Reading Recommendations from Just Desserts members – August 2023

Friday, 01 September 2023 17:27

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

At the August 2023 Just Desserts meeting, 17 group members and guests participated in a discussion of the first three entries in the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman .

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 earlier this year, 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 below. The titles marked by an * are those specifically mentioned during the Round Robin discussion.

Here’s the list of mystery, thriller and suspense books recommended by Just Desserts members in August 2023:

• The Judge’s List * by John Grisham – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Simply Lies by David Baldacci – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Shiver * by Lisa Jackson – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Collector by Daniel Silva – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Instructor by T.R. Hendricks
• Seven Girls Gone by Allison Brennan
• All the Sinners by S.A. Cosby – past author selection for Just Desserts
• True Blue * by David Baldacci – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Drop by Michael Connelly – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Code 6 by James Grippando – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Darkest Place by Philip Margolin – past author selection for Just Desserts
• Overwatch by Matthew Betley
• Oath of Loyalty by Vince Flynn
• A Secret and Unlawful Killing * by Cora Harrison
• Til the Butchers Cut Him Down by Marcia Muller – past author selection for Just Desserts
• A Play of Knaves by Margaret Frazer – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Hard Case Crime novels of Stephen King – The Colorado Kid, Joyland, and Later *
• Zero Days * by Ruth Ware – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The first four Kate Shugak mysters – A Cold Day for Murder, A Fatal Thaw, Dead in the Water, A Cold-Blooded Business – by Dana Stabenow – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators by Martin Edwards
• The Lacquer Screen by Robert von Gulik
• The early volumes of the Cork O’Connor series by William Kent Krueger – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Way of the Bear by Anne Hillerman
• Flags Over the Bayou by James Lee Burke – past author selection for Just Desserts
• The Bone Hacker by Kathy Reichs – past author selection for Just Desserts
• All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers
• Rogue Justice * (as audiobook) by Stacey Abrams
• Dial A for Aunties * by Jessie Sutanto
• The Woman in the Library (as audiobook) by Sulari Gentill

And here were some non-mystery titles some group members also recommended in August 2023:

• The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (more than one reader)
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• I’m a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson
• I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend by Cora Harrison
• Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
• Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
• Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
• Tress of the Emerald Sea * by Brandon Sanderson
• Demon Copperhead * by Barbara Kingsolver – a 2023 One Book – One Lincoln finalist
• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
• Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
• Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris and Mrs. Harris Goes to New York by Paul Gallico
• Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
• No Words by Meg Cabot
• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
• The Road to Roswell * by Connie Willis
• Where Coyotes Howl by Sandra Dallas
• The Private Lives of the Tudors * by Tracy Borman
• Small World by Jonathan Evison
• The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece * (as audiobook) by Tom Hanks
• Various Charles Starkweather case histories: Headline Starkweather, The 12^th Victim, Starkweather, Pro Bono, Born Bad and Waste Land

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