Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.

You can find JH Markert at jamesmarkert.com or on IG at @jamesmarkert74

This week we chat with JH Markert who we spoke to pre-Covid in the before times when he was writing historical fiction. Over the last couple of years, he has changed gears and returned to the genre that first made him an avid reader: horror. JH has been cranking out horror novels and finding a great deal of success with them. We catch up with James and discuss his transition to horror and what that has been like after writing five previous historical fiction novels.  His most recent release that came out in September, Spider to the Fly, is dark horror suspense that deals with a serial killer, a true crime influencer, and a family with some bizarre dynamics. 

And for our book rec section, we are talking about notable nonfiction. These are nonfiction books we’ve read in the last year that have made us think differently about a topic or stood out for us in some way (even though these books might not have been published in the last year). We’ll talk about a micro-history, a biography, a true crime, a memoir, a study of morality and politics, and a niche book about cussing. 

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Spider to the Fly by J.H. Markert 

2- Molokai by Alan Brennert

3- A White Wind Blew by James Markert

4- Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert 

5- Mr. Lullaby by J. H. Markert

6- Sleep Tight by J.H. Markert 

7- Midnight at the Tuscany Hotel by James Markert 

8- The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

9- Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In the Midst of Wickedness by Janet and Geoff Benge 

10-The Vanishing Place by Zöe Rankin 

11- Five Star Read by a Fellow Book Lover Jasper Adams-Smith - Be Kind, My Neighbor by Yugo Limbo 

12- For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude, and Fun by Rebecca Roache 

13- The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies by Jason Fagone 

14- The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss 

15- The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt 

16- Playing to Lose: How a Jehovah's Witness Became a BDSM Model by Ariel Anderssen 

17- The Carpool Detectives: A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies, and One Mysterious Cold Case by Chuck Hogan 

18- The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

Media Mentioned:

1- The Friend (2024)

2- Chief of War (Apple +, 2025)

3- The Outsider (HBO Max 2019)

4- Sinners (2025)

5- Nosferatu (2025)