The Best New Book Releases Out April 16, 2024

In this contemporary gothic thriller, Kenetria Nash is trying to bring fresh life into her career as a historical preservationist after a mental health breakdown because her dissociative identity disorder threatened it years ago. She’s determined to excel in her new position as caretaker to a historic home, but realizes something strange once she arrives at the castle: she’s been there before. What’s more, a person from her past — who had a big hand in her breakdown — shows up, and when he ends up dead, Kenetria is the main suspect.

I feel like this cult Japanese bestseller is bound to be popular now that it’s been translated and is available stateside. In it, gourmet cook Manako Kajii is in a Tokyo detention center, having been convicted of killing several lonely businessmen, whom she is said to have tempted with her cooking. She’s refused to speak to the press, except for journalist Rika Machida, who writes to her asking about a beef stew recipe. Now, Machida is more of a ramen-every-night kinda gal, but thinks the visits that she starts having with Kaiji will get the woman to open up. She finds she’s the one who starts to be changed, instead.

This is a hot tamale of a release — all the mystery/thriller girlies are excited about it. It follows Annie “Anh Le” Shaw, who grew up poor but now seems to have it all — a great career, a nice house, and a loving husband and daughter. But, when her Vietnam War refugee mother dies, Annie’s world begins to unravel, and the OCD she’d thought she had rid herself of years ago is back in full force. Thing is, things might not just be imagined this time. When a well-known art patron vanishes, Annie is a suspect, and, doubting her own innocence, puts distance between herself and her loved ones. Well, that distance culminates in her waking up one day, naked and in a hotel room next to a dead body. The police obviously have questions, but it’s not clear if Annie can give them real answers.

The author is recovering from OCD herself, which I think is important to add because mental health issues aren’t always handled well, but Nguyen’s experiences add a fortifying layer of realness to the story.

Another mystery/thriller for you is While We Were Burning by Sara Koffi, which takes place in Memphis, TN, and is being described as a combination of Parasite and Such a Fun Age.

This collection of stories from Philip K. Dick Award finalist Cotman mixes the mundane with the fantastical while exploring what it means to live as a Black person. There’s a rural town with an authoritarian tree, friends hashing out their differences while stranger and stranger things keep happening in the Mexican restaurant they’re in, and a day of LARPing that turns existential. Cotman works humor and whimsy into each of these character-driven tales, even as the mood turns somber.

Here, four brilliant sisters — all of whom are in their 30s and with PhDs — reunite for the first time in years to find their geologist sister who abruptly disappears. The Flattery sisters, whose parents died tragically when they were young, lead very separate lives everywhere from Connecticut to London, and the reason why becomes clear once they gather in the dilapidated house they stay in while searching for their sister. Old traumas resurface as they look for a sister who wants to stay missing.