Tag Archives: booklist
Reading Recommendations from Just Desserts members – August 2021
Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?
At the August 2021 Just Desserts meeting that took place in-person at the Bennett Martin Public Library, 13 group members participated in a discussion of Chris Bohjalian’s The Red Lotus. Following that discussion, we held our monthly round robin in which all 13 attendees were able to share recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.
Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in August 2021:
And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in August 2021:
What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?
Reading Recommendations from Just Desserts Members – June 2021
Hey, mystery fans! Looking for something good to read?
At the June 2021 Just Desserts meeting that took place online using Zoom meeting software, 10 members participated in a discussion of Michael Connelly’s “Fair Warning”. Following that discussion, we held our monthly round robin in which all 14 attendees were able to share recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.
Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in June 2021:
And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in June 2020:
What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?
Just Desserts – Series Share 2021 Results

At the May 2021 Just Desserts meeting that took place online using Zoom meeting software, 14 members participated in our annual “Series Share” discussion, in which attendees were encouraged to read the first or second volume in a new series that’s started within the past few years, and share their thoughts in a “round-robin” format, and three more group members shared their selections via e-mail. Here’s a list of the novels/series that were mentioned by group members. We asked all attendees to also give a “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” for whatever series they sampled – all participants this month gave a “Thumbs Up” to whatever they read – with only one “so-so” rating (mentioned below):
- The Mercy Carr series by Paula Munier, including the first three volumes A Borrowing of Bones, Blood Search and The Hiding Place
- The Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas, starting with A Study in Scarlet Women
- The Heathcliff Lennox mystery series by Karen Baugh Menhuin, starting with Murder at Melrose Court (actually four different group members all read this!)
- The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Orman, starting with The Thursday Murder Club (two group members read this!)
- The World’s End Bureau Victorian Mysteries series by Alys Clare, starting with The Woman Who Spoke to Spirits
- The Vera Stanhope mystery series by Ann Cleeves, in this case #4 Silent Voices – past author selection for Just Desserts
- The Charlotte Holmes YA series by Brittany Cavallero, starting with the first two, A Study in Charlotte and The Last of August (this reader preferred them as audiobooks)
- The Pelican Harbor series by Coleen Coble, starting with One Little Lie (this was the only so-so recommendation of the evening!)
- The Robin Lockwood series by Philip Margolin, starting with The Third Victim, Perfect Alibi and A Reasonable Doubt
- The Mobile Response Team series by Allison Brennan, starting with Third to Die
- The Bree Taggert series by Melinda Leigh, in this case #2 See Her Die – past author selection for Just Desserts
- The Jane Wunderly series by Erica Ruth Neubauer, starting with the first two, Murder at the Mena House and Murder at Wedgefield (which this reader preferred as an audiobook)
- The Home to Ireland series by Carlene O’Conner, starting with Murder in Galway
- The new series of Harlem-set mysteries by Karla F.C. Holloway, starting with A Death in Harlem, and Gone Missing in Harlem
- The Queen Elizabeth II series by S.J. Bennett, starting with The Windsor Knot
- The Heather Wells series by Meg Cabot, starting with the first three Size 12 is Not Fat, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, and Big Bones
- The Aloysius Archer series by David Baldacci, starting with One Good Deed
What new mystery series that started in the past 2-3 years have you sampled lately that you’d recommend?
Reading Recommendations from Just Desserts members in April 2021
At the April 29th, 2021 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group on Zoom, following the discussion of the assigned topic of the month (the various series novels of British author Elly Griffiths), we held our monthly Round Robin in which all 13 online attendees were able to share recommendations of what other books they’ve been reading recently.
Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in April 2021:
And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in April 2021:
What mysteries have you been reading lately that you’d recommend?
Just Desserts – January 2021 – Mysteries by African-American Authors discussion

At the January 28th, 2021 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group on Zoom, the assigned reading topic was “African-American Mystery Authors”. Each participating group member was to have read ANY mystery novel or single-author mystery short story collection, which fell into that broad category, and everyone was then given an opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions on whatever they had read.
Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense novels written by African-American authors, discussed by Just Desserts members in January 2021:
Do you have any favorite African-American authors of mysteries you’d like to recommend? Did you read a book in this category for our monthly theme? If so, leave a comment here to let us know what you read!
Curious to explore more African-American Mystery Authors? Check out the checklist of suggested authors, prepared as a handout for Just Desserts members!