Internationally acclaimed author Jesse Q. Sutanto writes across genres and for all ages. Her fiction to date includes the middle grade Theo Tan series and several young adult novels. The latter include revenge-thriller The Obsession (2021), campus mystery The New Girl (2022), and laugh-out-loud rom com Well That Was Unexpected (2022). All draw inspiration from the author’s own Chinese-Indonesian heritage and life spent between Jakarta and Singapore. Adult readers may know Sutanto best for break-the-mold detective stories like Dial A for Aunties and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, both of which have been optioned for screen adaptations by major studios. Sutanto and her Chinese shopkeeper-turned-sleuth Vera Wong won the Edgar Award for Best Original Paperback and Audie Award for Mystery in 2024. Wong will be back this April in Sutanto’s newest release, Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man). The Seattle Times raves: “Sutanto proves once again that no crime — or nosy auntie — is too big to handle.”

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David Housewright is one of Minnesota’s best-known and most prolific mystery writers. His breakout debut, Penance, marks its thirtieth anniversary in 2025. Penance introduced readers to private investigator Holland Taylor, the first of Housewright’s indelible detective heroes, and won Housewright the Mystery Writers of America’s prestigious Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1996. Practice to Deceive (1997), the sophomore outing for Holland Taylor, garnered Housewright his first Minnesota Book Award. Housewright is also the pen behind Rushmore “Mac” McKenzie, a Saint Paul cop-turned-investigator with an acerbic wit and an independent fortune which allows him to pursue cases out of a sense of justice, rather than financial gain. Two installments in the ongoing Mac McKenzie series, Jelly’s Gold (2009) and Curse of the Jade Lily (2012), also won the Minnesota Book Award. Housewright’s latest page-turners include Man in the Water (2024), a whodunit that picks up with a body but no crime scene, motive, or suspects – and in fact, no proof of murder at all.

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Fiction phenom Alison Espach is the author behind The Wedding People, a genre-straddling novel which holds company with the most anticipated and bestselling books of 2024. When newly minted divorcée Phoebe Stone arrives alone to the posh Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, she finds herself an accidental wedding crasher. Surprise follows surprise as Phoebe strikes up a unique rapport with bride Lila, who needs a confidante every bit as much as her last-minute bridesmaid. People calls it “a feel-good testament to the life-altering magic of chance meetings.” Early honors for The Wedding People included selection as a TODAY Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club pick, as a Barnes and Noble Book Club Pick, and as the #1 Indie Next Pick for August 2024. It has been published in more than 20 countries to date. Alison Espach’s prior novels include Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, a Chicago Tribune and NPR “Best Book of 2022,” as well as The Adults (2011), a New York Times Editor’s Choice.

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Chart-topping novelist Ann Napolitano is the author behind some of the decade’s best contemporary fiction. Early career standouts include Within Arm’s Reach (2004), her first in a succession of poignant family dramas, as well as A Good Hard Look (2011), a fictionalized biography of Southern icon Flannery O’Connor. Napolitano reached a still wider audience with Dear Edward (2020), an instant New York Times bestseller and TODAY Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club pick. It was included on best books of the year lists from publications as varied as The Washington Post, Woman’s World, and LibraryReads. Centered on Edward Adler, the sole survivor of a plane crash, Dear Edward is the basis for an Apple TV+ drama of the same name. Napolitano’s follow-up, Hello Beautiful, is “a family drama with echoes of classics like Little Women but characters that are distinctly written.” This loving homage to Louisa May Alcott’s magnus opus is a must-read exploration of sisterhood, betrayal, and the ties that bind us. Hello Beautiful holds a unique distinction as Oprah’s 100th Book Club pick.

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Mai Corland is a Korean American author, born in Seoul and adopted in New York. She is a Rollins College and University of Miami School of Law alumna. Her debut adult romantasy novel Five Broken Blades, the first of a trilogy from Red Tower Books, was a USA Today, Indie Booksellers List, Sunday Times, and instant New York Times bestseller. It was also the May pick for Book of the Month; an Amazon, Indigo, and Apple Books Best Book of 2024; a Book Page honoree; and a Goodreads Choice finalist for favorite 2024 fantasy. Her follow up, Four Ruined Realms, hit shelves in January 2025, with the series finale Three Shattered Souls expected later this year. Mai also writes award-winning children’s and young adult books under the name Meredith Ireland. She resides in New York with her children, partner, and a county fair goldfish who will probably outlive them all.

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Samantha Irby is a comedian and a New York Times bestselling essayist and memoirist. Her fresh, honest brand of humor first came to the attention of readers through her immensely popular blog Bitches Gotta Eat. Irby’s first essay collection, Meaty, adapted and expanded her most popular blog entries – and added some new ones, to boot. Topics truly run the gamut: from personal reflections on the author’s failed relationships and on being black in America, to a ribald take on her struggles with Crohn’s disease, to an ode to tacos. Irby’s follow-ups, We Are Never Meeting In Real Life (2017) and Lambda Literary Award winner Wow, No Thank You (2020), cemented her reputation as a comedic voice like no other. Irby’s latest collection is Quietly Hostile (2023). In the words of Chicago Reader, “the Midwest’s most loveable misanthrope triumphantly returns” with essays that are equal parts raw and sidesplitting. Subjects range from her childhood traumas and adulthood anxieties to pop culture obsessions and her own failed TV pilot.

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Fans and critics alike credit Alafair Burke with some of the most believable psychological thrillers and police procedurals in modern fiction. Her hallmark authenticity draws heavily from Burke’s professional background as a professor of law and former deputy district attorney in Portland. Her literary debut, Judgment Calls (2003), introduced mystery aficionados to Samantha Kincaid – a lawyer in Multnomah County, Oregon’s drug and vice division with bona fides markedly similar to Burke’s own. Burke’s impressive backlist also includes the five-entry NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher series, which the New York Post calls “perfect for Law & Order fanatics who want some ripped-from-the-headlines intrigue.” Burke is also co-author – alongside mystery titan Mary Higgins Clark – of the Under Suspicion series. Over the past decade Alafair Burke has also devoted considerable time to standalone thrillers. Her latest, The Note, follows three friends on a Hamptons beach vacation that goes terribly wrong. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews raves: “Engrossing… Burke builds an intricate structure of secrets layered within secrets, revealed for maximum suspense.”

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Sujata Massey is an undisputed master of both mystery and historical fiction. In the words of fellow mystery heavyweight Janet Evanovich, Massey “blasted her way into fiction with The Salaryman’s Wife, a cross-cultural mystery of manners with a decidedly sexy edge.” Her literary debut won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in 1997 and introduced a legion of readers to the first of her two indomitable heroines. Japanese American twenty-something Rei Shimura is an English teacher and antiques dealer by day – and an amateur sleuth by night. Her unique background provides valuable linguistic and cultural insights which allow her to find clues and crack cases that stump Japanese authorities. Shimura has appeared across eleven novels to date. Sujata Massey is also the pen behind the popular Perveen Mistry series. Modeled on a historic Parsi attorney who practiced law in the 1920s, Mistry is the first female lawyer in cosmopolitan Mumbai – and one of the first ever in India. The Mistress of Bhatia House (2023), the fourth and latest installment, garnered Massey her third Agatha Award.

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National Book Award finalist Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is the author behind the acclaimed 2020 exposé The Undocumented Americans. Born in Ecuador and raised in New York, Cornejo Villavicencio’s writing career began while a senior at Harvard, where she was soon to be among the first undocumented students to graduate from the elite university. During the national debate around the DREAM Act, she penned an anonymous essay in The Daily Beast titled “DREAM Act: I’m an Illegal Immigrant at Harvard.” This vulnerable, vital, and ultimately viral piece directly inspired The Undocumented Americans. In this eye-opening book, described as a blend of memoir and reporting, Cornejo Villavicencio travels the nation to profile a diverse cross-section of her fellow undocumented Americans. The author’s anticipated follow-up, Catalina, is a work of fiction – at least in part. Catalina is an undocumented student from Queens who gains admittance to Harvard. With it comes entry into a new, complex world of prestigious internships, posh parties, and secret societies.

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Lisa See is best known for her poignant historical fiction, much of which spotlights the experiences of Chinese immigrants who are so often relegated to the margins. Book club favorites include Shanghai Girls and its sequel Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. USA Today praised the duology for “exploring the bonds of sisterhood while powerfully evoking the often nightmarish American immigrant experience.” See’s fictive scenarios in these and other novels are more than matched by the harrowing saga she recounts in her deeply personal memoir On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family. Lisa See’s latest novel, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, recreates the trailblazing career of Tan Yunxian, a 15th-century female physician who defied the odds – and societal norms – to become one of the Ming Dynasty’s foremost medical practitioners. Simon & Schuster re-released See’s latest chart-topper in paperback in June 2024.

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