Booklist Reader

Published by Booklist, an imprint of the American Library Association. Booklist Reader features diverse book and audiobook recommendations, for readers and listeners of all ages. Filled with high-interest, themed lists that showcase books for your family or book discussion group.

From the Editor & Publisher

Booklist Reader

True Crime and Covertly Criminal Fiction • Crime fascinates us, and the questions criminality raises are endless. Works of true crime are ascending in variety, literary excellence, and popularity, making true crime a magnet for book discussions. We’re recommending recent nonfiction titles that illuminate crimes personal, political, ecological, culinary, and corporate. On the fiction front, we sought alternatives to the crime genre, selecting compelling mainstream and literary novels catalyzed by wrongdoing and focused on the impact of crime and punishment on individuals, family, and society. We hope these exceptional, inquisitive, and disquieting works inspire exciting and enlightening dialogues.

Crime Fiction • Whether it’s twisting plots, wracking psychological tension, new versions of noir, or sensitive explorations of contemporary themes, these top crime novels have something for every mystery-loving reader.

Crime Fiction Debuts • These outstanding crime-fiction debuts introduce a group of writers who show the genre’s adaptability in both taking the form in new directions and exploring themes of great social significance.

Women of the SOE • Winston Churchill created a secret organization called the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe. Many spy stories about the Resistance have focused on the SOE over the years, but, recently, there has been a spate of outstanding novels, often combining romance and espionage, that emphasize the crucial role of women in the organization’s activities. This list highlights those books and a few earlier titles, several of which are based on the exploits of reallife women.

Writer’s Backstory What Are You, Anyway?

LIBRARY READS • September 2021 - The top ten books published this month that library staff across the country love.

September 2021 • The LibraryReads Hall of Fame designation honors authors who have had multiple titles appear on the monthly LibraryReads list since 2013. When their third title places on the list via library staff votes, the author moves into the Hall of Fame.

Mysteries for Youth • Murders, kidnappings, missing valuables, and corporate malfeasance are just a few of the crimes at the center of these excellent mysteries and thrillers for kids and teens.

Dark Academia • Mystery is a genre that loves being mashed up with others—because who doesn’t love a good mystery?—and one particular mashup is thriving: the boarding school mystery. Inspired by three 2021 titles that bring darkness and suspense to boarding school (see sidebar), we compiled the below list of not-so-cozy mysteries that take place at elite academies, home to secret societies, cryptic histories, and—of course—murder.

Writer’s Backstory Puzzling It Out

Children & Teens • Get your hands on these hotly anticipated books, all out this month.

Artful Adaptation • Graphic adaptations are nothing new—Classics Illustrated, anyone?—but the past several years have seen a wave of unusually artful adaptations, which not only illustrate characters and action but use the comics medium to powerfully reshape and enhance the original text. The following titles, a mix of books for adults and teens, not only solidly stand alone from their source material but make exceptionally good use of artwork and paneling to bring out new elements and features of the original.

Mysteries & Thrillers • These mysteries and thrillers on...