Reading Recommendations from Just Desserts members – March 2024

Saturday, 30 March 2024 15:57

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Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?

At the March 2024 Just Desserts meeting, 11 group members and guests participated in a discussion of the first six volumes in the “Flavia de Luce” series by Canadian author Alan Bradley.

Following the “assigned reading” portion of the meeting, we held our monthly round robin in which attendees shared recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently, with an emphasis on mysteries/suspense/thrillers. We continued a new policy this month that began in 2023, to make sure everyone got a turn in the Round Robin – everyone could share a single title during their verbal recommendations, but could share additional titles on a paper form – ALL titles recommended are shared in the list below. The titles marked by an * are those specifically mentioned verbally during the Round Robin. Three members who weren’t able to attend shared their “recent reads” before the meeting, to be included in this list.

Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in March 2024:

• Everyone Here is Lying by Shari LaPena
• Happiness Falls * by Angie Kim
• City of Bones by Michael Connelly – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Holmes, Marple & Poe by James Patterson and Brian Sitts (2 readers) – Connelly is a past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Nubian’s Curse by Barbara Hambly – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Various in the Vampire Knitting Club series * by Nancy Warren (several readers)
• The Vampire Knitting Club: Cornwall by Nancy Warren
• In Plain Sight * by K.C. Wells
• Mother Daughter Murder Night * by Nina Simon
• Verse and Vengeance by Amanda Flower
• Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly (2 readers) – past author selection for Just Desserts
• My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor
• A Wanted Man and One Shot by Lee Child – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Hidden One * by Linda Castillo – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Mystery Guest by Linda Prose
• Off the Grid by C.J. Box – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Exchange by John Grisham – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Dead on Target by M.C. Beaton – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Watchmaker’s Hand * by Jeffrey Deaver – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Three Inch Teeth by C.J. Box – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie
• The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes
• The Chaos Agent by Mark Greaney
• Still See You Everywhere * by Lisa Gardner (this would have been absent member Don’s featured recommendation) – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Other Mrs. and Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica
• Appointment With Death (as an audiobook on CD) by Agatha Christie – past author selection for Just Desserts

And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in March 2024:

• Ringworld by Larry Niven
• Fear by Bob Woodward
• On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle by Hampton Sides
• Hearts of Darkness: Serial Killers, the Behavioral Unit and My Life as a Woman in the FBI by Jana Monroe
• The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
• The Art Thief * by Michael Finkel
• Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney
• Less by Andrew Sean Greer (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2018)
• Searching for Savanna: The Murder of One Native American Woman and the Violence Against the Many * by Mona Gable
• How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
• Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
• Kala * by Colin Walsh
• Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear
• Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
• Sisters Under the Rising Sun * by Heather Morris
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
• Horse by Gwendolyn Brooks
• His Majesty’s Dragon * by Naomi Novik
• The Man Who Fell to Earth (graphic novel), based on the movie adaptation of the novel by Walter Tevis
• The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis and others (to be performed at the Lincoln Community Playhouse in May 2024)

What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?