DIY Christmas Gift Ideas, From Beginner To Advanced

1. Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (January 28, 2025)

Mackenzie Clyde's knows how to make the problems of venture capitalists disappear because she's good at her job. Despite not seeing the same kind of profit they do, she doesn't mind making things easier for them. But, being skilled doesn't mean you know how to handle every situation.

Mackenzie's tasked with helping her boss make sure he doesn't lose money after investing in a startup where the CEO's been found dead. She doesn't even know where to begin in her pursuit of narrowing down who could've committed the crime, but she's not going to let anyone down...not when she has a lot to gain from this.

2. Beauty in the Blood by Charlotte Carter (February 11, 2025)

Sarah Toomey's an efficient black lawyer who's not only lost her mother, but may be losing her grip on reality. Her mind doesn't 'normal,' nor does she. Committing acts she normally wouldn't, Sarah's scared there's something more malevolent going on. There's also the fact she's in a relationship with a co-worker that adds to the deep passion coursing through her veins. The more Sarah questions what's going on, the more the truth is unveiled about her family's history.

In an alternate timeline, Yvonne Howard has changed her fate from being a prison guard to working at one of the most popular soul food restaurants. Things are looking up until an ex-inmates asks her to help uncover what happened to her brother. Before she can truly get started, Yvonne learns the ex-inmate has also died. This puts Yvonne on a path she thought she'd escaped from.

Not only that, she'll have to solve the mystery of what keeps attracting black women to violence unless she wants to end up like poor Sarah Toomey.

3. The Girl You Know by Elle Gonzalez Rose (February 18, 2025)

When Luna's twin sister Solina is found dead after announcing she no longer wanted to attend Kingswood Academy, Luna is convinced someone is behind her death. She steps into Solina's shoes and heads to the the academy and realizes a few things:

1. Solina's friends are exactly the kind of people you'd want to be around.
2. Luna is developing a crush on Solina's roommate Claudia.
3. Solina wasn't exactly innocent.

Despite this, Luna doesn't feel her sister deserved to die and will stop at nothing to make sure everyone involved pays for their crimes.

4. Claire, Darlingby Callie Kazumi (March 11, 2025)

Claire's happy existence is thrown into shambles when a surprise visit to her fiancé's job on their anniversary reveals he doesn't work there. Confused, Claire does some digging and realizes he's ghosted her to return to his real life — the one where he's already living with his real girlfriend. Though shocked, all Claire wants is for things to go back to normal between her and Noah.

The more she becomes a modern femme fatale, the more she begins to see parallels between her and the conniving mom she grew up with.

5. All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman (March 11, 2025)

Florence Grimes doesn't take life too seriously except for when it concerns her son Dylan. He's the reason she even tries to be a functioning adult, if she can call it that. However, she's forced to step into her big girl pants when her son's suspected of having something to do with his bully's, Alfie Risby, disappearance during a field trip.

She begins throwing herself into finding young Alfie to prove that her son's innocent even if she's not popular among the other school moms. But, what if she knows her son is hiding a dark secret?

6. Gothictown by Emily Carpenter (March 25, 2025)

Billie Hope decides the perfect way to give her family a fresh start is by accepting a very low offer to move into a beautiful Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia. It has enough space for them to branch out, but she's hoping they can repair their relationship. Plus, she'll get a chance at having a thriving restaurant again.

But there's something eerie about the quaint town of Juliana. Almost like there's something evil lurking behind the scenes of the smiling faces and vast opportunities to have the life she's always wanted.

7. The Matchmakerby Aisha Saeed (April 8, 2025)

Business is booming for matchmaker Nura Khan. She's built the kind of clientele people dream about because she's known for delivering the kind of results they want to see. The best part is no one questions that she's single because her best friend Azar always shows up as her plus-one to weddings. Based on that, people think they're engaged so there's no reason to question her work.

But when someone sabotages the wedding of Nura's clients, she realizes someone is determined to destroy more than her reputation.

8. The Influencersby Anna-Marie McLemore (April 15, 2025)

Known as "Mother May I" Iverson, one of the world's most successful influencers has been in the game for 25 years. She's made a name for herself by sharing cute family videos of her biracial daughters and everyone loves them. However, her daughters never had a say in being featured and have their own feelings about it as adults.

Things take a turn when May's sprawling mansion burns to the ground after her husband is found dead. It seems each of her daughters would have a reason to do so between legal battles and one's surprising disappearance. Yet, the answer to this mysterious crime may not be as simple as anyone thinks.

9. One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman (April 15, 2025)

Known for being difficult as an ex-actress, Julia Mann's life gets even more complicated when a dead body shows up at her home and the police have every reason to believe she's behind the murder. The last person she wants to see is Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, but that may be the one person who's on her side.

Reluctantly deciding to work with her, Julia and Natasha try to pinpoint how the body found it's way to Julia's California residence. Though they start working well together, old habits are hard to kill and threaten to derail their investigation. Even with the help of industry insiders, it's hard if Julia and Natasha will be able to solve the crime before it's too late.

10. The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose (April 15, 2025)

Sarah Morgan believes she's left the remnants of her last marriage behind now that she's married Bob Miller. She even decided being a lawyer was no longer for her because she can finally be happy...or so she thinks. When she learns Bob had a brief affair, she decides she'd rather be single than deal with a cheating husband. But their divorce is anything but amicable.

As they fight tooth and nail, new evidence is connected to her ex-husband's case and the investigation against him is reopened. Deputy Hudson is convinced the real truth is out there and wants to uncover as much information as possible. And when Bob's one-time mistress vanishes, Sarah will have to watch her back because Bob isn't anything like the ex-husband who cheated before.

11. The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (April 15, 2025)

When Edward and Isabel were younger, they stared into the eyes of a serial killer when he broke into their home. Despite being deeply in love, their relationship was traumatized and never recovered from that night.

Nearing their 60s, they've only crossed paths to watch the serial killer's trial finally unfold. Isabel has been waiting for this day for years as she devoted herself to learning as much as she can about the man who marked her life. She also also wants him to hear her voice in court.

But Edward doesn't want to be there because it serves as a reminder of his first marriage's dissolution. He's remarried, but old feelings come rushing back that influence him to stand by Isabel's side.

12. No Lie Lasts Forever by Mark Stevens (May 1, 2025)

The media is sure the PDQ Killer is back when a reporter is discovered dead and everyone is shocked. However, no one's more confused than Harry Kugel because he used to be the PDQ Killer but hasn't done anything in 15 years.

Harry's been working hard to live better, but feels insulted that someone is trying to copy his moves to make it seem like he's responsible. There's only thing he can do — figure out who the killer is without drawing too much attention to himself.

Turning to TV journalist Flynn Martin, Harry works to solve the mystery so peace can be restored. It's just that being so close to murder is making Harry itch to commit one last crime.

13. Follow Me by Elizabeth Rose Quinn (May 6, 2025)

Following the disappearance of her twin sister Chiara, Adrienne Shaw decides to show up to the influencer retreat her sister was last spotted at. Adrienne never trusted that world and follows her suspicions as she rubs elbows with the women who seem to know how to curate the perfect social media feed.

The closer she gets to uncovering the truth, the more Adrienne realizes the influencers at this retreat are more than complicit in her sister's death and she's ready to fight to the end to get revenge.

14. The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson (May 27, 2025)

Nova Davies' book club isn't going the way she pictured. The few members that have joined can never get through a meeting without disagreeing, but that's not the worst part.

When someone steals much-needed money during one of the book club's meetups, the community center it's held at is threatened for closure. Everyone decides one of their members, Michael, has to be the culprit when he vanishes in the wake of a dead body being found where he lives.

The remaining book club members have different theories about what happened, but they agree to investigate so they uncover the truth of what happened.

15. The Ghostwriter by Julia Clarke (June 3, 2025)

In 1975, Vincent Taylor's siblings' bodies were discovered at home, and people think he was responsible for their deaths. It doesn't help that he becomes a successful horror author later on. Also, he has a daughter he doesn't know about.

Olivia Dumont is ironically a ghostwriter who hasn't seen much success. Deciding to take the job of writing her dad's new book, she realizes he's not interested in focusing on a fictionalized horror story. He wants to detail everything that happened when his siblings were murdered years ago, finally shedding light on the truth.

16. Shaw Connolly Lives to Tellby Gillian French (June 17, 2025)

Fingerprints analyst Shaw Connolly has seen her fair share of grisly crimes in Maine, but she's still haunted by the mystery surrounding her missing younger sister Thea. Shaw constantly obsesses over it which is causing estrangement between her, her husband, and their children. And now that Anders Jansen keeps taunting her about what happened, she can't pull away.

Jansen goes from talking about Thea to detailing everything about Shaw, making the latter realize she could be next on his hit list. She should stop taking his phone calls, but she's convinced she can figure out who and where he is to end his reign of terror. But, what will uncovering the truth cost her?

17. You Can't Hurt Me by Emma Cook (November 5, 2025)

Eva Reid was born special because she physically can't feel pain. Her existence is a phenomenon that people can't get enough of, especially her scientist husband Dr. Nate Reid and journalist Anna Tate. Yet, Eva's death rattles her community and questions about what happened begin flying.

This plunges Anna in a sea of obsession as she works tirelessly to figure out everything she can about Eva's life. She realizes Eva was not only on her way to have a flourishing career as a psychotherapist, but her marriage was far from perfect considering Eva was a former patient of Dr. Reid.

When Dr. Reid decides to dedicate a book to Eva, Anna offers her services to help him complete it so she can learn the truth. Yet, she may be placing herself in harm's way.