Katie Siegel’s Favorite Summer Reads

By Katie Siegel

Hi! My name is Katie Siegel, author of the Not A Detective mysteries. The second mystery in the series, Charlotte Illes Is Not A Teacher, comes out July 23rd, 2024. While you’re waiting for your preorder to come in, here are some recommendations I have for your other summer reads! (And if you haven’t preordered yet, hopefully my incredible taste in books will encourage you to do so.)

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries By Heather Fawcett

You’re going to discover very early on that I don’t really know what “summer read” means. I’ll read anything at any time of the year. This is a really wonderful low fantasy about a professor and her academic rival who study faeries and get swept up into the mysteries of the region they’ve traveled to. I love a curmudgeonly female protagonist (see Charlotte Illes), and Emily and Bambleby’s dynamic is [chef’s kiss]. If you’re a fan of footnotes, this one’s for you. If not, it could still be for you. This is a great read if you’re really hot and want to be transported to a cold setting. See? I made it about summer!

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers By Jesse Q. Sutanto

You might start seeing a pattern in the titles of these books that I myself only just noticed. Apropos, considering the titles of my books. This was such a fun mystery with a very lovable cast of characters. Vera is a wonderful unconventional detective, and does a great job sniffing out clues in her own special way. This is a great summer read because I can picture a person reading it on a beach. Not me, I’m not a beach person. But someone, definitely.

Act Your Age, Eve Brown By Talia Hibbert

Okay yeah, now I’m just purposefully front loading this post with all the titles with names in them. I love Talia Hibbert’s The Brown Sisters trilogy, but I think #3 might be my favorite. A great romcom with a fun grumpy/sunshine dynamic about a hot mess woman who starts working at an uptight man’s B&B. I love romances where the characters have visible growth, and this book definitely ticks that box. I think every romance book should count as a summer read, so I don’t need to explain myself for this one.

This Is How You Lose The Time War By Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

Breaking my “titles with names” streak—I’ll make it up to you by presenting a book with two names in the byline. A beautiful sapphic love story. To quote this famous tweet, “Read this. DO NOT look up anything about it. Just read it.” A great summer read because it’s short and easily packable for a vacation!

Light From Uncommon Stars By Ryka Aoki

It’s so difficult for me to describe this book to people, but I think a lot of the best books are. A trans violin prodigy runaway. Her teacher, who made a deal with the devil to trade the souls of violin prodigies for success. And just when you think that’s enough for a whole story, throw in an interstellar refugee family running a donut shop, and a sapphic love story between one of them and the violin teacher. This is a great summer read because you are going to read it this summer! Do not argue with me on this, I will turn this car around!!

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love By India Holton

So this is the only book on this list that I haven’t read yet, because it comes out July 23rd. Despite having a book that comes out on the exact same day, this is my most anticipated book of that day (with Not A Teacher coming in at a close second, of course). Since I haven’t read it yet, I’ll just give you a bit of the blurb: “Rival ornithologists hunt through England for a rare magical bird in this historical-fantasy rom-com reminiscent of Indiana Jones but with manners, tea, and helicopter parasols.” I adore India Holton’s Dangerous Damsels books, and am so excited for this new series. See my note on all romances being summer reads.

That’s all from me! Hopefully that’ll get you through the summer, or at least until Charlotte Illes Is Not A Teacher comes out. (You can also add Charlotte Illes Is Not A Detective to your reading list, if you haven’t already!) Have a great summer!


The déjà vu is strong for 25-year-old former kid detective Charlotte Illes when she lands back in Frencham Middle School – this time as a substitute teacher with a sideline in sleuthing – in the second zany mystery based on the much-loved TikTok web series from @katiefliesaway.

For fans of “Poker Face,” “Knives Out,” Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan Series, and anyone seeking to satisfy their Harriet the Spy, Encyclopedia Brown, or Nancy Drew nostalgia!

Mention “returning to the scene of a crime,” and people don’t usually picture a middle school. But that’s where kid detective Lottie Illes enjoyed some of her greatest successes, solving mysteries and winning acclaim—before the world of adult responsibilities came crashing in . . .

Twentysomething Charlotte is now back in the classroom, this time as a substitute teacher. However, as much as she’s tried to escape the shadow of her younger self, others haven’t forgotten about Lottie. In fact, a fellow teacher is hoping for help discovering the culprit behind anonymous threats being sent to her and her aunt, who’s running for reelection to the Board of Education. 

At first, Charlotte assumes the messages are a harmless prank. But maybe it’s a good thing she left a detective kit hidden in the band room storage closet all those years ago—just in case. Because the threats are escalating, and it’s clear that untangling mysteries isn’t child’s play anymore . . .