Recs if you like The Chestnut Man...

Here's every book so far from BOTM's monthly shortlist since February 2015 for anyone who wants to read them all like I do!

I couldn’t find one and I wanted one. So now I am making one. A new crime adventure, as I have read exactly zero of these on creation of this list.

Ethical murder solving from your couch without joining your local police department.

This list is about fictional families which break your heart, make your heart and reveal parts of you, you never knew existed. Its about love and dysfunction and how they often come packaged together.

This is a list of books that are more psychological horrors/horrifying where we see how horrible humans really are

Bonjour, olá, hallo - these books are set all across Europe. From the coast of Portugal to the beautiful Caucasus and from freezing Scandinavia to the islands of the Mediterranean. Mostly fiction, a few non-fiction (mostly memoirs) in there :) Recommendations welcome!

Think the Nordic life is all about the cozy comforts of hygge? These books will make you think again. They focus on darker side of mysteries, thrillers and suspense. Featuring tortured detectives, highly disturbed murderers, inhospitable environments and meticulously insidious crimes!

All books written by authors from Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway (one might be from Estonia but oh well).

Books that are part of a series I’ve only included the first book

These are books where, even though it seems like the family ties are broken beyond repair, the messy and sometimes down right hurtful wounds gets healed. (From any genres, if it made me feel healed family vibes it is here)

I’m an audiobook lover, and I’m always looking for great audiobooks! Rather than just listing my favorites, I thought I’d make a list of audiobooks that have won Audie Awards from 2016-2020.

There are so many, so I stuck to specific categories. Not all categories are in all years, so there is some inconsistency. I included the following categories:

• Audiobook of the year
• Autobiography/Memoir
• Erotica
• Spanish
• Fantasy
• Fiction
• History/Biography
• Humor
• Horror
• Literary Fiction
• Classics
• Middle Grade
• Mystery
• Nonfiction
• Romance
• Science Fiction
• Short Stories/Collections
• Thriller/Suspense
• YA/Teens
• Paranormal

More info in the comments!

Happy listening!

books that are the basis for adaptations and other book-related films and TV shows being released in the U.S. in May 2026

All the books I’ve read that have been adapted into a movie or TV show.

Death and destruction and cool detectives

get yourself a cup of whatever, a blanket and one of these 👇🏻

These sinister, spine-tingling, sensational novels may be standalones or part of a deeper, darker series, but they are all phenomenal and well deserving of a shout-out. More will be added to this list as I come across them, and I am always open for book recs.