Open Books Challenge 2025: BIPOC Mystery Author

Updated December 31, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner! Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
Looking for smoke
Cobell, K. A.
Paper Book
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK In her powerful debut novel, Looking for Smoke, author K. A. Cobell (Blackfeet) weaves loss, betrayal, and complex characters into a thriller that will illuminate, surprise, and engage readers until the final word. A must-pick for readers who enjoy books by...
Razorblade tears
Cosby, S. A.
Paper Book
*INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* One of Barack Obama's Recommended Reads for Summer * New York Times Notable Book * NPR's Best Books of 2021 * Washington Post's Best Thriller and Mystery Books of the Year * TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books...
Queen of the tiles
Hanna Alkaf
Paper Book
They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen's Gambit in this "stunning...unforgettable" (Publishers Weekly) thriller set in the world of competitive Scrabble, where a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend when her Instagram comes back to life...
Clark and Division
Hirahara, Naomi
Paper Book
Inspired by historical events, Clark and Division infuses an atmospheric and heartbreakingly real crime fiction plot with rich period details and delicately wrought personal stories Naomi Hirahara has gleaned from thirty years of research and archival work in Japanese American history.
The case of Windy Lake
Hutchinson, Michael
Paper Book
Sam, Otter, Atim, and Chickadee are four inseparable cousins growing up on the Windy Lake First Nation. Nicknamed the Mighty Muskrats for their habit of laughing, fighting, and exploring together, the cousins find that each new adventure adds to their reputation. When a visiting archeologist goes...
Guide me home
Locke, Attica
Paper Book
In this stunning culmination of the award-winning Highway 59 trilogy, Detective Darren Mathews is pulled out of an early retirement to investigate the case of a missing black college student from an all-white sorority--and soon finds a town that will stop at nothing to keep its secrets hidden&...
Arsenic and adobo
Manansala, Mia P.
Paper Book
In the small town of Shady Palms, Illinois, Lila Macapagal and her relatives run Tita Rosie's Kitchen, serve delicious Flipino dishes, and solve crimes on the side.
Tristan Strong keeps punching
Mbalia, Kwame
Paper Book
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the finale of Kwame Mbalia's trilogy, in which Tristan Strong faces off with his archenemy, King Cotton, once and for all. "Imagine if you combined Anansi the Spider, John Henry, and Marvel into, like, one book."--New York Times best...
Fearless Jones : a novel
Mosley, Walter.
Paper Book
In this thrilling 1950s noir, when a beautiful woman comes into Paris Minton's life, everything starts falling apart--leaving him no choice but to ask Fearless Jones for help. Mosley returns to mysteries at last with his most engaging hero since Easy Rawlins....
A quiet teacher
Oyebanji, Adam
Paper Book
A teacher trying to hide in the shadows finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation in this compelling and fresh read from a new unique, contemporary voice. "Imagine John le Carré attempting an Agatha Christie mystery. Or the other way around. In any...
The verifiers
Pek, Jane
Paper Book
ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST'S BEST MYSTERY BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Introducing Claudia Lin: a sharp-witted amateur sleuth for the 21st century. This debut novel follows Claudia as she verifies people's online lives, and lies, for a dating detective agency in New York City. Until...
Murder on the Red River
Rendon, Marcie R.
Paper Book
Renee 'Cash' Blackbear, a 19-year-old, tough-as-nails, resilient Ojibwe woman, has lived all her life in Fargo, sister city to Minnesota's Moorhead, just downriver from the Cities. Her life revolves around driving truck for local farmers, drinking beer, playing pool, and solving criminal...
Harvest house
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Paper Book
NSK Neustadt Laureate and New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith delivers a thrilling cross-genre follow-up to the acclaimed Hearts Unbroken. Deftly leading readers to the literary crossroads of contemporary realism and haunting mystery, Cynthia...
Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers
Sutanto, Jesse Q.
Paper Book
A USA Today bestseller Edgar Award Winner for Best Original Paperback Audie Award Winner for Mystery Libby Award Winner for Best Mystery A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery by...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.