One of the joys of reading is finding books you like by an author and then reading other books by that author, only to find you like those too! This year, I’ve read multiple books by four authors I’d recommend to anyone who loves good storytelling.

First we have Louise Penny and her Chief Inspector Gamache series, Books 13- 20 (of 20 books int the series so far.)

I LOVE this series so much! I read the first books last year and just kept speeding through them this year. Thank goodness for the Libby library! There’s a reason this murder mystery series is so popular. The books are so much more than murder or mystery. “Whodunnit” is definitely the moving force of each plot, and the suspense and pace makes me fly through pages, but it’s the characters—especially the lead character Armand Gamache—that takes the show. In the struggle with their own and each other’s humanity, their conflicts and choices between right and wrong, how they always come back to love and community—we see ourselves. And then there’s the delightful setting of Three Pines, a tiny fictional village outside of Montreal, the historic and present Canada, the food, the poetry…Book 21 comes out in October and I’ll be first in line to read it.

Next, I read 5 books by Katherine Center so far this year, a self-described writer of romance comedies.

This is a genre I often avoid as a reader—mostly —because so many are, well, badly written. But I was looking for some light reading to offset the doom and gloom and I found Katherine Center. What I like so much about Center’s books is that they’re completely fun—and they rise above the cliche. Her characters aren’t cardboard cutouts, they come alive. I fall a little in love with her main characters. And while yes, plot is driven by romantic blunders, and the stories are feel good stories—as romance comedies should be—the conflicts aren’t just about romantic love. Center applies sleight of hand to lead us into more nuanced questions about what it means to love—which I found just delightful.

Yes, literature can change a person, can be Art—but a good story is a good story.

I also read two books this year by Kevin Wilson: Run for the Hills and Nothing to See Here—and third one last year, Now is Not the Time to Panic. All of them feature engaging characters with interesting problems, especially Nothing to See here. I don’t know how he does it, but somehow the fact that the children catch on fire feels completely believable. Run for the Hills was also great. Adult siblings from the same father scattered across the country and who don’t know about one another, find each other and make a road trip to confront him. So good!

And last among authors I really enjoyed this year is Sangu Madanna and her two delightful fantasies A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. So sweet and probably YA fiction (which I find can be sophisticated and complex enough for adults). A bit fantasy, a bit rom com, featuring women of color—why aren’t there more in this series??? Is Madanna writing a third? I hope so? More please!