If you liked “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie...

 

“One by One” by Ruth Ware

After getting snowed in at a scenic mountain chalet, employees of a music app company begin to go missing or turn up dead. Alternating between the perspectives of one of the employees and a chalet staff member, the reader learns about the relationships between staff members and the secrets that begin to surface. Ruth Ware has been marketed as a “modern Agatha Christie” for her work in the genre, and the similarities are even more apparent in this book.

 

 

“The Westing Game” by Emily Raskin

This is a book you’ll find in our Middle Grade section, but it carries just as much intrigue as an Agatha Christie novel. Sixteen seemingly unrelated people are invited to the reading of Samuel Westing’s will. Those 16 people were selected to be sold apartments in the area, but after they turn up and the wealthy, game-loving Westing dies, they learn they’re potential heirs to his will. They’re all given $10,000, paired off and given a set of baffling clues that lead to the solving of Westing’s death and the entirety of his $200 million fortune and company.

If you liked “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte

This classic rags-to-riches story is full of love and suspense, with our “Plain Jane” heroine a force to be reckoned with. The stories below all share similar themes and storylines as the classic, but emphasize the romance or suspense to bring new edges to the tale.

 

 “The Duchess Deal” by Tessa Dare

This book is your standard, cheesy regency romance, but has similar elements to “Beauty and the Beast” and “Jane Eyre.” The Duke of Ashbury needs a wife, and when vicar’s-daughter-turned-seamstress Emma Gladstone appears in his library wearing the wedding dress intended for his ex-betrothed, he chooses her for the position. Scarred physically from war and emotionally from his prior relationship, Ashbury has strict rules for their marriage agreement, ones that Emma wants nothing more than to break down.

 

 “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier

Another classic, “Rebecca” has a similar storyline to “Jane Eyre,” but with more of a gothic atmosphere. The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where Rebecca is swept off her feet by wealthy widower Maxim de Winter. After moving to his country estate, Rebecca begins to feel haunted by the shadow of his popular deceased wife. And as Rebecca learns more secrets, she realizes all is not as it seems at Manderley. These two books’ heroines share a lot in common, but Rebecca faces her demons in gothic atmosphere.

 

 “The Wife Upstairs” by Rachel Hawkins

In this modern take on “Jane Eyre” with hints of du Maurier’s “Rebecca,” this Jane is a broke dog-walker in the gated community of Thornfield Estates in Alabama. Recently widowed Eddie Rochester, Thornfield’s most mysterious resident, falls for Jane. But as time goes on, Jane becomes haunted by the legend of Rochester’s wife, who owned her own southern lifestyle brand. This tale takes the set-up of “Jane Eyre,” but flips the script with forbidden romance, a twisty love triangle, and plenty of suspense.

Purr-fect Books for Cat Lovers

 

Cats make for some excellent companions, both in and out of books.

The books below all feature feline friends readers will want to cozy right up with. So grab a blanket, make a warm beverage of choice, pick up one of these books, and, for bonus points, enjoy them with your own favorite feline in your lap.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Nana the cat doesn't know why he's going on a road trip with his beloved owner, Satoru. The pair drives around Japan throughout the year visiting Satoru's old friends, including a brusque farmer, a couple that runs a pet-friendly B&B, and a widower who just lost his cat-loving wife. They even meet a special dog who forces Nana to reassess her disdain of his species. This book is a heart-rending story about friendship across species as Nana learns the true meaning behind this extended trip.

The Cat Who Saved Books by  Sōsuke Natsukawa

High school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the used bookstore he inherited from his bookworm grandfather when a cat named Tiger appears with a strange request: he needs Natsuki's help to save books. The world is full of lonely books left unread by their owners, and it is now this pair's duty to liberate those books from their neglectful owners. They enter mazes, meet book-owers who are unwittingly torturing their books or leaving them to gain dust, and must face a final challenge to a realm where only the bravest may enter.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

How many lives can one cat touch? This true story of a library cat in a small American town is one any book and cat lover should read. A few-week-old cat was stuffed into the book return slot at the Spencer, Iowa, Library. The next morning, he was found by Library Director Vicki Myron, who survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare and an alcoholic husband. The cat, whom she named Dewey Readmore Books, won the hearts of Myron and her staff. As Dewey became a source of warmth and pride for this small struggling community, he grew to fame around the world.

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun

This book is less heartwarming than the others, but this mystery series featuring an investigative reporter and an unlikely feline sidekick are sure to scratch the itch of any cat lover. In this first installment, reporter Jim Qwillerman is newly back to his job by covering the art scene. He accepts an apartment offer with the newspaper's resident art critic, the notoriously harsh and enemy-ridden George Bonifield Mountclemens. It's also where he meets Koko, a male Siamese cat who can apparently read backwards. The books that follow in this series feature the man and cat duo as they travel around and help solve the crimes they come across — the first of which in this book is the death of Koko's owner, Mountclemens.