Series: The Nsibidi Scripts Series

Sunny doesn’t fit in. She’s Nigerian, but born in America. She’s a great athlete, but because she has albinism, she can’t play sports in the sun. But it turns out she also has latent talents that allow her to reshape the world.

Series: The Legacy of Orisha

Adeyemi’s West Africa–based debut novel is an absolute stunner. Magic has disappeared under the rule of the king, when before, the soil hummed with the power of the Orïsha. Zélie has a chance to right that wrong, but it will take everything she has.

Check out more of Bahni Turpin’s amazing audio performances here.

Series: The Legendborn Cycle

Bree Matthews has been accepted to a residential high school program at UNC-Chapel Hill, which seems like an excellent escape from the recent death of her mother. But that all changes when Bree witnesses a magical attack on campus. As the cause of Bree’s mother’s death starts to come clear, there are questions inside questions about legacies, family, and the history of Chapel Hill itself.

Series: The Pandava Series

Aru Shah is a fibber, and three of her classmates have arrived at her house to prove it. Aru decides to light the Lamp of Bharata to prove that she’s telling the truth – which she was not. But lighting the Lamp awakens the Sleeper, and now the four of them must save the world.

If you love her performance of Aru Shah, discover more of Soneela Nankani’s work here.

Series: The Parasol Protectorate Series

Alexia Tarabotti is a spinster with no soul. She’s been attacked by an extremely rude vampire, who she then killed by accident, and now a werewolf has been sent by the Queen to investigate. It’s up to Alexia to figure out what’s going on before she’s blamed for the whole situation.

Series: The Graceling Realm

Gracelings are blessed with a grace. Graces can be anything: creating beautiful clothes, cooking, leadership…or, in Katsa’s case, killing. It makes her a dangerous weapon, especially in the hands of a king whose grace is that people believe anything he says.

Series: The Sandsea Trilogy

Based firmly in the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, Abdullah weaves together stories of a thief, a prince and a quest to find an ancient lamp that will revive a dying land — at the cost of the lives of all the djinn.

Series: The Scholomance

The Scholomance is a school where a huge percentage of the students end up dead on a regular basis, so when El Higgins decides that Orion Lake needs to die as well, it shouldn’t cause too much ruckus. Except it’s a decision that will cause ripples far beyond the walls — walls? — of the school.

Series: This Poison Heart

Briseis’s power is to grow plants from seed to maturity with a single touch. She hopes to finally learn to control it at her late aunt’s dilapidated New York estate, willed to Bri’s family. But when she gets there, the mansion is full of unexpected plants, not to mention neighbors and strangers who being showing up for tinctures and elixirs.

I’m a huge David Tennant fan, which puts this audiobook right at the top of my list. Finding narrators you know from other parts of life is an audiobook bonus and an additional hook for many kids. This book is very different from the movie adaptation, so even those familiar with the popular film have an entirely new plot to enjoy!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid continues to have a hypnotic hold on elementary students everywhere. I’ve included the most recent release, but there are a 17 books and several accompanying novels, all narrated by Ramon De Ocampo. Follow Greg and his friends and family as they navigate middle school and all its ups and downs.

I’ve been a fan of this series since I discovered it a few years ago. An amazing mix of fantasy and science, the Zoey and Sassafras stories include mystical creatures with problems that can only be solved using very real scientific method–based solutions. This is a great entry to audiobooks for beginners — the slim books have short running times without sacrificing any of the interest!

Kenneth Branagh reads this so damn well. His voice perfectly brings to life the various characters, and the magic of being there at the beginning of Narnia is undeniable. A great kick start to an exciting series.

This is the first audiobook I ever read with my kids. They were only 2 and 3 when I first started playing the CDs while we drove around town, and I was sure they had no idea what was going on. When my oldest started asking for “the mouse” whenever I buckled him in his carseat, I cried with joy. The book alone is gorgeous; the audiobook, breathtaking.

I actually have not listened to this one yet, but it is getting rave reviews from friends and students in my circle. Amari plunges into a previously unknown world of paranormal magic, frantically pursuing her lost brother.

The Vanderbeekers are the new American sweethearts. This vast and still growing series follows the family as they adventure on their beloved block in New York City. Add in pets, neighbors, and a brownstone that is a character of its own, and you have a charming set up guaranteed to provide hours of pleasant reading.

This is a bonus recommendation in that you should also read the science fiction classic A Wrinkle in Time to truly flesh out the magic of this book. When You Reach Me is about middle school growing pains and family strife, but it’s also a mystery about time travel, complete with ominous letters and dangerous strangers. It’s hard to explain without giving anything away, but it is beautiful.

I’ll be singing the praises of this series until I’m gone. Funny and engaging for people of all ages, with rich character development and equally stunning, layered world building, Aru Shah will make you wonder why you settled for certain middle grade powerhouse surprise-you’re-a-chosen-one series in the past. I love Soneela Nankani’s voice. I love the Pandavas. I love that Roshani Chokshi rejects bland “good and evil” narratives. If you read one audiobook from this list, make it this.

This is one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever read. It’s not flashy or highly produced. The story is the same slim classic that has been delighting readers for decades. The cover art remains the same. But something about it is just perfect. Rainn Wilson’s delivery of the absurd pilgrim’s journey that is The Phantom Tollbooth is delightful. I’m so glad my family was introduced to the book in this format — it was a huge hit.

If you haven’t read this book, which has also been adapted into a movie, then listen to it ASAP. It is well cast and the reading is absolutely beautiful. Much of the book takes place in a single, eventful day when Jamaican American Natasha and Korean American Daniel meet and quickly fall in love. Unfortunately, Natasha and her family are scheduled to be deported the following day. You’ll lose yourself in this lush prose and heart-wrenching story.

This edition of Gaiman’s beloved novel is considered his “director’s cut” because it includes unpublished material from his original manuscript. The leads provide stunning portrayals of the arrogant Mr. Wednesday and relatable protagonist Shadow Moon.

Adapted from Kendi’s Stamped From the Beginning, this bestseller approaches complex topics in a kid-friendly way. Jason Reynolds’s performance reminds us why he is so well-loved by kids and teachers alike.

This well-known work was the winner of the Audie for Multi-Voiced Performance in 2014. Combining the original abridged recording and new unabridged recordings, the audiobook boasts the voice talents of celebrities like Mark Hamill.

I, an uncultured swine, had never seen The Exorcist when I decided to listen to the audiobook. Dear reader, that was a mistake. After listening to this incredible performance of the deeply disturbing source material, the movie adaptation paled in comparison. This is a must-listen for any self-respecting horror fan.

This audiobook was a 2013 Audie Award Nominee for Children’s Titles for Ages 8–12. Of course, a story written in two voices is perfect for multiple narrators. The two readers both give masterful performances that capture the very different voices of the two protagonists.

The term “a full cast” is an understatement here. This 2018 Audie Award winner for Audiobook of the Year is read by 166 narrators. Among them are celebrities like Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Bill Hader, and more.

Elizabeth Acevedo is easily one of the most vital voices of our time. She lends her voice to this audiobook, bringing her unique insight into the characters to her performance. This beautiful novel-in-verse is perfect for audio, so it’s a true treat for the ears.

I know I just said this about Elizabeth Acevedo, but Jacqueline Woodson is unarguably one of the best authors of our time. Brown Girl Dreaming is a the story of Woodson’s childhood, told in beautiful verse. Naturally, there’s no better reader for it than the author herself.

Roy Dotrice is one of the best audiobook narrators of all time. Consequently, he is the perfect voice for such an epic story. He does the sprawling cast of characters justice with his incredibly varied voice work.

Mother Maya Angelou needs no introduction. Her words are poetry and she delivers them like no one else could. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiographical tale of pain and resilience that has inspired readers for decades.

The Stand is an epic story of a civilization-ending illness that maybe hits too close to home in the current era. Still, Grover Gardner’s performance is absolutely spellbinding. Each of the many characters has a unique voice, complete with subtle nuances that reflect a deep understanding of the source material.

I hate to mention those magic books I so love (because of their hateful TERF of an author), but the audiobook performance is superb. Jim Dale is incredible and does all the voices in distinct and engaging ways. While The Night Circus doesn’t have as many unique characters as those books, it’s a great book and Dale does a phenomenal job.

Bahni Turpin is one of my favorite audiobook narrators (which is why she’s making another appearance on this list). She captures protagonist Starr perfectly in Angie Thomas’s seminal novel, The Hate U Give. While Starr is written as a relatable character you can’t help but root for, Turpin truly brings her to life.

Let me count the ways I love Trevor Noah. Actually, we haven’t got the time or space for that. Instead, I will just say his memoir was made to be listened to. The Xhosa and Zulu language interwoven through the story are so beautiful in his voice. You just can’t get the same experience reading this one on the page.

Perdita Weeks outdoes herself in this audio recording. Circe on audio is an EXPERIENCE. For 12 hours, you will become lost in a world that feels more real than our own, thanks to Weeks’s stellar performance.

Tom. Hanks. Need I say more?

Here we have another absolute icon reading an iconic story in her own voice. The pain on the page becomes that much more heartwrenching in Morrison’s vocal performance. Whether you’ve read this Pulitzer Prize–winner or not, the audiobook is more than worth your time.

I listened to this book earlier this year and I cannot express how much I recommend you do the same. It’s a touching, outlandish, and hilarious story as written, but Marin Ireland takes it to an entirely new level. Her use of dialect and the raw honesty of her performance is unparalleled. Seriously, listen to it immediately.

Finally, if you didn’t know Michelle Obama’s memoir would be on this list, then you likely are new to the world of audiobooks. This Grammy Award Winner for Best Spoken Word Album 2020 is a refreshingly honest, inspiring look at the life of our former First Lady. Nobody could’ve read it like she did, so we’re all lucky she took the narration reins.

Alicia Brenerson was an artist who seemingly killed her husband in cold blood and then stopped speaking entirely. Fascinated with her case, psychotherapist Theo Faber gets a job at the mental health facility where she’s being held to try to get to the bottom of what really happened. That proves hard to do, however, when the only person who was there refuses to speak a word.

Sydney, a recently divorced Black woman who moved in with her sick mother to take care of her, is doing everything she can to fight against the gentrification of her new neighborhood. She decides to set up a tour of the neighborhood to showcase its Black history with her friend Theo. But as their neighbors start disappearing one by one, quickly replaced by new white residents, Sydney and Theo just might be in the crosshairs to vanish next.

Jen’s son, Todd, is just like any other teenage boy until she witnesses him kill a stranger on the street. When she wakes up the next day, though, she realizes she’s moving backwards in time. Living through the past gives her the chance to find out what happened to the boy she raised and what brought him to that street corner with the bloody knife. And maybe, she thinks, she can fix things before it’s too late.

After the disappearance of two women and a 6-year-old girl on the same day, their families are left wondering what happened. When Delilah, the little girl, escapes her captors and returns home 11 years later, her brother is skeptical. She’s different than he remembers, but 11 years is a long time, and going through something like that is sure to change someone, right?

When a struggling Nora Watts gets a call from a couple about their missing daughter, she’s not sure she wants to get involved. But seeing a picture of the teenage girl brings her back to her past, when she gave up her daughter for adoption years ago. Despite the fact the couple shouldn’t have had any way to know that information after it was sealed, Nora decides to help, using her lie-detector skills to figure out what happened to the girl after the police refuse to track down the “runaway” teenager.

After her law firm is raided by the FBI, Yolanda gives over information and takes a job with the Bureau. They ask her to infiltrate a Black environmental justice organization in California the Bureau has its sights on. But as she gets to know the group and the people in it, she realizes the truth might not be so straightforward after all.

When Molly, a maid at the Regency Grand with a keen attention to detail and a need for clear social rules, finds the body of a long-time resident Mr. Black, dead in his room, she becomes the police’s prime suspect. Now, with her gran recently dead and her financials in disrepair, Molly’s left struggling to prove her innocence. With her love for puzzles and a few friends she didn’t know she had, though, she’s determined to figure out the secrets lying beneath this tragedy in the hotel she loves so much.

Jules, a magazine publisher, and Will, a TV actor, want privacy for their wedding. So, they bring their wedding party to a tiny Irish island to tie the knot and celebrate their relationship. Quickly, the lack of cell phone service and interpersonal drama have everyone on edge. And then someone ends up dead.

Chloe is one of seven college students who are offered scholarships to participate in a study. She, along with the others, is a diagnosed Psychopath, and a psychologist at John Adams is running a study on their daily habits. All she has to do is wear a watch and track her moods. Easy enough, right? But when one of the students turns up dead, Chloe and the others have to work together to figure out who the killer is, no matter how hard trust is to come by.

High school senior Megan and her classmate Nicole went missing from a beach party a year before Megan emerged, alive and telling the story of being trapped in a bunker in the woods. She turns her story into a bestselling book, inspiring the nation with her perseverance. But Nicole’s sister, a forensic pathologist, finds another body that’s seemingly connected to Nicole and Megan’s case, and it doesn’t seem to stop there. Together she and Megan must figure out who’s responsible before another body winds up in the morgue.

Ever is a young Indigenous man with Cherokee, Kiowa, and Mexican heritage. He’s struggling to understand himself, his family, his cultural history, and his place in the world. The story unfolds through the POVs of everyone in his life — parents, lovers, friends, grandparents, neighbors. It’s a moving symphony of voices, and a beautiful story about loss and belonging.

Erdrich’s many books are all fantastic on audio — she reads many of them herself and is a wonderful narrator. But Gary Farmer shines in this one. It’s a moving, coming-of-age tale about an Ojibwe boy living on a reservation in northern Minnesota, struggling to make sense of his life after his family’s world is shattered by a terrible crime.

This is another wonderful kaleidoscopic book told from multiple POVs. Ruby is an Indigenous woman adopted by white parents as a baby, cut off from her birth family and culture. As a young woman, she longs to reconnect with them, but her journey back to herself is full of challenges. The story moves around in time, as the people who know Ruby — her birth and adoptive parents, friends, kids, lovers and ex-lovers — share the meaningful moments in their and Ruby’s life.

A beautiful, quiet story about the daily lives of an Inuit family in northern Quebec, this book was the first novel to be written in Inuktitut. It mostly follows a woman named Sanaaq through the ups and downs of her days: she goes seal hunting, prepares for winter, argues with her husband, tells stories.

This genre-defying novel is a brilliant blend of theory, philosophy, oral history, and intimate storytelling. The unnamed narrator is a queer Cree PhD student who, fed up with the unrelenting racism of the academy, abandons his dissertation and returns home to northern Alberta to write a novel. Belcourt’s sentences shine and shimmer and pop like only a poet’s can. It’s a short book that nevertheless delves deeply into questions of lineage, legacy, and the uses of writing itself.

You’re going to want to have the tissues ready while listening to this one. It’s a gorgeous story, full of moments of hope and connection and community, but it’s also heartbreaking. Set in Gundagai, Australia, in 1852, it’s about a young Aboriginal woman who’s forced to move away from her family after a flood destroys the home of the white family she’s working for. It’s a deeply painful story about the colonization of Australia, featuring one of the most specific, determined, and creative protagonists I’ve had the pleasure to meet in a long time.

This unique nonfiction book is a blend of memoir, Métis history, and journalism. The book centers on Porter’s search for a place for her brother to call home, and her investigation of the abuse he suffered while living in an Alberta group home. Interspersed with these intimate family stories, Porter shares pieces of Métis history, eventually telling a story that, like a river, grows stronger as it flows.

This intergenerational family saga begins with a Métis mother named Stella, who looks out her window one day and sees a possible crime taking place. From there, the narrative moves through a chorus of POVs, with everyone connected to the victim sharing their stories of what happened on and before that moment. It’s a powerful novel that illuminates the complex, interconnected lives of a group of diverse characters living in Winnipeg’s North End.

This linked story collection reads more like a novel — it has that sense of relentless momentum that propels novels forward. It’s a series of stories set on a Penobscot reservation in Maine, centering on one family and their struggles, messes, joys, heartbreaks, and triumphs. Talty is incredibly good at capturing the emotion underlying seemingly ordinary moments. His writing is vivid and sharp.

In this essential text about America’s past and present, Afro-Indigenous historian Kyle T. Mays explores the deeply intertwined histories of Black and Indigenous activism and resistance throughout American history. It’s a powerful account that invites listeners to imagine the possibilities inherent in Afro-Indigenous solidarity.

This middle grade fantasy follows the adventures of Nizhoni and her brother Mac. Nizhoni is sure her dad’s new boss is actually some kind of monster — he’s way too interested in their family’s Navajo heritage and stories — but it’s only after her dad disappears that Nizhoni and her brother realize just how much trouble they’re in.

Archie Roach was one of Australia’s most beloved singer-songwriters. In this memoir, he shares the story of his life: his forced removal from his home at the age of two, the foster families he grew up with, his search to find his people and reconnect with the world that had been stolen from him, and his extraordinary musical career.

Every so often I encounter a nonfiction book I want to thrust into the hands (or ears) of everyone I know, and this is one. Examining Indigenous history from 1890 to the present, Treuer deftly shatters the harmful myth that Native history “ended” with the Wounded Knee massacre. He delves into the many ways that Native people have been shaping America from the beginning. He doesn’t shy away from the many atrocities the U.S. government has committed against Indigenous people, but he goes into just as much detail about thriving Indigenous art, activism, politics, and culture.

This YA novel is so many things: a coming-of-age story, a family saga, an exploration of Ojibwe culture, and a murder mystery. Daunis is a biracial teenager who’s never felt at home anywhere, not in her small hometown or the neighboring Ojibwe reservation. She’s just trying to keep her head above water when she witnesses a murder — and she’s suddenly in the midst of a criminal investigation that will change her life, and her understanding of the world, forever.

This quiet yet chilling post-apocalyptic novel is even more haunting when read aloud. It’s set in a small Anishinaabe community in northern Canada. Suddenly, on the edge of winter, they lose all contact with the outside world — phone, internet, power. With no way to know what’s happening, they attempt to take care of themselves as best they can, facing threats from both within and without. It’s a post-apocalyptic novel with the slowest burn you’ll ever read.

This chilling supernatural crime novel, set in New Mexico, is equal parts thriller and moving character study. Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer who sometimes sees the ghosts of victims. She uses what they tell her to help solve crimes, often noticing small details that investigators overlook. It’s not long before her abilities get Rita in trouble, and force her to confront the ghosts of her own past.

In a work of nonfiction that’s equal parts history and memoir, Deborah A. Miranda explores the Mission Period in California, retelling old stories about the state’s history, centering Indigenous peoples instead of colonizers. It’s a collection of memories, fragments, stories, poems, and essays — powerful writing that uses the past to illuminate the present.

Master of horror Stephen Graham Jones has written so many books that it’s always hard to pick just one for a list! This extremely creepy novel is about four Blackfeet men, all of whom are haunted because of a terrible event in their past. Like so much of Jones’s work, this novel is a seamless blend of chilling suspense, rich character development, and social commentary.

These beautiful stories, songs, and poems about contemporary Indigenous life are funny and heartbreaking. In story after story, Simpson captures moments of intimacy, struggle, love, and despair. Her inventive storytelling makes this collection come alive, and it’s especially poignant on audio, as so many of the pieces feel like they’re meant to be experienced out loud.

Set in Nunavut in the 1970s, this haunting, dazzling novel is about an Inuk woman coming into herself amidst change and turmoil. The narrative does not unfold neatly or linearly. It’s a wonderfully propulsive surprise, a story grounded in landscape and family that also explores the emotional truths found in dreams and memories. Tagaq, who is a renowned throat singer, intersperses her throat singing with the narrative; it feels like a wordless, but essential, part of the story.

Adenrele Ojo captures the sinister and creepy vibes of Megan Giddings’ debut novel. To pay off her family’s colossal debt, Lena drops out of college and takes a job in Lakewood, Michigan, at a facility conducting mysterious research. What initially starts out to be an incredible deal for Lena to make great pay with incredible benefits turns into a terrifying experience as Lena begins to fully understand the devastating bargain she has made.

All-star narrator Robin Miles performs this perfect haunted house story. When Angela Toussaint’s son dies by suicide, she returns to the family home where her son died. As she searches for answers, she discovers new secrets about her family’s past that have her questioning everything she thought she knew about her family’s history. This is an incredibly spooky haunted house story that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat, just waiting to find out what happens next.

A 12-year-old boy sees what he believes to be his dead father walking down the hall of his house. This moment starts a series of harrowing events that mean that the boy must try to find the origins of the figure he saw and keep mysterious forces from ending his or his family’s lives. This spooky house story is contained in a short novella that will have you turning on all the lights in your house — too many things crawl about in the dark. Eric G Dove captures the unsettling vibes of the book to great effect.

In one of the creepiest stories set in Appalachia that I have read in a long time, Revelator weaves the story of a secret cult deep in the Tennessee Mountains. In 1933, Stella is left to be raised by her grandma. There she’s introduced to the god in the mountains that her family serves. She soon learns that she is to be the next Revelator, a title given to the women in her family who carry out the important job of communing with their god and sharing his revelations. Reagan Boggs narrates this dark American fairytale.

Perfect for you and the kids in your life, Ghost Squad follows Lucely Luna, a girl who can see the ghosts of her ancestors living with her in her house. But when a mysterious evil begins to make the spirit of her ghost family disappear, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, must team up to try to stop these sinister forces at work. I loved this performance by Almarie Guerra, which captures the joyous middle grade spirit of the story.

Is there anything more perfect than Tim Curry’s narration? For me, Sabriel is one of the first spooky books that I read and absolutely adored. Sabriel is just finishing up her studies at boarding school when she receives a message that her father, the Abhorsen in the Old Kingdom to the north, is in serious trouble. Sabriel’s family has long fought the necromancers who raise the dead and wreak havoc upon the citizens of the Old Kingdom. Now Sabriel must step up as the Abhorsen-in-waiting and find her father before it’s too late.

Neil Gaiman is just as good at performing his stories as he is writing them. In this middle grade novel, Nobody “Bod” Owens has lived his entire life in a graveyard raised by ghosts. They’ve educated him and cared for him, but Bod has always wondered about the world of the living. However, a mysterious figure lurks outside the graveyard, waiting for Bod to leave the protection of his childhood world so he can kill Bod, just like he murdered the rest of Bod’s family all those years ago.

Noemí receives a frantic letter from her cousin, who says she’s trapped by her new in-laws. So Noemí travels to High House, an estate owned by a white British family in the Mexican countryside. There she begins to suspect that something more is going on with her cousin’s new family. This book brings all of the 19th century gothic vibes to a new landscape equally full of looming, dangerous characters. Frankie Corzo does a fantastic job of evoking the deeply unsettling feel of this story.

Gideon the Ninth is a lesbian swordswoman living on a far-off planet in the depths of space. She belongs to the Ninth House, a group of necromancers who paint their faces as white skulls and who are house tasked with guarding the locked tomb. To escape the world of the locked tomb, Gideon makes a deal with her nemesis, Harrow, the lady of the Ninth House, to travel to a great meeting of all of the great houses being held on a different planet. This dark story turns into a locked room (locked tomb?) mystery as someone appears to be killing off all of the dignitaries. Moira Quirk performs this book so incredibly well, even capturing some of the plot twists in the voices of the characters before we even realize.

Julian Rhind-Tutt performs this ghost story, creating a lovely fairy tale-like feel. Olivia Prior has lived in an orphanage her entire life, wondering where her family is and if they would ever show up to take her out of such a horrible place. Then, what she always dreamed of comes true when a letter arrives from her uncle, asking for her to join him at the family estate, Gallant. There, Olivia discovers that her uncle is long dead, and her cousin is less than happy that she’s arrived. Now she must discover the secrets of her family’s past if she is to save any possibility of a future that they might have.

Set in Bombay in 1950, this novel follows Persis Wadia, the first female police detective in India, as she investigates the disappearance of the Bombay Royal Asiatic Society’s head curator and a priceless manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Persis’ investigation sends her down a path of unsolved murders, coded clues, and conspiracy.

In the summer of 2014, a killer has been stalking the streets of Newcastle, and the whole city is panicked, especially after the officer in charge of the case turns up dead. Now it’s up to Detective Chief Inspector Ryan to take on the case and uncover the murderer. While the police in Northumbria CID still see him as an outsider, he’s going to need all the help he can get to solve this case.

After her 25th birthday, Libby Jones returns home to find the letter she’s been waiting for her whole life: the true identity of her birth parents. But opening up that letter, Libby discovers way more than she could have anticipated. She now knows who her parents are, but she’s also inherited their abandoned mansion on Cheyne Walk on the banks of the Thames in London. But something strange happened in that mansion 25 years ago. Police arrived to find three dead bodies, one baby happily cooing in her bed, and the rest of the children missing.

Attica Locke’s The Cutting Season is a historical novel that includes not one but two mysteries to unravel. One involves a murder in Belle Vie, a historic plantation house in the heart of Louisiana’s Sugar Cane county. And the other involves a mystery from a hundred years earlier, when an enslaved person went missing from Belle Vie.

Dayna Anderson is just an actress looking to help her parents keep their house. She isn’t at all expecting to solve a murder. But after she witnesses a deadly hit-and-run and sees there’s a 15-grand reward for providing information, she jumps at the opportunity. And before she knows it, she gets wrapped up in the story of the victim’s life. Now it’s about more than money. She wants to solve the murder and avenge this poor woman’s death.

Everyone knows Sal Singh killed schoolgirl Andie Bell. The case was closed five years ago. But Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. So for her final year high school project, Pippa decides to get to the bottom of what really happy to Andie. She’s certain that Sal is innocent and the real killer is still out there. But the more she digs into the crime, the more she uncovers secrets that people in her town would rather keep hidden.

This mystery story is filled with magic and history. Set in the aftermath of the Civil War, this book follows Hetty Rhodes and her husband, Benjy, who were Conductors on the Underground Railroad. With the war now over, now the couple are channeling their skills into a new mission: investigating the crimes and murders that authorities would rather ignore. The sequel The Undertakers is also out now!

Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to join the Dublin Murder Squad. And that chance comes into his office when sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey shows up with a photo of a murdered boy with the caption “I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.” One year ago, the boy was found dead at a girl’s boarding school, but the case was never solved. Now Stephen is reopening the case, investigating Holly’s group of friends and their connection to the murdered boy. The book alternates between the present investigation and the events that happened a year ago leading up to the murder.

Everyone in Wakarusa, Indiana remembers what happened 20 years ago, when the body of six-year-old January Jacobs was discovered in a ditch. Now Margot Davies, who was January’s neighbor and the same age as her, has moved away to become a journalist in the big city. But what happened to January remains in the back of her mind, especially because she feels like that could have been her and because the killer has never been brought to justice. So when she hears that five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over has gone missing, Margot feels like she has to find Natalie and solve January’s murder.

Ky Tran will never forgive herself for convincing her parents to let her brother Denny go out to celebrate his high school graduation with friends. That’s because that night Denny was brutally murdered in the Lucky 8 restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta. Police are stumped by the murder. A dozen people were in the restaurant at the time, but everyone claims to have seen nothing. Desperate to find out what happened to her brother, Ky decides to track down the witnesses herself.

Jeanie is living in England, drinking too much, sleeping with a married man, and trying her best to keep the past out of her mind. But it just won’t let her go. Twenty years ago, her father came home covered in blood, and the next day, he and Jeanie’s twin brother Jamie were gone. Now someone from her past has returned, claiming to have tracked down her father. Should Jeanie keep running from her past, or is it time for her to finally confront her father and find out what happened to her brother all those years ago?

This mystery novel is about a parent who finds herself in a terrible situation. One night, Jen Brotherhood witnesses her son Todd murder a man in the street. Soon, her teenage son is taken into custody. But then Jen wakes up the next morning, and it’s a day earlier, and the murder hasn’t happened yet. Now, Jen finds herself in a time loop, waking up a day earlier, a day before a murder. Now she’ll have to find out if there’s any way to prevent a murder before it happens.

In the secret tunnels beneath the heart of London, there is a mysterious group of detectives recruited for Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries. Marion Lane is a first-year Inquirer-in-training who finds herself drawn into a strange case. Late one night, a filing assistant for Miss Brickett’s received a letter warning her that something terrible was about to happen. But when she goes to investigate at the stroke of midnight, she is murdered by a killer she can’t see.

Sydney Green was born and raised in Brooklyn, but she’s unsettled by the recent changes she’s seeing in her neighborhood. People she’s known all her life are disappearing, and all of these richer white people are moving in. Is Sydney Green being paranoid? Or maybe there really is a conspiracy to push people out of the neighborhood.

Bronwyn Crewse is a recent MBA graduate who has now taken over her family’s ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Unfortunately, renovating the shop takes longer than expected, and Win ends up opening her shop just as the first snow is falling in the village. Needless to say, she doesn’t get many customers that first day. To make matters worse, later that day Win discovers the dead body of a man who had an old feud with the Crewse family. It doesn’t take long for the family to be implicated in the murder.

Paloma was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, and ever since then she has had the best that money could offer. But now that she’s thirty and newly cut off from her parent’s funds, she decides to sublet her San Francisco apartment to Arun, who has recently moved to the States from India. But when Arun discovers Paloma’s secret, something that might destroy everything she has built for herself in this country, she knows she has to get rid of him. Too bad she doesn’t get the chance. Before she gets the chance to talk to him, she finds Arun dead in a pool of blood. She flees the apartment, but the police find no body and no evidence that Arun ever existed.

The Thursday Murder Club is made up of a group of unlikely friends who solve cold cases together. There most recent mystery is a decade-old cold case that becomes red hot when a new foe pays one of them a visit. Suddenly no one in the club feels safe. Will the gang be able to solve the case before the killer strikes again? This is the third in a series; to start at the beginning, pick up The Thursday Murder Club.

If you enjoy audiobooks that sound a little more like true crime podcasts (like Sadie by Courtney Summers), then check out this audio mystery. Cleo Ray is a glamorous influencer who’s invented a magnetic persona and created a life for herself in Los Angeles. Then one summer day, Cleo takes a canoe ride with a woman named Beck Alden. An hour later, Beck is found dead in the water and Cleo is nowhere to be found. Who was Beck? Was her murder an accident? And if Cleo is responsible for the woman’s death, why would she risk everything she’s built for herself to murder this person?

Georgie, Lissa, and Bronwyn have been best friends since they met on the college swim team. But now, somehow Lissa, the strongest swimmer they know, has drowned. Could it possibly be an accident? Or is one of them secretly a murderer? As funeral guests gather at the fabulous island resort Lissa owned with her husband, nobody knows who to trust. And Lissa’s death was only the beginning.

We’re rounding out this list with the Dervla McTiernan’s latest, which is inspired by a true story. When Hannah Rokeby joins the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia, it seems like she’s there to help. But she has her sights set on one specific case: Michael Dandridge, who has served11 years in prison for the rape and murder of a young mother. Dandridge claims a confession was forced out of him, but Hannah will stop at nothing to stop his conviction from being overturned.