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Authors That Rock
59
items I'm a bookworm. Always have been, always will be. I love that “old book” smell you get in used bookstores and libraries. I love my Kindle, but there is simply nothing like holding a hardcover, old-school book in your hands. Some people buy shoes, som...
Sections
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S A Crosby
Peter Straub
Lisa Unger
Shirley Jackson
Jo Nesbo
Agatha Christie
S A Crosby
This book represents themes that are common in Cosby's writing. Set in rural Virginia, Cosby explores age-old issues of prejudice, homophobia, violence, and tragic loss. Two aging ex-cons are mourning their sons, a black and white couple with a baby ...
Razorblade Tears
I loved King of Ashes! Roman Carruthers goes back home in Virginia after his Dad is in a bad car accident, only to find out his baby brother, Dante, is in serious debt to some dangerous dudes. His sister Neveah is trying to keep the family business, ...
King of Ashes
I'm almost done with this book and I can't put it down! (Well, I guess I had to put it down to write this, huh?) Set in a small Southern town, former cop, former marine, Nathan Waymaker now works for his cousin at his funeral home. When a beloved min...
My Darkest Prayer
I love the way Cosby writes. I also love that he is a Southern author, since I'm from the South myself. Blacktop Wasteland has been described as “Ocean’s Eleven meets Drive, with a Southern noir twist.” “Bug” Montage is an honest mechanic and family ...
Blacktop Wasteland
Stephen King calls this book “Fresh and exhilarating." The Washington Post describes Cosby as one of the "grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction.” I love the characters Cosby paints for the reader; they seem to come alive and spring o...
All the Sinners Bleed
Peter Straub
Peter Straub's seminal work. This is the first book of his I read and I'm so glad it was. In upstate New York, four old men form an odd sort of club, telling each other scary stories. There is one story, however, they never speak of - and it's that s...
Ghost Story
Shadowland is one of those books that stay with you after you've read the last page and put down the book. It's a book about magic on its surface, but on a deeper level, it's a book about friendship and love. Two boys spend a summer of horror in a da...
Shadowland
Another scary classic from Peter Straub. The suburban town of Hampstead is threatened by a horrible example of man’s power out of control. The townspeople are also dealing with an unnatural power that makes the first look like child’s play...
Floating Dragon
BRAM STOKER AWARD WINNER, “Ghastly, hide-your-eyes horror," according to Stephen King. Ned Dunstan hates his birthday. Every birthday, he has a paralyzing seizure and is forced to watch horrid scenes of vicious murder done by a mysterious figure he c...
Mr. X
In The Hellfire Club, wealthy, middle-aged women in an exclusive Connecticut suburb are being killed, one by one and their murderer is still at large. Nora Chancel, wife of publishing scion Davey Chancel, hears a surreal story about the Hellfire Club...
The Hellfire Club
Koko starts a journey of terror that spreads across three novels. This book is about four Vietnam vets forever connected by a horrible secret and their hunt to track down a brutal killer. Only four men knew what Koko meant. Now they must stop it. I l...
Koko (Blue Rose Trilogy Book 1)
Book 2 of the Blue Rose Trilogy. 10-year-old Tom Pasmore, survives a near fatal accident. While he is recovering, he gets obsessed with an old, unsolved murder and finds clues that might help him solve it. Lamont von Heilitz spent his life solving my...
MYSTERY
The final book in the Blue Rose Trilogy. Tim Underhill, a famous author, travels to his hometown in Illinois after he gets a call from John Ransom, an old army buddy. Ransom believes there's a killer mimicking the Blue Rose murders from decades earli...
Throat
The four stories collected in this book are all tangental to that larger Blue Rose universe. Each story stands on its own and are connected to the three Blue Rose books in unique and creative ways. For Blue Rose fans, like me, it took me back into th...
The Juniper Tree and Other Blue Rose Stories
One summer night in 1955, a boy and his cousin jump into the waters of a quarry. Only one of them gets out alive. And now, decades later, Miles Teagarde, divorced and struggling as a writer, returns to his family home in Wisconsin. Everyone views him...
If You Could See Me Now
Horror novelist Timothy Underhill (familiar to readers of the Blue Rose Trilogy) searches his hometown of Millhaven for clues that might help him unravel the mysterious vanishing of his fifteen-year-old nephew Mark Underhill. Tim learns that a pedoph...
Lost Boy, Lost Girl
Willy Patrick is a noted author of the award-winning young adult novel In the Night Room. Willy is afraid she is losing it - she's drawn to a warehouse, convinced her daughter, Holly, is being held there. One problem, though - Willy’s daughter is dea...
In the Night Room
The first thing Julia does post-divorce is purchase a large, old-fashioned house, where she plans to live by herself and try to forget the death of their young daughter. But she keeps having glimpses of a mysterious little girl that looks like her da...
Julia
Lisa Unger
Ana Blacksmith gathers her closest friends and sister Vera for a brunch to celebrate her breakup with her jerk of a boyfriend Paul. Things take a bad turn when word comes that Paul has turned up dead. All eyes are on Ana, the angry ex, and it doesn't...
Served Him Right
In this short story, a famous horror writer's death leaves his daughter, Pip, haunted by voices. One of the things the voices say is she killed her dad, and now the police are after her. If Pip ever wants to know peace again, she has to unravel the s...
The Dark Door
It's Christmas time, and hired killer Paige is in a dark mansion in the middle of a hit. She's ignoring a slew of texts from her ex, when she realizes there's a little girl in the house - not good. Paige has to fight unforeseen hurdles, as well, as g...
The Kill Clause
Another short story from Lisa Unger. And it's a good one! Jules gets swept off her feet by handsome artist Kirin, even though she's still mourning her husband’s death. Now she and her daughter Scout have moved out of the city and into Kirin’s mansion...
The Doll's House
Classic Lisa Unger mystery! Madeline Martin is the owner of The Next Chapter Bookshop, rightly named. Her past held a lot of tragedy: she was the only surviving victim of Evan Handy, who was convicted of murdering her best friend Steph, and was also ...
Christmas Presents
Shirley Jackson
35 Stories by Shirley Jackson. A Fully Illustrated Anthology collects a set of short stories by the author that span “quiet horror, subtle irony, and deep insight into human nature.” One of the cool things about this book is the set of illustrations ...
35 Stories by Shirley Jackson - Illustrated Anthology
A horror and literary classic. Has one of the great lines in literature: ""Whatever walked there, walked alone." Simply awesome! It tells the story of four seekers who arrive at the notoriously creepy mansion called Hill House. At first their stay se...
The Haunting of Hill House
Another classic from Ms. Jackson. A gothic tale, beautifully written. Merricat Blackwood lives with her sister Constance in a secluded mansion, keeping to themselves and terrorized by the local villagers. Things only get worse when their Uncle Julian...
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Jo Nesbo
The Bat introduces us to the character Detective Harry Hole, the tormented police detective in Oslo. He's a member of the Oslo Crime Squad, but when a Norweigan woman is killed in Australia, he's sent to Sydney to help the murder case. As he gets clo...
The Bat: A Detective Hole Novel (1)
I loved Headhunters! Nesbo is primarily known for the character Harry Hole. This is a standalong novel - no Harry here. It centers on Roger Brown, a corporate headhunter. The problem? His career can't support he and his wife's luxurious lifestyle and...
Headhunters
In the 2nd Inspector Harry Hole book, Harry is dispatched from Oslo to Thailand when the Norwegian ambassador is found dead in a Bangkok brothel. Harry soon finds out there's a lot more going on here than one random murder. Hence the title of the boo...
Cockroaches
In the 3rd installment of this series, Hole has screwed up on the force, and now he's been reassigned to mundane surveillance tasks. Specifically, monitoring neo-Nazi activities in Oslo. 60 years ago, members of the nation's government had willingly ...
The Redbreast: Harry Hole, 3
In this 4th Hary Hole book, A man walks into an Oslo bank, puts a gun to a cashier's head, and tells her to count to 25. When he doesn't get his money fast enough, he pulls the trigger and kills her. But that's not all. Harry wakes up from a blind dr...
Nemesis: Harry Hole 4
There is a diabolical serial killer terrorizing Oslo in the 5th Harry Hole novel. Victims are found with parts cut off, and a tiny red star-shaped diamond placed under an eyelid. An alcoholic barely holding on to his job, Harry has to work this case ...
The Devil's Star: Harry Hole Series, 5
I should say: Harry Hole is a damaged soul. But he is also one of the most interesting characters in the mystery/thriller genre. I LOVE the Harry Hole series! There isn't a bad book in the bunch so far (I'm up to about book 12.) In this book (#6), on...
The Redeemer: Harry Hole Series, 6
The Snowman (#7 in the Harry Hole series) may be my favorite Harry Hole book! [BTW: there was a movie that came out “based” on this book - it sucked - don't base your opinion about the book on that movie!] Over the past decade, 11 women have vanished...
The Snowman: Harry Hole Series, 7
In the 8th Hole book, a beaten-down Harry has retreated to Hong Kong and their squalid opium dens. Back in Oslo, two young women are found dead, drowned in their own blood. Upon his return, the killer strikes again, and Harry finds himself obsessed w...
The Leopard: Harry Hole Series, 8
Phantom is the 9th Harry Hole book. At this point in the series, Harry has moved to Hong Kong, trying to escape his demons back in Oslo. But then the unthinkable happens. Oleg, the boy he helped raise, has been arrested for killing a man. Harry knows...
Phantom: Harry Hole Series, 9
#10 in the Harry Hole series and another killer is loose in Olso. As the killer gets bold and people get more and more hysterical, the detective is nowhere to be found. This time, even though the people he cares about the most are facing horrible dan...
Police: Harry Hole Series, 10
This is the 11th Harry Hole book - and it's where I am in the series! So I can't say what I think of it yet. This time around, there are murders linked to Tinder, and the Chief of Police knows Harry is the only person who can catch the killer. But Ha...
The Thirst: Harry Hole Series, 11
Agatha Christie
I love Agatha Christie - anyone who loves the mystery genre loves Christie. Even if you haven't read her books, the mystery writers you love were inspired by her. This one was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of all ti...
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
Ten people, each with something to hide, are invited to an isolated mansion on a rocky Island by a host that fails to show up. They are cut off, unable to get off the island. They start sharing their darkest secrets. And one by one, they also start d...
And Then There Were None
2 classic stories by the best mystery writer that ever lived! In the Mystery of the Blue Jar, a young golfer named Jack Hartington keeps hearing a woman's cries for help. He investigates a nearby cottage, and uncovers a plot involving greed and a val...
The Mystery of the Blue Jar and The Witness for the Prosecution
One of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries, and the basis for more than one movie. In it, Hercule Poirot embarks on a journey to Egypt on a luxury cruise along the Nile. One of the passengers has been shot - she was young and beautiful and now sh...
Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
Another of Agatha Christie's most famous mysteries. Once again, detective Hercule Poirot must find a killer. This time, the famous train, the Orient Express, is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift in the middle of the night. In the morning, milliona...
Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot ...
I love Hercule Poirot - he is an absolute hoot! I gotta be honest - not a Miss Marple fan. But Poirot, I adore. This book contains all 50 of Christie's Poirot short stories and novellas. A treasure trove for Poirot fans!
The Complete Short Stories: A Hercule Poirot
Greg Iles
As someone who was raised in the South, I appreciate a writer who knows and loves the place and can write about all of its good and bad aspects. Iles is a fantastic writer and he is particularly good at writing mystery/thrillers. His most memorable c...
The Quiet Game: Penn Cage, 1
Penn Cage is once again pulled into a mystery when his best friend, Drew Elliott, may be accused of the murder of a young woman Drew was involved with. A star student and athlete, Kate Townsend seemed like an unlikely person to be murdered. But Kate ...
Turning Angel: Penn Cage, 2
In this third Penn Cage novel, Penn has been elected mayor of his hometown, Natchez. Two years into his term, casino gambling has brought new jobs and fresh money into the economy, which badly needed it. But there is a dark underbelly that promotes b...
The Devil's Punchbowl: Penn Cage, 3
Iles brings us another Penn Cage book, in his Natchez Burning Trilogy. This first book of the series brings the reader crimes, lies, and secrets that span across years. It all adds up to a mesmerizing legal thriller! It is very personal this time for...
Natchez Burning: Penn Cage, 4
The Bone Tree is the 5th Penn Cage book and the 2nd in the Natchez Burning Trilogy. If you are a fan of the Cage books (like me!) you HAVE to read this one! Penn and his fiancée, reporter and publisher Caitlin Masters, survive an attack by Brody Roya...
The Bone Tree: Penn Cage, 5
The final novel in the Natchez Burning Trilogy finds Penn Cage shattered by grief and looking for vengeance. There is SO much going on in this book, but I don't want to spoil anything. I'll just say it's classic Greg Iles, full of twists and turns, f...
Mississippi Blood: Penn Cage, 6
This is the last Penn Cage novel, sadly. It picks up Penn's story 15 years after Mississippi Blood. Penn feels isolated and alone: almost all of the people he loves are gone, as are his old allies. He is in self-exile because of a mortal secret he ca...
Southern Man
Joe Hill
Here's the big secret - that really isn't a secret any more - Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King! Here's what's really important - Joe Hill is one hell of a good writer himself!
Joe Hill is not only a gifted author of "traditional" novels; he is also a major voice in the graphic novel genre. This is one of those graphic novels. Syd “Sh*t-Talk” Homes is a disgraced ex-cop turned bitter stand-up comic. One of the comics that w...
Dying is Easy Graphic Novel
In this graphic novel, a devastating tsunami occurs, so an exploration vessel known as the Derleth begins sending an automated distress signal from a remote atoll in the Bering Strait. The problem? The Derleth has been missing for 40 years. Marine bi...
Plunge Graphic Novel
Heart-Shaped Box was the first Joe Hill book I read - and I'm glad it was. An amazing novel. Hill brings characters alive. What a terrific writer! It has been described as “beautifully textured, deliciously scary.” I wholeheartedly agree. Aging death...
Heart-Shaped Box
My absolute favorite Joe Hill book! I cannot say enough about this novel. LOVE it! A terrifying plague spreads across the country, People call it Dragonscale, a highly contagious spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across t...
The Fireman
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
I HAD to include this author. His Cemetary of Forgotten Books series are my favorite books of all time! Trust me - you WANT to read these books!
The Shadow of the Wind is the first in the Cemetary of Forgotten Books series. Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a masterful writer; set in Barcelona, he brings the city to life. Stephen King says “This is one gorgeous read.” And it is. It's set in the 1940s afte...
The Shadow of the Wind
Described as a “powerful, labyrinthian thriller,” this is the second novel in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. The main character is David Martín, a pulp fiction writer struggling to stay afloat. He is approached by a mysterious publisher offe...
The Angel's Game: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, 2
The 3rd book in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series is set in Barcelona in the 1950s. Daniel Sempere and his wife are celebrating Christmas with their beautiful new son Julián, and their close friend Fermín Romero de Torres is about to marry. But ...
The Prisoner of Heaven
The final novel in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, The Labyrinth of the Spirits follows the beautiful and enigmatic Alicia Griswith who, the help of the Sempere family, uncovers one of the most shocking conspiracies in all Spanish history. Al...
The Labyrinth of the Spirits: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books 4