March 9, 2024 – Must-Reads for March

Must-Reads for March

March 9, 2025 at 7pm ET

Jacqueline Faber
Tess Gerritsen
Andrew Ludington
Gigi Pandian

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Jacqueline Faber

Jacqueline Faber holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Emory University and has taught at New York University. Her work explores questions about memory, loss, language, and desire. Steeped in philosophical, psychological, and literary themes, her writing is grounded in studies of character.

She lives with her family in Los Angeles. The Department is her debut novel.

The Department

Philosophy professor Neil Weber can’ t think of one good reason to get up in the morning. His wife has left him, his academic research has sputtered, and the prospect of tenure is more remote than ever.

Until Lucia Vanotti disappears.

A college student at the Southern university where Neil teaches, Lucia has a secret of her own— one that haunts her relationships and leads to destructive, reckless behavior. When Neil is drawn into the mystery of her disappearance, he finds himself suddenly relevant again. But at what cost? Each clue pulls him deeper into Lucia’ s dark past, but also into the hidden lives of his closest friends and colleagues.

What drove Lucia to risk everything? And why does Neil, a professor who hardly knew her, care to find her? From campus classrooms to sex dens to backwoods hideaways, The Department shows the world through the eyes of Lucia and Neil as they descend into obsession, delusion, and the dangerous terrain of memory— uncovering the trauma that drives them to behave in ways even they themselves could never have predicted.

Tess Gerritsen

Trained as a medical doctor, Tess Gerritsen built a second career as an internationally bestselling novelist.

Her 32 novels include The Spy Coast, Gravity, and The Surgeon. She has won both the Nero Wolfe Award (for Vanish) and the Rita Award (for The Surgeon). Time Magazine named The Surgeon one of the best mystery/thrillers ever written. Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles.” Her novels are translated into 40 languages and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world. She lives in Maine.

The Summer Guests

When former spy Maggie Bird retired to the seaside hamlet of Purity, Maine, she settled in for a quiet life with breathtaking views. But enemies from her past soon threatened to destroy everything. Maggie survived, thanks to her wits and the collective intelligence of the Martini Club, the circle of ex-CIA friends in her cocktail-sipping book club. Their handiwork, however, caught the attention of young police chief Jo Thibodeau. Now Jo and her neighborhood ex-spies have an uneasy alliance. After a teenager vanishes–and Maggie’s neighbor becomes the prime suspect–she joins the investigation, determined to prove her friend’s innocence. But the girl’s wealthy family pushes for an arrest. And when authorities discover a long-dead corpse in a nearby pond, the case becomes doubly complicated, with unthinkable ties to long-buried secrets. As Jo grapples with two unexplained mysteries, the Martini Club races to uncover the truth behind shadowy secrets…before more lives are lost.

Andrew Ludington

Andrew Ludington writes transportive adventure stories intended to make you forget your commute. He graduated from Kenyon College with a BA in English Literature and lives in Evanston, IL where he moonlights as a technologist for Northwestern University. Splinter Effect is his first novel.

Splinter Effect

Smithsonian archaeologist Rabbit Ward travels through time on sponsored expeditions to the past to secure precious artifacts moments before they are lost to history. Although exceptional at his job, Rabbit is not without faults. In a spectacular failure twenty years ago, he lost both the menorah of the second temple and his hot-headed mentee, Aaron. So, when new evidence reveals the menorah’s reappearance in 6th century Constantinople, Rabbit seizes the chance for redemption.

But from the moment he arrives in the past, things start to go wrong. Rabbit quickly finds out that his prime competition, an unlicensed and annoyingly appealing “stringer” named Helen, is also in Constantinople hunting the menorah. And that’s only the beginning. The oppressed Jewish population of the city is primed for revolution, Constantinople’s leading gang seems to have it out for Rabbit personally, and someone local is interested enough in the menorah to kill for it.

As the past closes in on him and his previous failures compound, will Rabbit be able to recover the menorah before it’s once again lost in time? With new and old dangers alike hiding behind every corner, time might just be up for Rabbit’s redemption—and possibly his life.

Gigi Pandian

Gigi Pandian is a USA Today bestselling author and locked-room mystery enthusiast who’s been awarded Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Derringer awards, and been a finalist for the Edgar.

Gigi writes the Accidental Alchemist mysteries (humorous mysteries with a touch of magic), the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries (lighthearted adventures steeped in history), and the Secret Staircase mysteries (locked-room mysteries called “wildly entertaining” by the New York Times). She lives in Northern California with her husband and a gargoyle who watches over the backyard garden.

The Library Game

Tempest Raj couldn’t be happier that the family business, Secret Staircase Construction, is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Known for enchanting architectural features like sliding bookshelves and secret passageways, the company is now taking on a dream project: transforming a home into a public library that celebrates history’s greatest fictional detectives. Though the work is far from done, Gray House Library’s new owner is eager to host a murder mystery dinner and literary themed escape room. But when a rehearsal ends with an actor murdered and the body vanishes, Tempest is witness to a seemingly impossible crime. Fueled by her grandfather’s Scottish and Indian meals, Tempest and the rest of the crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game. Multiple award winning author Gigi Pandian masterfully weaves wit and warmth in the Secret Staircase Mysteries. Readers will delight in the surprises Secret Staircase Construction uncovers behind the next locked door.