Joyce Carol Oates

This lady is one of the few writers whose hard-cover books and stories I systematically obtained from my local library and devoured, one after the other, before the days of Kindles and iPhones. Reading her books is a joy. Trust me, you will not stop at one. Her characters are incredibly original, her plots riveting. Dream along in Hollywood with Norma Jean/Marilyn of Blonde, or the supposedly happy family of We Were the Mulvaneys. And keep reading; there’s much more where these came from.

Mordecai Richler

A master of incisive satire and sarcasm. You can start with The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, written by Richler in 1959 while probably looking much like he did in the photo above. After you finish it, shaking your head in disapproval and, perversely, admiration for Duddy’s chutzpah, read on until Richler’s last fabulous novel, Barney’s Version.

Karin Fossum

To me, she is the queen of psychological crime thrillers, the unofficial successor of the late Ruth Rendell. Whether she’s plumbing the minds of her psychopathic protagonists, or probing the souls of troubled detectives trying to trap the murderers, you are spellbound by the drama and can’t put the book down until its most satisfying conclusion. Enjoy them all as I did, starting with Don’t Look Back, and continue right up to her latest novel, The Whisperer.