUGH AND REFLECT THIS CHRISTMAS WITH THE FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT FROM THE NATION'S FAVOURITE COMEDIAN
Packed with hard-won wisdoms and gentle truths, this is Miranda's honest exploration of the lessons she has learned on her journey from illness to recovery
'A bombshell, moving, inspirational. Hart passes on the tips that helped her emerge from psychological as much as physical doldrums. No comedian, female or male, has been so taken to the nation's bosom since Victoria Wood' Independent
'Irrepressible and joyous. Taking us affectionately by the hand, Miranda takes us through her ten-year journey to deep self-knowledge' Daily Mail
I am a Kiwi who grew up eating backyard feijoas. Just like the fruit itself, this book won't be to everyone's tastes but I absolutely loved it. Well-researched, beautifully written and nostalgic in the best ways, this book answered questions about feijoas that I didn't know I had. Much more than a book about an obscure fruit, this book weaved in an important narrative around colonisation, indigenous cultures and the significance of botany in our modern world. This book touched my heart and fed my mind. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone but I am raving about it to certain people that I know will want to devour it too.
Inspired by a personal obsession with this singular exotic fruit, Feijoa is a sweeping, global tale about the dance between people and plants - how we need each other, how we change each other, and the surprising ways certain species make their way into our imaginations, our stomachs, and our hearts.
The feijoa comes from the highlands of Southern Brazil and the valleys of Uruguay, where it was woven into indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultures. It was scientifically named in Berlin, acclimatised on the French Riviera, and failed to make its fortune in California. Today, it is celebrated by one small…
The story telling was Appalachian family stories brought to life. Hilarious at times. I was able to visualize scenes which stirred emotions such as laughter at a church scene to the sadness of Eli’s father’s life. Delightful book.
Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect hymn. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: "are his love songs closer to heaven than dying?" Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard it died of a broken heart.
Yet, more than anything else folks ponder in the town of Trinity, one question lingers: why did this angel-toned preacher's son, just as his fame seemed ready to light the Appalachian nightsky forever, disappear completely?
In 1938, the decisions Saul makes will alter his family's…
A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment
"Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining." -Wall Street Journal
"Don't trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman's own laugh-out-loud whodunit." -Parade
Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop with her first big case A brutal murder Welcome to... THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.
People behave rationally and irrationally. Observing and thinking about human nature is the sport of my lifetime. In literature and art, I worship real wit. I thirst for the unusual, the deadpan, the acknowledging of one thing while another slips in unseen. Wit has been, for me, a shield and a tool for good. I try not to use it as a weapon because wit as a weapon often damages a wider target than one intends. I strive to endow my fictional women, my protagonists, with sharp yet understated wit that spares no one, not even themselves. Especially not themselves. The books I recommend here live up to my standards.
I’m not a fan of novels that are paced like greased rockets, as if the author’s afraid you’ll suddenly throw the book across the room, turn on Netflix, and order a pizza. Which is a key reason I love this book. Precious Ramotswe is a “traditionally built” woman who solves crimes in a superbly witty yet unhurried fashion and with deep compassion that stops short of sentimentality.
Her heart (huge) and brain (gently incisive) work in perfect tandem in this book. The plot is simple, which will frustrate readers who prefer intricate puzzles in their crime fiction. But for me, the pleasure lies in leisurely getting to know this wise, ingenious detective and her humble neighborhood in Botswana’s capital city.
Precious Ramotswe, a cheerful woman of traditional build, is the founder of Botswana's first and only ladies' detective agency. Here is a gentle interpretation of the detective role: solving her cases through her innate wisdom and understanding of human nature, she 'helps people with problems in their lives'. With a tone that is as elegant as that which is unfailingly used by his protagonist, Alexander McCall Smith tenderly unfolds a picture of life in Gaborone with a mastery of comic understatement and an evident sympathy for his subjects and their milieu. In the background of all this is Botswana, a…