Table of contents for September 2025 in Booklist Reader

One of the world’s most prolific and successful writers, Anthony Horowitz may have committed more (fictional) murders than any other living author, working across all media formats, from books to TV, film, plays, and journalism. In January 2022 he was awarded a CBE for his services to literature. He has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; three James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day, and With a Mind to Kill; the mystery novels featuring book editor Susan Ryeland: Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders, and now Marble Hall Murders, and the Detective Hawthorne novels: The Word is Murder, The Sentence Is Death, A Line To Kill, The Twist of a Knife, and Close to Death. He is also the author of the teen…

All This and More. By Peng Shepherd. Morrow. Shepherd’s speculative thriller combines a fascinating cast of characters with a can’t-miss idea—a reality show that allows contestants to try out different versions of their lives. Bad Liar. By Tami Hoag. Dutton. Hoag perfectly captures the dark, steamy atmosphere of the Louisiana bayous and the claustrophobia of small-town life in this five-star read with a sucker-punch ending. Beautiful Ugly. By Alice Feeney. Flatiron. Feeney mixes gothic atmosphere on a remote Scottish island with two possibly unreliable narrators, a woman who may or may not be dead, and a plot that delivers suspense like an IV drip. The Bitter Truth. By Shanora Williams. Dafina. A wealthy heiress uncovers the truth about her calculating politician husband in Williams’ chilling, breathlessly paced, and twisty thriller.…

In September, PBS Books Readers Club welcomes award-winning author Silvia Moreno-Garcia to discuss her brand-new thriller The Bewitching, and her best-seller, Mexican Gothic. The episode premieres on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 8pm E.T. on PBS Books Facebook, PBS Books YouTube channel, pbsbooks.org, and the PBS app. Dark, elegant, and deeply atmospheric, The Bewitching blends literary horror with folkloric dread, drawing readers into a web of obsession, memory, and witchcraft. Moreno-Garcia masterfully crafts a narrative where the supernatural isn’t just a threat—it’s a legacy. The PBS Books Readers Club will also explore the eerie brilliance of Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, a lush and chilling gothic novel set in 1950s Mexico, where ancestral power, colonial history, and biological horror converge in a crumbling mansion and the monstrous secrets hiding behind decaying walls. Together,…

Benny on the Case. By Wesley King. 2025. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman. Gr. 3–6. Friends Benny Brooks, who has mosaic Down syndrome, and new-girl Salma are introduced in this cozy mystery, in which a series of thefts threatens a local retirement home. Benny and Salma lean into a love of true-crime podcasts and start their own investigation. Chester Keene Cracks the Code. By Kekla Magoon. 2022. Random/Wendy Lamb. Gr. 4–7. Quiet, methodical Chester is honing his spy skills to follow in his absent father’s footsteps. His dad’s latest cryptic communiqué brings Chester a mystery-solving partner in Skye, but is the duo ready to go where these clues lead? An emotionally intelligent caper for fans of scavenger hunts, puzzles, and stories of building new family. The Curious League of Detectives and…

Alebrijes. By Donna Barba Higuera. Illus. by David Álvarez. 2023. Levine Querido. Gr. 5–8. Set on a desolate Earth, Higuera’s immersive sf adventure takes a more dystopian approach to similar themes. When impoverished Leandro is arrested for stealing, one of his captors transfers the boy’s mind into a hummingbird drone and releases him to complete a secret mission. Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont. By Nick Brooks. 2022. Union Square Kids. Gr. 4–6. Both the premise and the spirit of the film E.T. live on in this tale of a talented young inventor who finds a small, cute, stranded alien hiding in an abandoned factory, then sets out to fix its spaceship before the grown-ups and the authorities catch on. The Superteacher Project. By Gordon Korman. 2023. HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray. Gr.…

Nonfiction Alimentar a los fantasmas / Feeding Ghosts. By Tessa Hulls. Tr. Juan Naranjo. Reservoir. Artist/writer/adventurer and now Pulitzer Prize–winner Hulls presents her debut graphic memoir in 400 dense, black-and-white pages that explore mental illness, dysfunctional bonds, inherited trauma, and cultural disconnects across generations. Ante la violencia sexual infantil / In the Face of Child Sexual Violence. By Karla Barrios. Editorial Terracota. Focusing attention on support networks and tools for building resilience, Barrios lays the foundations for understanding what child sexual violence is, the context in which abuse develops, and how abuse can be hidden in plain sight. El arte de la pareja / The Art of the Couple. By Alejandra Llamas. Delbolsillo. Whether they are part of a couple or not, life coach Llamas encourages readers to embrace the…

Find out more at ww.LibraryReads.org/HOF…

All This and More. By Peng Shepherd. Read by Helen Laser. 2024. HarperAudio. Jump around among chapters to hear Laser, a remarkable cipher, deftly navigate Marsh (a discontented divorcée with a cheating ex, a distant teen, and an unsatisfying paralegal career) through various iterations of her stint on a reality-TV show. Butter. By Asako Yuzuki. Tr. by Polly Barton. Read by Hanako Footman. 2024. HarperAudio. British Japanese actor Footman’s facility with Japanese enhances Yuzuki’s mystery, conflating a murder with the 2011 butter shortage. The Case of the Elusive Bombay Duck. By Tarquin Hall. Read by Vikas Adam. 2025. Blackstone. Adam takes over from the previous series narrator with panache as he ably narrates the exploits of “India’s most private detective” with a range of intonations and accents. Don’t Tell Me…

Benny on the Case. By Wesley King. 2025. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman. Gr. 3–6. Friends Benny and Salma harness their love of true-crime podcasts as they endeavor to solve a string of thefts at a retirement home. Cream Buns and Crime: Tips, Tricks, and Tales from the Detective Society. By Robin Stevens. 2024. Simon & Schuster. Gr. 4–7. This compilation from supersleuths Daisy and Hazel helps young readers become detectives by sharing resources containing story, instructions, and history on the topic. A Darker Mischief. By Derek Milman. 2024. Scholastic. Gr. 9–12. In this queer dark-academia mystery, closeted sophomore Cal transfers to Essex Academy, where he joins a secret society and discovers its secrets. Death at Morning House. By Maureen Johnson. 2024. HarperTeen. Gr. 9–12. Featuring dual time lines with a…

Older Exquisite Things. By Abdi Nazemian. Harper. Gr. 9–12. Nazemian transcends time in this novel on queer love and community during Oscar Wilde’s indecency trial in London, in 1920s Boston, and back to London and the 1980s AIDs epidemic. I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This. By Eugene Yelchin. Art by the author. Candlewick. Gr. 9–12. Yelchin follows up his 2021 memoir, The Genius under the Table, with this account of his attempts to leave the USSR to seek freedom overseas—and the drastic measures he took to do so. If Looks Could Kill. By Julie Berry. Simon & Schuster. Gr. 9–12. Protean Printz Honor winner Berry’s latest is a hypnotizing historical fiction blending true crime, revenge, girl reporters, Jack the Ripper, and Medusa. Loudmouth: Emma Goldman vs. America (a…

Those who revel in cozy mysteries know that a clever hook carries an irresistible charm. And what hook could be more intriguing, yet more palatable to our delicate sensibilities, than a detective novel showcasing one of Jane Austen’s very own heroines or a setting in the genteel countryside society of her era? Although readers have taken pleasure in P. D. James’ Death Comes to Pemberley since 2011, recent years have seen a marked increase in other crime novels and series led by bold young women navigating the Regency world, cozies best enjoyed with a scone and spot of tea. Act like a Lady, Think like a Lord. By Celeste Connally. 2023. Minotaur. When Lady Petra attends a springtime ball, peers report that her friend, Gwen, is dead, but a footman suggests…

Fiction The Academy. By Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham. Little, Brown. Hilderbrand’s first post-Nantucket novel, written with her daughter, follows a year in the life of the students and staff at a tony New England prep school, where gossip and secrets reign. Among the Burning Flowers. By Samantha Shannon. Bloomsbury. Shannon’s latest in her mega-best-selling Roots of Chaos series (starting with The Priory of the Orange Tree) explores events preceding the fire-breathing Nameless One’s return in her fantastical world. Circle of Days. By Ken Follett. Grand Central. In this stand-alone from the author of wildly popular historical series, Follett imagines the lives of ancient people who created Stonehenge. Framed in Death. By J. D. Robb. St. Martin’s. Thirty years after Eve Dallas first appeared (in Naked in Death), the intrepid…

Bad to Blue: The True Story of a Chinatown Gangster Turned NYPD Detective. By Michael Moy. Blackstone. Moy gave up and concealed his allegiance to the trans-national Fuk Ching gang and joined the NYPD, a fateful decision that was fraught with danger as he served with distinction for 25 years. Bear Witness: A Crusade for Justice in a Violent Land. By Ross Halperin. Norton/Liveright. In Nueva Suyapa, one of the poorest and most dangerous barrios in the Honduran capital, American sociologist Kurt Ver Beek and Honduran schoolteacher Carlos Hernández were fed up with the fear that gripped their community, so they formed a secret group to help end the violence and corruption. The Boy from Tiger Bay: A True Story of Murder, Betrayal, and a Fight for Justice. By Ceri…

Booth: Taking on the narration of a beloved series must have been a challenge! How did you prepare for this role? Adam: It was definitely daunting because the absolutely brilliant Sam Dastor, for whom I have such great respect, established these characters. If I were to try to replicate what he had done, it would affect my connection with the world, so it was a matter of listening to what he had done, then trying to incorporate that with my particular energy, choices, and interpretation of the text. Booth: You do a lot of narrations for young listeners, but you’re also a frequent narrator of significantly weighty titles for adults. Is there anything you’ve learned from performing youth narrations that you bring to adult titles, or vice versa? Adam: Just…

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone. By Jaclyn Moriarty. Illus. by Karl James Mountford. 2018. Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. Gr. 4–6. Bronte hasn’t heard from her parents since they left her in Aunt Isabelle’s care, and 10 years later, she learns they’ve been killed by pirates. Thanks to their eccentric will, she’s compelled to make a solo journey to visit her other 10 aunts, encountering a number of twists and high jinks along the way. The Hidden Dragon. By Melissa Marr. 2023. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen. Gr. 5–8. The Tempest is where Ottilie, or “Otter,” is most comfortable, sailing the seas with her dads and collecting dragon hides for the royal guard. But when Otter encounters street-smart stowaway London, she soon learns that not all is fair in the kingdom and that the…