Seven books in which obsession is the plot

Emily Haworth-Booth teaches at the Royal Drawing School and is an illustrator, graphic novelist, and the author of three children's books: The King Who Banned the Dark (short-listed for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Carnegie Medal for Illustration, and the Klaus Flugge Prize), The Last Tree, and Protest.

Mare is her debut adult novel. She lives in Devon with her husband, dog, and several horses.

At Electric Lit Haworth-Booth tagged seven books, written by women, in which obsession is the plot. One title on the list:

I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel

I’m a Fan plays with all the conventions of obsession, both traditional (stalking, creepy letters) and contemporary (endlessly refreshing instagram stories). “The woman I am obsessed with” is what the narrator names the woman that “the man I want to be with” has left her for. Yes, the narrator of I’m a Fan is obsessed with the man with whom she is having an ill-advised affair. But it is this foundational obsession that carries the more interesting one: the painfully perfect object of his obsession: a pretentious Californian influencer whose fans fawn over her online. “She would be complimented for farting,” thinks the narrator, “someone would write, ‘I usually hate farts but when you do them, my god, so floral and unusual!’” Over the course of the book, in short vignettes that criss-cross time and space, the narrator sharpens her scalpel and gradually dismantles the woman she is obsessed with.

Read about another title on the list.

I’m a Fan is among Alana B. Lytle's eight novels about destructive women and Christine Ma-Kellams's seven titles about unconventional situationships.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jason G. Green's "Too Precious to Lose"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Too Precious to Lose: A Memoir of Family, Community, and Possibility by Jason G. Green.

About the book, from the publisher:

A moving and inspiring memoir from a former Obama White House staffer, about his rural Maryland family’s untold history, the merger of three churches—one Black, two white—and how a radical embrace of community became their salvation, and his.

Jason G. Green was raised on fellowship—literally. Fellowship Lane served as a spiritual metaphor throughout his coming of age. A precocious preacher’s kid, Green felt a call to the ministry but ultimately devoted himself to public service. After working on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, the young attorney spent four and a half years serving in the White House as special assistant to President Obama.

However, Green’s government career was cut short by a devastating call. It seemed his beloved ninety-five-year-old grandmother was on her deathbed. At her side, he listened in disbelief while she detailed her life story dating back to her 1918 birth in Quince Orchard, a town that once stood where they now sat, erased by the vestiges of time. How could he have never known the legacy of this robust community that he’d descended from? How could its entire existence have vanished from history but for the memory of a few elders? Green’s historical research uncovered a surprising trove of tales about his newly freed ancestors who built an African American house of worship, and whose progeny, on the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, made the brave decision to create an integrated church. Quince Orchard’s lost story is part of what Green calls the texture in the American fabric: the moral leadership of the Black church, the longstanding resilience of the Black community, and the transformative love of the Black family.

Fueled by a new understanding of his own roots, Green traces his paternal family through a century of life in a single place. Seeking answers to deeply personal, contemporary questions about belonging, he finds that and more truths from the compassionate, communal-led lives of his forebearers.

Visit Jason G. Green's website.

The Page 99 Test: Too Precious to Lose.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Katie Holt reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Katie Holt, author of The Last Page: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I’ve just finished two books that had me hooked. I read a physical copy of If Not for My Baby by Kate Golden. It’s been on my list for a while, and it’s awakened something in me. I’m obsessed with Hozier because of it and developing a bit of a parasocial relationship…The romance is so tender, tense, and hits all the right emotional beats. I read it in...[read on]

About The Last Page, from the publisher:

A bookseller with a dream of running her beloved bookstore vs. the owner’s out-of-touch grandson who inherits everything. Game on.

From the author of Not in My Book comes another irresistible, bookish contemporary romance.

Ella has grown up at The Last Page, a charming local bookstore in New York City where she now works. Her first kiss was in the women’s health section. A boyfriend dumped her in comedy. The owner is like a second father to her and has begun training her to take over the store. So when he unexpectedly dies and his estranged grandson is left everything in the will, Ella is devastated.

Henry doesn’t know the first thing about running a bookstore. With his aging mom back in Tennessee, he plans to stay in New York just long enough to ensure things are running smoothly and then head back home. What he never could have counted on was the beautiful, funny bookseller who loves The Last Page more than any place in the world—and who sees him as the villain who’s come to ruin her life.

But when it becomes evident that the store is in deep financial trouble and Henry and Ella are both at risk of losing everything, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and team up—despite the inconvenient chemistry blossoming between them.

Fans of Christina Lauren and Ali Hazelwood will adore this rivals-to-friends-to-lovers bookish romance!

Visit Katie Holt's website.

Writers Read: Katie Holt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with David Hirshberg

From my Q&A with David Hirshberg, author of Crossing the Bronx:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Crossing the Bronx was the fourth title chosen, and as soon as it was adopted, the reaction of the cover designer and the copy editor could be characterized as, “Now that’s what it should have been from the beginning!”

It’s obvious that the action takes place in The Bronx, the northernmost part of New York City. And crossing is a double entendre, meaning both spanning the borough (the Cross Bronx Expressway bifurcates The Bronx connecting the George Washington Bridge to the west and the New England Thruway to the east alongside Long Island Sound) and implying a double-cross, as evidenced by the scheme cooked up by city officials and the mobbed-up construction company to route the roadway in such a manner as to make huge profits, some of which are funneled back into campaign contributions…the local community be damned in the process.

What's in a name?

The best example of the origin of a character’s name is related to the father of...[read on]

Visit David Hirshberg's website.

The Page 69 Test: Crossing the Bronx.

My Book, The Movie: Crossing the Bronx.

Q&A with David Hirshberg.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six horror novels where the setting itself is evil

Mary Berman is a Philadelphia-based writer. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Mississippi, where she was a Graduate Excellence Fellow, and she also holds a BA in writing seminars from Johns Hopkins University.

Her short works have been published in Cicada, PseudoPod, Fireside Magazine, and elsewhere.

Until Death is Berman's debut novel.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "six horror novels where the place is the problem." One title on the list:

Helen Phillips, The Beautiful Bureaucrat

Does an office building count as a house? This quiet novel about the horrors of capitalism kicks off with, “The person who interviewed her had no face,” and only gets weirder from there. Our protagonist Josephine is, believe it or not, lucky to have landed this creepy job, where she spends entire days entering strange and mysterious strings of numbers into a database, ensconced in a mysterious, nameless building where the keyboards clack eerily and the numbers echo in her head and the walls, slowly, slowly, slowly, begin to seem alive.

I read this novel in one sitting. It’s a perfect horror novel about being a working stiff: nightmarish, dreamlike, but peppered with concrete moments. It’s also totally grounded in the sweetest, truest sense of what it feels like to be human.

Read about another novel on the list.

The Beautiful Bureaucrat is among Josh Riedel's ine novels about losing (and finding) yourself in work and Sophie Stein's nine top books to put your job in perspective.

The Page 69 Test: The Beautiful Bureaucrat.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Stuart Schrader's "Blue Power"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves by Stuart Schrader.

About the book, from the publisher:

A history of police unions that reveals how American law enforcement built a political movement that made cops untouchable.

In America today, police enjoy unmatched power. On the streets, officers employ violence at their own discretion. Behind closed doors, they are even more powerful. In city halls, police strong-arm local leaders and nullify attempts at public oversight. And in state legislatures and Washington, DC, police lobbyists and union leaders zealously uphold a bipartisan consensus against even mild reform. Yet as recently as fifty years ago, police still served at the pleasure of democratically elected politicians, not the other way around. In Blue Power, Stuart Schrader narrates the rise of a bottom-up movement of rank-and-file officers who lifted policing above the law.

Organizers launched their campaign in the 1960s, courting a public backlash to urban uprisings and civil rights. City by city, county by county, they formed unions and other organizations and won control over working conditions, impunity from oversight, and insulation from lean budgets. By the 2000s, this movement had triumphed nationally, shoring up the power of the police to overrule the public interest in the name of law and order.

Through deep archival detective work, Blue Power reveals how police forced American democracy to back the blue.

Visit Stuart Schrader's website.

The Page 99 Test: Badges without Borders.

The Page 99 Test: Blue Power.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven essential novels of sisterhood

Rachel Mills is Director and literary agent at Rachel Mills Literary.

She is a regular contributor across UK media, including The Telegraph, Front Row, The Times and as a columnist for the Bookseller.

Her new novel is The Players Club.

At Lit Hub Mills tagged seven novels featuring some of her favorite fictional sisters. One title on the list:

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

I love all of Maria Semple’s books—the new Go Gentle is completely amazing. But the sisterhood story at the heart of Today Will Be Different must be one of the most moving. Over the course of the one day setting, we piece together narrator Eleanor Flood’s backstory—who is this mysterious sister her own son does not know about? Why are they estranged? And what is the significance of this poignant graphic novel-within-a-novel ‘The Flood Sisters’? Being by Maria Semple, it’s about so, so much else, and also incredibly funny alongside the tears.

Read about another novel on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: John Katzenbach's "The Architect"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Architect by John Katzenbach.

About the novel, from the publisher:

From #1 internationally bestselling author John Katzenbach comes this pulse-pounding thriller that proves there’s nothing more dangerous than digging up secrets from your own family’s past.

“Remember what your name means. I’m so sorry.”

Just two weeks before her final architecture exams, Sloane Connolly receives this cryptic handwritten note from her estranged mother. When her calls go unanswered, Sloane returns to her hometown in northwest Massachusetts to discover that her mother has vanished. A thorough search turns up no trace of her—and the police are ultimately forced to give up and rule her disappearance a suicide.

As Sloane deals with the aftermath, she distracts herself by taking on a mysterious commission: to design a memorial for six strangers whose connection to her anonymous client—known to her only as The Employer—is deliberately kept in the dark. To complete this project, Sloane must trace the lives of all six individuals and uncover the hidden links between them. With the promise of a multimillion-dollar payday and a prestigious jump start to her career, it’s an opportunity too important to pass up.

But as the trail pulls her from Maine to Miami, Sloane begins to realize that the memorial is far more than just an academic exercise. The secrets she uncovers begin to weave dangerously into her own family’s tragic history, forcing her to question everything she thought she knew—and to discover for herself just how far she’s willing to go to survive.

Visit John Katzenbach's website.

My Book, The Movie: Red 1-2-3.

Writers Read: John Katzenbach (January 2014).

The Page 69 Test: Red 1-2-3.

Writers Read: John Katzenbach.

Q&A with John Katzenbach.

The Page 69 Test: The Architect.

--Marshal Zeringue

David Hirshberg's "Crossing the Bronx," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Crossing the Bronx by David Hirshberg.

From the entry:

The screenplay can be summarized as the crime, corruption, and love story of On the Waterfront meet the intrigue and intensity of Reservoir Dogs, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who would be the ideal director for Crossing the Bronx. Tarantino is a master of interweaving multiple story arcs that appear at the outset to be independent of each other, yet are woven into a fabric that encompasses all of them at the end (note especially how he directed Pulp Fiction in this manner). He would be able to knit together the strands of the criminal conspiracies, the corrupted politics, the destruction of the neighborhood, the love story, and the family relationships in a way that allows the narrative to dig down to give a full picture of the complexity of behaviors, and how the decisions—that have both intended and unintended consequences—are made by those who are powerful and connected, as well as by those who are...[read on]

Visit David Hirshberg's website.

The Page 69 Test: Crossing the Bronx.

My Book, The Movie: Crossing the Bronx.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top novels about dysfunctional (but charming) families

Jessika Bouvier is a queer Cajun writer. Her work appears in The Rumpus, Waxwing, HAD, Split Lip, and elsewhere. She is currently writing a novel about a friendship that falls apart in the Alaskan wilderness. She is also a founding editor of Chatterbox!, a journal dedicated to longform fiction.

At Electric Lit Bouvier tagged seven "family portraits [that] are full of chaos and sometimes sadness, but also deep love." One title on the list:

Candelaria by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

You are Candelaria, an 86-year-old Guatemalan immigrant living in Boston. You are making tortillas on Christmas Eve when your daughter Lucia calls: Candy, the youngest of your three granddaughters, is in trouble again. But she is not the only one. Your boyfriend Mauricio soon returns home smelling of nothing, a harbinger of the apocalypse to come. You stab him in the gut with your kitchen knife, and the earth begins to tremble. This is the opening scene that launches a romp of a novel, one that follows three generations of women—Candelaria, Lucia, and her daughters, Paola, Bianca, and Candy. Narrated in alternating second-person (Candelaria) and third-person (the granddaughters) perspectives, they grapple with a multitude of crises. Addiction and intergenerational trauma and Latinidad, but also, zombies, a fertility cult, cannibals, and the most persistent of horrors: men. Together, these women endure it all, laughing maniacally along the way.

Read about another novel on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Donald F. Kettl's "The Right-Wing Idea Factory"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Right-Wing Idea Factory: From Traditionalism to Trumpism by Donald F. Kettl.

About the book, from the publisher:

An incisive analysis of one of the most disruptive forces in modern American politics, The Right-Wing Idea Factory is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the fundamental transformation of conservatism in the Trump era and beyond.

While Donald Trump's 2024 re-election was hailed by many as a personal triumph, political scientist Donald F. Kettl argues it marked the apex of a movement that began long before Trump entered politics--and one that will continue to shape the American landscape long after he's gone.

In The Right-Wing Idea Factory, Kettl traces the rise of a revolutionary political force that has redefined the American right. Fueled by soft money and amplified by social media, a network of determined activists and organizations worked to dismantle traditional free-market conservatism and replace it with a populist agenda rooted in cultural and social issues. From abortion and gender to critical race theory, book bans, immigration, and the "deep state," this movement built a powerful new political base--one designed not just to win elections, but to reshape the rules of governance for generations.

Kettl reveals how this idea factory has profoundly influenced policy at every level of government, driving polarization and upending long-standing political norms. With sharp insight and deep research, he offers a vital account of how the American right has evolved--and what that means for the future of democracy.

Learn more about The Right-Wing Idea Factory at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Right-Wing Idea Factory.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with John Katzenbach

From my Q&A with John Katzenbach, author of The Architect:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Titles are odd deals. When they work (Jaws or The World According to Garp) they can accompany the book into popular culture. Or...not. In my case, The Architect, I hoped to remain very simple, yet subtly suggestive. What is an architect after all? Someone who designs and builds. Basic concepts that require significant, hidden depths and skills. That’s what I hope/pray/trust readers will feel when they consider the title to my story. In any mystery-thriller, the protagonist must construct a path to get him/her through a maze. At the same time, the antagonist is building roadblocks. Sometimes 9 mm or .40 caliber roadblocks. Lots of emotional architecture in a good psychological thriller.

What's in a name?

A modest question, that asks much.

In The Architect, the main character is a young woman named Sloane Connolly. On the opening page she...[read on]

Visit John Katzenbach's website.

My Book, The Movie: Red 1-2-3.

Writers Read: John Katzenbach (January 2014).

The Page 69 Test: Red 1-2-3.

Writers Read: John Katzenbach.

Q&A with John Katzenbach.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top bad mom books

Tracy Lynne Oliver is a writer based in Los Angeles. She has been published online at a variety of places such as Medium, Fanzine, and Occulum. She co-authored the graphic novel, The Sacrifice of Darkness, with Roxane Gay. Her story, “This Weekend” was included in Best Microfiction 2019.

Her new book, Magician, is "dark magic debut novel featuring the Boy who becomes the Magician and the villainous Mother whose sadism might end it all."

At The Nerd Daily Oliver tagged seven notable bad mom books, including:

Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber

“Sybil” released in 1973 was a book I found on one of my mom’s shelves of paperbacks one pre-pubescent summer day. Its cover depicting a sort of ‘mirror shattered’ image of a woman’s face drew me right to it.

The book is an accounting of the psychiatric treatments between Dr. Cornelia Wilbur and a patient referred to under the pseudonym, Sybil. It details horrific matriarchal abuse Sybil endured as a child which caused her to develop a multiple personality disorder. She supposedly had sixteen different personalities ranging from a young French girl, a baby and even two male identities. Its contents mesmerized me. I had never heard of such a thing. To think that a child could be abused so profoundly that her psyche divides to protect itself blew my mind. But by reading the book, and the descriptions of what she endured, it made perfect sense.

Read about another title on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Carmela Dutra's "Hot Wings and Homicide"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Hot Wings and Homicide: A Food Truck Mystery by Carmela Dutra.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Twins Beth and Seth Lloyd are on the chopping block in the follow-up to A Murder Most Fowl, where a perfect recipe for murder is stirred up.

Business at Kluckin’ Good is smoking hot. To keep momentum going, Beth and her twin brother, Seth, just scored a prime spot at the Flavors of the Bay Food Festival. For three and a half days, food lovers will flock to the Bay Area’s biggest culinary event to enjoy gourmet food trucks, cook-offs, and live music, but this recipe for success is also the perfect setup for murder.

When the infamous food critic Brad Dawson—also Beth’s ex—turns up dead, the only clue at the scene of the crime is a Kluckin’ Good tumbler mug. The timing couldn’t be worse. Beth and Brad were seen in a heated altercation, and days prior, witnesses saw Seth punch Brad. Suspicion naturally falls on the twins. With the cops hot on their trail, Beth will have to avoid the flames to clear their names and save her food truck’s reputation.

But the chickens are out of the coop, and as Beth digs into Brad’s final hours, she will uncover rivalries, grudges, and a different side of Brad she never knew. If she doesn’t crack the case soon, she might be the next one to get cooked. Best of cluck!

A mouthwatering mystery for fans of Joanne Fluke that will leave you peckish for more.

Visit Carmela Dutra's website.

Q&A with Carmela Dutra.

Writers Read: Carmela Dutra.

My Book, The Movie: Hot Wings and Homicide.

The Page 69 Test: Hot Wings and Homicide.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is John Katzenbach reading?

Featured at Writers Read: John Katzenbach, author of The Architect.

His entry begins:

Fact is, I like to read my friends. After them if I have any spare energy, re-read some classics. And then, from time to time, I try to work in something that my wife – a far more accomplished and ardent reader than I am – recommends.

Very rarely do I read anything in my own genre of “psychological thrillers.” This is because even after many writing decades and publishing many books in many languages, I still possess the lurking fear that all those other thriller writing men and women lurking out there are... well... better? Cleverer? More adept with words and phrases? Smarter when it comes to plots and twists? Or maybe just luckier?

I just don’t want to prove the accuracy of this paranoia to myself. I am very happy in my ignorance.

That said, on my desk now are two collections of short stories.

The first Wandering Souls is by Phil Caputo – who passed away a few short weeks ago, so this is his last work in an extraordinarily distinguished writing career. Bestsellers, Pulitzers and respect. What more could one ask for? The stories in this collection often return to the themes of war and emotional conflict and the impact experienced by men after battle that characterizes much of Phil’s output. The writing is brisk, intense and always spot-on. Each character and every setting in each story is painted with his typical prose vibrancy. As I said, Phil was a great friend – forty plus years with only a couple of life-threatening activities – and his voice, so strong and often elegant on these pages, is one that will be sorely missed and is...[read on]

About The Architect, from the publisher:

From #1 internationally bestselling author John Katzenbach comes this pulse-pounding thriller that proves there’s nothing more dangerous than digging up secrets from your own family’s past.

“Remember what your name means. I’m so sorry.”

Just two weeks before her final architecture exams, Sloane Connolly receives this cryptic handwritten note from her estranged mother. When her calls go unanswered, Sloane returns to her hometown in northwest Massachusetts to discover that her mother has vanished. A thorough search turns up no trace of her—and the police are ultimately forced to give up and rule her disappearance a suicide.

As Sloane deals with the aftermath, she distracts herself by taking on a mysterious commission: to design a memorial for six strangers whose connection to her anonymous client—known to her only as The Employer—is deliberately kept in the dark. To complete this project, Sloane must trace the lives of all six individuals and uncover the hidden links between them. With the promise of a multimillion-dollar payday and a prestigious jump start to her career, it’s an opportunity too important to pass up.

But as the trail pulls her from Maine to Miami, Sloane begins to realize that the memorial is far more than just an academic exercise. The secrets she uncovers begin to weave dangerously into her own family’s tragic history, forcing her to question everything she thought she knew—and to discover for herself just how far she’s willing to go to survive.

Visit John Katzenbach's website.

My Book, The Movie: Red 1-2-3.

Writers Read: John Katzenbach (January 2014).

The Page 69 Test: Red 1-2-3.

Writers Read: John Katzenbach.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top dystopian & post-apocalyptic novels

Matt Harry's novels include Sorcery for Beginners, which was optioned for television by Boatrocker Media (Palm Royale). He has edited over 25 novels, created two immersive plays, and taught hundreds of students in creative fields. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons, all of whom (thankfully) like to read.

Harry's new novel is Ash Land.

At CrimeReads the author tagged his eight favorite end-of-the-world stories. One title on the list:

Ben H. Winters, The Last Policeman

This novel probably has the most similarities to Ash Land. I was very inspired by Winters’ story of a cop still trying to fight crime, despite the approach of a comet that will destroy the Earth.

The worldbuilding offers many clever ideas about how humans might spend their last months alive. What becomes important when money, posterity, and long-term consequences no longer matter? This book provides some interesting answers.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Last Policeman is among Alex Foster's eight top pre-apocalyptic novels, David Yoon's ten most captivating apocalypse novels, Tosca Lee's seven top apocalyptic reads, Sam Reader's five books that find beauty in the apocalypse, Joel Cunningham's eleven "literary" novels that include elements of science fiction, and Melissa Albert's five best recent detective fiction classics.

My Book, The Movie: The Last Policeman.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Policeman.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Andrew Demshuk's "The Filthiest Village in Europe"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Filthiest Village in Europe: Grassroots Ecology and the Collapse of East Germany by Andrew Demshuk.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Filthiest Village in Europe traces how a community shrouded by "industrial fog," at the brink of gaping coal pits, became a symbol that galvanized grassroots ecology―campaigns by diverse local actors that exposed environmental and economic crises East Germany's political system could not resolve. Notoriously known by the late 1980s as "the filthiest village in Europe," Mölbis suffocated downwind from the massively polluting carbochemical Espenhain plant. Applying a myriad of private collections, interviews, and untapped archival sources, Andrew Demshuk reveals how pastors, parents, officials, inspectors, workers, and spies negotiated ossified party structures whose inability to reform was showcased by ever-worsening environmental conditions.

After peaceful protests a few kilometers north in Leipzig triggered a revolution, pre-1989 grassroots players launched innovative reconstruction programs with financial and organizational expertise from West Germans. Together, they transformed Europe's filthiest village into a healthy place to live and imbued it with new symbolism, turning it into a sign of hope. The political will and social engagement that saved Mölbis and rejuvenated the surrounding wasteland can inform how to revitalize other postindustrial "filthy places" in our world today.

Learn more about The Filthiest Village in Europe at the Cornell University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Lost German East.

The Page 99 Test: Demolition on Karl Marx Square.

The Page 99 Test: Bowling for Communism.

The Page 99 Test: Three Cities After Hitler.

The Page 99 Test: The Filthiest Village in Europe.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: K.M. Colley’s "The Roaring Ridleys"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Roaring Ridleys: A Novel by K.M. Colley.

About the novel, from the publisher:

In Jazz Age New York, a shocking murder shatters the privileged life of the city’s most elite family in a propulsive mystery-thriller debut from author K.M. Colley that spans from Harlem to Long Island’s Gold Coast and high society’s glittering world of deadly secrets.

In the glittering world of 1920s New York, the seven Ridley heirs seem to have it all: wealth, status, and protection as the city’s most powerful family. But when notorious gossip columnist Dale Caimen is found dead during their family’s renowned summer soiree, their carefully constructed world begins to crack.

Behind the champagne and jazz, each adopted Ridley sibling harbors secrets that could destroy them. There’s Amelia, the responsible eldest trying to hold it all together; Adesua, whose artistic ambitions in the Harlem Renaissance threaten her family’s expectations; and wild child Kavita, whose dangerous nights in speakeasies may have finally caught up with her.

As the murder investigation intensifies, long-buried tensions surface and family loyalties unravel. Someone knows the truth about the Ridleys―and they’re willing to kill to expose it. In a world where appearance is everything and power comes at a deadly price, the siblings must decide what matters more: protecting the family name or each other.

Visit K.M. Colley’s website.

My Book, The Movie: The Roaring Ridleys.

Q&A with K.M. Colley.

The Page 69 Test: The Roaring Ridleys.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five great family-centered crime novels

Jamie Canaves is a contributing editor at Book Riot. She tagged five great family-centered crime books, including:

Saint of the Narrows Street by William Boyle

The crime: A wife kills her abusive husband—with her sister and baby as witnesses—and calls a friend to help hide the body.

The family: We start with an Italian family in Brooklyn in the mid-’80s. Risa, her husband Sav, her baby Fabrizio, and her sister Giulia. After Sav is killed, we watch Risa, Giulia, and a family friend who helped bury Sav’s body navigate a neighborhood with theories on what happened to Sav. All as they raise Fabrizio.

Read about another title on the list.

Saint of the Narrows Street is among the best noir fiction of 2025 according to CrimeReads.

The Page 69 Test: Saint of the Narrows Street.

My Book, The Movie: Saint of the Narrows Street.

--Marshal Zeringue

Carmela Dutra's "Hot Wings and Homicide," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Hot Wings and Homicide: A Food Truck Mystery by Carmela Dutra.

The entry begins:

Hot Wings and Homicide is the second book in my food truck cozy mystery series, set in the fictional Bay Area town of Clementine. Beth Lloyd and her twin brother Seth run a chicken food truck, Kluckin’ Good, that already attracts enough chaos on a normal day. Unfortunately, things escalate quickly when a local food festival ends in murder—and Beth’s ex-boyfriend, celebrity food critic Brad Dawson, winds up dead.

If the book were adapted into a movie or streaming series, I’d want it to fully lean into cozy chaos: colorful food festivals, quirky small-town personalities, fast-paced banter, and a mystery that unfolds somewhere between a fryer and a crime scene tape line. And, of course, one very opinionated, emotional-support chicken named Teriyaki.

The funny thing is, I didn’t write these characters with actors in mind. They existed fully formed in my imagination long before I ever considered casting them, which makes this both fun and slightly impossible. But after much consideration, there are a few actors who match the energy I picture on the page.

Beth, our fiercely loyal and perpetually in-over-her-head protagonist, immediately brings to mind Zoey Deutch. She has the perfect mix of comedic timing, warmth, and “trying desperately to hold it together while everything spirals out of control” energy. Beth is impulsive, stubborn, and just reckless enough to walk directly into situations she absolutely should avoid.

For Seth, Beth’s calmer (younger) twin and long-suffering business partner...[read on]

Visit Carmela Dutra's website.

Q&A with Carmela Dutra.

Writers Read: Carmela Dutra.

My Book, The Movie: Hot Wings and Homicide.

--Marshal Zeringue