Best Upcoming Books: November 2021

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November is always a magical time in the world of reading. Great fall weather and some great new releases in the world of fiction, and this month is no exception!

It is a big month for me on a personal level as the new Outlander by Diana Gabaldon comes out this month. I’ve been waiting awhile for this one and it should be worth the wait. I’m also excited to check out some new cozy mysteries this month, including Claret and Present Danger by Sarah Fox. It is the latest in the Literary Pub Mystery series and if you know me, you know a “literary pub” is basically my dream!

The world of sci-fi and fantasy also has some outstanding books in this month. Charlie N. Holmberg’s Star Mother looks wildly inventive and I’ll read anything that Nnedi Okorafor puts out. I’m also looking forward to Something More Than Night by Kim Newman which features Boris Karloff teaming up with Raymond Chandler to solve crimes.

New books from David Baldacci, Ken Follett, Michael Connelly, and a whole lot more. November is stacked!

Let’s take a look at some of the best books coming out in November of 2021.

Best Upcoming Cozy Mystery Books: November 2021

Claret and Present Danger by Sarah Fox: The fourth book in the Literary Pub Mystery series. This entry sees the Renaissance Faire visiting Shady Creek, Vermont. Sadie Coleman is excited to go to the show, but finds herself with an investigation on her hands when an illusionist drops dead in the middle of his performance.

Death on the Shelf by Allison Brook: Clover Ridge librarian Carrie Singleton is excited to attend her friend Angela’s wedding, but her family is another story. There is always drama with them and that continues to be true when Angela’s cousin’s husband dies at the reception. The suspect list is long and Carrie looks into it. When another member of the family dies, Carrie becomes even more determined to find the killer.

Murder at the Lobstah Shack by Maddie Day: Tulia Peters is the owner of the Lobstah Shack, one of the best restaurants in Cape Cod. The appetites are spoiled when Annette DiCicero is discovered murdered in the walk-in freezer. The two had an argument and now Tulia is a person of interest. She invites Mac and the Cozy Capers Book Group to clear her name.

Marriage Can Be Mischief by Amanda Flower: This will be the fourth book in the Amish Matchmaker Mystery series which follows an Amish widow name and her thrice-divorced best friend. A forty-year-old murder mystery is at the center of things here as Millie helps to prove that her friend Uriah’s sister didn’t kill her husband all those years ago.

Murder at the Bake Sale by Lee Hollis: Maya Kendrick is mentoring Sandra in the world of private investigation when the two get a big case. A Spanish teacher who had eyes for Maya has turned up dead and now his students have hired the ladies to solve the case.

Best Upcoming Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books: November 2021

Noor by Nnedi Okorafor: Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. Only in her mind, it doesn’t stand for her name – it stands for Artificial Organism. That’s because she’s never felt quite natural and has always been considered “wrong” by this society. AO embraces herself, a woman with major and necessary body augmentations. She ends up on the run after a bad day at the local market. The whole thing is streamed online as the “saga of the wicked woman and mad man”.

Swashbucklers by Dan Hanks: When he was a kid, Cisco saved his town from a hell mouth that was opened by a ancient pirate ghost ship. Now, he returns to find that nobody remembers his heroic acts – even those friends who helped him do it. As the tendrils of the pirate’s powers start creeping back into the world, he’ll need to convince his friends to help him stop them again.

Exposure by Louis Greenberg: Vince meets Petra and invites her to Metamuse, an alternative theatre experience like no other that he won tickets to in a competition he doesn’t remember entering. The first show draws them closer together, but the second is much more disturbing. Then inexplicable occurrences start happening that Petra sees as connected to Metamuse and injustices both past and present. It seems like Metamuse is more than just a show.

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske: Robin Blyth has been named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society after an administrative mistake. His new job leads him to find a whole new world underneath the reality he has always known. Robin learns that his predecessor has disappeared and investigates what happened to him. He’ll find a mystery that threatens every magician in the British Isles.

Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg: The Sun God chooses the village of Endwever to birth a star. The mother always dies after the birth, but Ceris Wenden decides to sacrifice herself to secure her family’s honor. However, when the child is is born, she does what no other star mother has done before: she lives. Ceris returns to town, but finds that it is now 700 years later. She seeks out her descendants and meets Ristriel, an incorporeal trickster, who is the only one who can guide her to her destination.

Best Upcoming Horror Books: November 2021

Prey Without Ceasing by Andrew Franks: Dalton is the son of a preacher man who wants to follow his father in serving God. His life is rocked when his brother is kidnapped by a sadistic witch which leads to his family’s dark past unraveling. Dalton will have to wage war with the evil that have plagued his family for generations. Dalton will ultimately be the key to abolishing the darkness inside the church.

Parting the Veil by Paulette Kennedy: After the death of her aunt, Eliza Sullivan inherits an estate in rural England. She moves there from New Orleans and is looking for a fresh start. She meets the mysterious lord of Havenwood, Malcolm Winfield, and finds herself falling for him, despite the rumors that surround him. The two end up married and she soon realizes that there may be some truth to the rumors. She’ll uncover dark secrets about her new husband that will either save her or destroy her.

Shadecraft, Volume 1 by Joe Henderson: I don’t normally include comics here, but I am a fan of Joe Henderson. He is the showrunner of Netflix’s Lucifer and has crafted a creepy coming of age story here. Something weird is happening in Zadie’s hometown as the shadows around town are coming to life and trying to kill her. How can she fight them? And how are they connected to her family?

The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Thirteen: After Halloween, November is kind of a quiet month in the world of horror. Ellen Datlow’s collection of the year’s best horror is more than enough to hold you over. This year’s edition features stories by Nathan Ballingrud, Gemma Files, Stephen Graham Jones, and Thana Niveau.

Something More Than Night by Kim Newman: This book follows the famous detective story writer, Raymond Chandler, and star of monster movies, Boris Karloff, who team up to investigate mysteries of human and inhuman monsters. Their latest case will threaten to expose Hollywood’s most horrific secrets as they learn how the town really works.

Best Upcoming Mystery/Thriller Books: November 2021

Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson: A visionary billionaire has an idea to reverse global warming, but there could be some major consequences for the planet and all of humanity if it is applied. A group from different cultures and continents will get together to grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming and ask the question: what if the cure is worse than the disease?

Final Spin by Jocko Willink: Johnny’s life is very repetitive. He works a dead-end job, drinks too much, and lives in his childhood home with his alcoholic mother and his older brother, Arty. His brother works at a laundromat which is the one thing that gives him happiness, but now it is about to be sold. Johnny doesn’t want to see his brother lose it so he makes a plan to get the money to buy the laundromat. Things don’t go as planned though and now Johnny has his hands full.

Never be Ken Follett: World War is on the horizon in the latest thriller from Ken Follett. The ones struggling to prevent the outbreak are a young woman intelligence officer, a spy working undercover with jihadists, a brilliant Chinese spymaster, and the President of the United States.

Mercy by David Baldacci: This will be the fourth entry in the Atlee Pine Thriller series by Baldacci. The latest book sees Pine finding proof that her long-missing twin sister, Mercy, might actually be alive. Mercy was abducted many years ago, but managed to escape and left a dead body behind. Pine will dig in to what happened to her sister and find herself facing great danger.

The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly: This will be the fourth team-up of LAPD detective Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch. Ballard gets called on to investigate a murder of a shop owner in the middle of a street party. The bullet she finds is linked to a case once worked by Bosch. She doesn’t get much help from her department on this case, or her investigation into some serial rapists, so she turns to the one detective she knows she can count on: Bosch.

Best Upcoming Romance Books: November 2021

Swoon by Lauren Rowe: This is a brother’s best friend standalone romance from Lauren Rowe. Colin always though of her as “Logan’s kid sister”, but now it’s nine years later and the two meet up at Logan’s wedding where a kiss will change everything.

Beautifully Broken Redemption by Catherine Cowles: Anna has scars and she made the decision to keep everyone at a distance in order to protect herself. That includes Mason who has demons of his own. When tragedy strikes, the two are drawn close together. It should be a happy moment, but there is someone out there who doesn’t want these two to have a happy ending.

Game Changer by Abbi Glines: The Field Party book series is basically a Southern soap opera filled with cute boys, Friday night football games, wild parties, and plenty of drama to go around. This will be the sixth entry in the series.

The Naughty, The Nice and The Nanny by Willa Nash: A woman takes a job as a short-term nanny for some extra cash around the holidays. The child is meant to be an angel, but turns out to be anything but. Making matters worse, her father turns out to be her former high school crush that never knew she existed.

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon: The big romance release of the month is the latest in the Outlander series. This is a huge book in the series as Jamie and Claire’s family are finally reunited. If you know, you know.

I am going to be pretty busy this month with so many good books. What are you all going to be reading this month? Let me know in the comments below.