Lists
Where To Start With Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Moreno-Garcia’s books are filled with folklore, history, and magic. Here is your guide her incredible stories.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of today’s most genre-defying authors, moving fluidly between gothic horror, noir, and historical fantasy, all the while picking up several awards along the way. New to her work? This guide breaks down exactly where to start, based on what you love to read.
Which Silvia Moreno-Garcia book should I read first?
Start here.
Noemí Taboada travels to High Place after her cousin sends a frantic letter begging to be saved. She finds a menacing husband, an ancient patriarch fascinated by her, and a house that invades her dreams with visions of blood. Digging into the family’s mining empire, she uncovers violence and madness, and may never escape High Place.
Good for readers who love atmospheric gothic horror, and strong heroines.
Key themes: the gothic uncanny, female resilence, colonialism and exploitation
What should I read after Mexican Gothic?
A great pick for readers who love occult mysteries, nostalgic films, and friendships tested with dark magic. Montserrat, a sound editor overlooked in ’90s Mexico City’s film industry, and Tristán, a faded soap star, meet cult horror director Abel Urueta, who claims a Nazi occultist’s magic film can lift his curse. As they help finish it, dark presences and ghosts emerge, and sorcery proves real.
Key themes: hidden histories, nostalgia, occultism, friendship and unspoken love
A pick for readers who love lush jungle settings, morally grey characters, and slow-burn romance with danger. Carlota Moreau grows up safe on a distant estate, daughter of a researcher who is genius or madman. Montgomery Laughton, a melancholic overseer, assists Dr. Moreau’s experiments, creating hybrids destined to obey. Eduardo Lizalde’s arrival jolts their balanced world, for Moreau keeps secrets.
Key themes: creation and monsters, colonialism, isolation, forbidden knowledge, class, and desire
Which Moreno-Garcia books are best for readers who enjoy fantasy and fairy tales?
Casiopea Tun dreams of a life beyond her dusty small town in southern Mexico. When she frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death from a wooden box, he asks her help reclaiming his throne from his treacherous brother. Success means her dreams could come true; failure means her demise.
Key themes: mythology reimagined, class, family, power, desire, and self-discovery through adventure
A pick for readers who love dark academia, mysteries, generational hauntings, and witchcraft with a literary edge. Minerva, a grad student researching horror author Beatrice Tremblay, discovers Tremblay’s novel was inspired by a true story: her obsession with a roommate who vanished during the Great Depression. As Minerva digs deeper, she senses the same force may still stalk campus halls today.
Key themes: witchcraft, academia as a haunted space, female obsession, and inherited fear
Which Moreno-Garcia books are best for readers who enjoy mysteries, thrillers, and suspense?
Handsome con artist Ulises has long charmed lonely women via letters to steal their money, but money is hard to come by in 1940s Mexico. Desperate for a real fortune, he targets Perla, owner of a small-town boardinghouse in Veracruz. But when he meets her, he finds something unexpected, complicating his once simple plan.
Key themes: deception, identity, power, and subverted expectations
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: The New York Times, People, Book Riot, Southern Living, Marie Claire, Time
A must-read for readers who love noir thrillers, dueling perspectives, and politically charged mysteries. Maite, a secretary escaping into cheap comic books, and Elvis, a goon with a passion for rock ‘n’ roll, both search for missing art student Leonora in 1970s Mexico. Their parallel trajectories collide with hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies in a land where truth costs dearly.
Key themes: political unrest, escapism vs. engagement, converging fates, moral ambiguity, and hidden radical lives
Which Moreno-Garcia books are best for readers who enjoy historical fiction?
The pick for readers who love Old Hollywood glamour, ancient myths retold, and rivalries rife with envy and desire. In 1950s Hollywood, Vera Larios, an unknown Mexican ingénue, is cast as Salome in a big-budget film, becoming an object of envy for stalled actress Nancy Hartley, who will do anything for fame. Their story intertwines with Salome’s own, a princess torn between duty and desire.
Key themes: ambition and envy, parallel womanhood across time, duty vs. desire, glamour masking tragedy
Frequently asked questions
What genres does Silvia Moreno-Garcia write?
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is famous for genre-hopping. She’s written gothic horror, historical fantasy, science fiction, and noir crime fiction like Untamed Shore. No matter the genre, her books tend to share a Mexican setting, sharp atmosphere, and a willingness to bend expectations.
Are Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books set in Mexico?
Most are. Her stories span different eras of Mexican history, from the 1920s Jazz Age and 1950s Hollywood to 1970s Mexico City, often exploring class, colonialism, and identity through that lens. A few titles branch out geographically, but Mexico remains central to much of her work.
Explore her full catalog here.
