This is a first for this series – the non-fiction book this month has more holds than any of the fiction books! Sometimes, to be honest, I have to scroll quite a ways down our list of most popular holds to find a non-fiction book. People just prefer fiction, I guess! But this month, Jill Duggar’s memoir has shot way up the library’s charts. And on the fiction side, we have a murder mystery that is also a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick. Get on the holds list, and check out some readalikes while you wait!

Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does. 

Then Jack—tiny in stature but fiercely independent—happens upon a dead body while kayaking near their bungalow. Jack quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.

Read-Alike 1: Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn

Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. Thankfully, her new hip hasn’t changed her killer tennis game one bit.

One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam. Of course, Loretta obliges—after all, what are grandmothers for, even grandmothers who still haven’t gotten a simple “thank you” for a gift sent weeks ago. Not that she’s counting.

By morning, Mrs. Plansky has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that Loretta’s life savings have vanished, and that it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist. First humiliated, then furious, Loretta Plansky refuses to be just another victim.

Read-Alike 2: Deadly Nightshade by Cynthia Riggs

Martha’s Vineyard has been home to Victoria Trumbull for most of her 92 years. Its magic, history, and picture-perfect calm are part of her very being. But one evening, Victoria hears something that doesn’t quite belong: a scream followed by a splash and a sound of a car speeding away. She investigates and discovers a body on the outgoing tide.

Despite interruptions from her granddaughter Elizabeth, the harbormaster Domingo, a swarm of Island locals, and a few mysterious visitors, Victoria manages to get in a good bit of detective work and still finds time to cook her traditional Saturday night supper of Boston baked beans. She even concocts a scheme to trap the killer. But she’ll need to act quickly, victim number two has already been found.

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar

Jill and Derick knew a normal life wasn’t possible for them. As a star on the popular TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jill grew up in front of viewers who were fascinated by her family’s way of life. She was the responsible, second daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle’s nineteen kids; always with a baby on her hip and happy to wear the modest ankle-length dresses with throat-high necklines. She didn’t protest the strict model of patriarchy that her family followed, which declares that men are superior, that women are expected to be wives and mothers and are discouraged from attaining a higher education, and that parental authority over their children continues well into adulthood, even once they are married.

But as Jill got older, married Derick, and they embarked on their own lives, the red flags became too obvious to ignore.

For as long as they could, Jill and Derick tried to be obedient family members—they weren’t willing to rock the boat. But now they’re raising a family of their own, and they’re done with the secrets. Thanks to time, tears, therapy, and blessings from God, they have the strength to share their journey. Theirs is a remarkable story of the power of the truth and is a moving example of how to find healing through honesty.

Read-Alike 1: The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner

The Sound of Gravel is Ruth Wariner’s unforgettable and deeply moving story of growing up in a polygamist Mormon doomsday community. The thirty-ninth of her father’s forty-one children, Ruth is raised on a farm in the hills of Mexico, where polygamy is practiced without fear of legal persecution. There, Ruth’s family lives in a home without indoor plumbing or electricity and attends a church where preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world.

In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where her mother collects welfare and her father works a variety of odd jobs. Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the belief system into which she was born is not the one for her. As she enters her teen years, she becomes a victim of abuse in a community in which opposition toward men is tantamount to arguing with God. Finally, and only after devastating tragedy, Ruth finds an opportunity to escape.

Read-Alike 2: Things I Should Have Said by Jamie Lynn Spears

You’ve read the headlines, but you don’t know Jamie Lynn Spears. The world first met Jamie Lynn as a child star, when it was her job to perform, both on set and for the press. She spent years escaping into different characters – on All That, Zoey 101, and even in the role as Britney’s kid sister. But as she grew up, faced a teen pregnancy, raised her daughter on her own, pursued a career, and learned to stand on her own two feet, the real Jamie Lynn started to take center stage – a raw, blemished, and imperfect woman, standing in her own power.

Despite growing up in one of America’s most tabloid-famous families, Jamie Lynn has never told her story in her own words. In Things I Should Have Said, she talks frankly about the highs and lows, sharing what it was like traveling the world as a kid, how she moved into acting and performing herself, what life as a child star took from her, and the life-changing reality of becoming a teen mom. She talks about how she finally found love and how the mistakes she has made have taught her more than anything else. She also shares vulnerably about how the ATV accident that nearly took her daughter’s life brought her back to her faith and caused her to reevaluate and redirect her life.