Whether you’ve got a fireplace or a Yule log video, nothing warms you up like sitting with a good mystery or thriller by the fire. Grab a blanket and dive into one of these gripping tales recommended by NPR staff and book critics. Sleuthing for more? You can find all our heart-pounding reads in Books We Love, our annual year-end book guide.
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
The perils of a woman’s success exceeding her partner’s is a perennial obsession of culture. The message: When one star rises, another falters. And if a wife’s star eclipses her husband’s, trouble follows. In Xochitl Gonzalez’s engrossing art world drama, Anita de Monte Laughs Last, relationships are complicated by such power imbalances. The title character is the wife of a famous artist and a forgotten Latina painter whose death was either a tragic accident or a gross act of violence. Raquel Toro is a first-generation college student of Puerto Rican descent at Brown University who’s navigating her own treacherous waters and becomes obsessed with de Monte. Through their experiences, the book explores questions of race, class and privilege in the rarified environs of art and the Ivy League. — Carole V. Bell, culture critic and media and politics researcher
Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton
Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton is a fantastic addition to the collection of works set during and celebrating the artistic environment of the Harlem Renaissance. This captivating dual-timeline Gothic thriller follows a modern writer who discovers a family heirloom painting by a Harlem Renaissance artist, linking her family to a mysterious past. The novel explores the complex and often deteriorating relationships between patrons and artists during this significant cultural movement. I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction, as it skillfully reveals the intricacies of creative ownership, particularly in the context of race and wealth. — Keishel Williams, book critic
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Early one morning in 1975, a summer camp counselor finds an empty bunk – a 13-year-old camper has vanished. As the search begins along the banks of a lake in the Adirondacks, this 500-page drama unfolds – and it is worth every page! Liz Moore’s storytelling captures such an authentic picture of youth, young friendship and family secrets. There are thoughtful, well-developed characters, unexpected revelations, a history of a serial killer recently escaped, captivating storylines, shocking connections and surprising answers to every single mystery along the way. The God of the Woods has become a personal favorite of the year! — Lori Lizarraga, host, Code Switch
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai, translated by Jesse Kirkwood
Do you have a favorite dish whose scents and tastes evoke cherished memories but whose recipe is elusive? Then perhaps you want to wend your way through the back streets of Kyoto to find Nagare and Kolishi Kamogawa – the retired police detective and his daughter, proprietors of the Kamagowa Diner and Kamogawa Detective Agency – who promise to “find your food.” The duo’s careful interviews and investigations mixed with the meticulous melding of ingredients aim to unlock the past and possibly open the future to satisfy clients who savor these special dishes, whether a steaming bowl of udon or beef stew. Delicious and delectable. Save room! You may want to order a second serving; this is the first in a series about the food detectives by Japanese dentist Hisashi Kashiwai.— Maryfran Tyler, executive director, Distribution Strategy
Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi
In this twisty, poetic roller-coaster ride of a novel, a bitter breakup precipitates a harrowing descent into darkness for a wealthy young Nigerian man, his pious, long-suffering ex-girlfriend and their friends. Aima and Kalu met as ex-pats in Houston and returned home for his business and to build a life together. They’d been happy abroad, but the move shook loose something important. Back home they revert to destructive patterns. It’s complex, but at the core, love lies and dies in this fictional, decadent yet riveting, money-loving city of “New Lagos.” If you want a book that grabs onto your brain and shakes it, I highly recommend Akwaeke Emezi’s genre-defying Little Rot. It gutted and enthralled me in equal measure. — Carole V. Bell, culture critic and media and politics researcher
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
Nightwatching begins with a scene straight out of a nightmare: A woman is at home with two sleeping children when she hears the footsteps of an intruder on the stairs. The story that follows is by turns suspenseful, uncomfortable and enraging. Tracy Sierra skillfully uses the home invasion to explore the terrifying responsibility of motherhood and to expose the pure horror of being a woman in a society that does not always choose to believe women. — Julie Rogers, historian and curator, Research, Archives and Data Strategy
Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch
The pony in this mystery is such a delightfully bitter misanthrope, “bent on revenge” and singularly devoted to finding the girl who cast him aside, condemning him to a life of spoiled, bratty kids. Turns out, she’s grown up and charged with murder: a death that happened years before, the last night she and her pony were together. Did she do it? Did the pony? Can he use his wits and resist peppermints long enough for all to be revealed? A kooky page-turner that took me back to every girl-and-her-horse book I ever read, but Misty of Chincoteague was nowhere near as spicy as this pony is! — Melissa Gray, senior producer, Weekend Edition
The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia refuses to confine herself to one genre, and that’s great news for readers. Her latest is a historical novel set in Golden Age Hollywood; it follows Vera, a young Mexican actor who lands the role of Salome in a big-budget biblical epic, and Nancy, a racist striver who can’t stand the young newcomer. Moreno-Garcia perfectly captures the feel of 1950s movies with her expert pacing and snappy dialogue. If the thought of a Turner Classic Movies marathon puts a smile on your face, this one couldn’t be more up your alley. — Michael Schaub, book critic
A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
If you love crime fiction, author Peter Swanson never disappoints. Same goes for Lily Kintner, the protagonist he first introduced in The Kind Worth Killing. Lily plays a key role in this spine-tingler about a librarian who suspects her new husband might be capable of, well, to say more might spoil the way Swanson always manages to upend readers’ expectations. — Shannon Rhoades, senior editor, Weekend Edition
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
Did I read this and then immediately read every book in the Thursday Murder Club series? Yes, I did, because Richard Osman’s mystery novels are so fun. In We Solve Murders, Osman introduces a new crime-fighting trio: Amy Wheeler is a bodyguard for billionaires, her father-in-law, Steve, is a semiretired London cop obsessed with his cat, and Rosie D’Antonio is a bestselling novelist of indeterminate age currently being threatened by a Russian oligarch. There is a supervillain and there are some murders, but that’s not going to stop our detectives from having a lot of laughs as they travel around the world – or from enjoying the amenities on Rosie’s private plane. While I’m sad that I have to wait until 2025 to read another Richard Osman mystery, I’m happy to have two series to look forward to. — Samantha Balaban, producer, Weekend Edition
This is just a fraction of the 350+ titles we included in Books We Love this year. Click here to check out this year’s titles, or browse nearly 4,000 books from the last 12 years.
Copyright 2024 NPR
