It’s one thing to charm readers on a national stage; quite another to inspire and energize the folks at home. We asked independent bookstores across Louisiana and Mississippi to send us their lists of local bestsellers—all written by authors from the Gulf South.
Our Method
The following lists are aggregations of regional booksellers' top sales lists. Each book has been published in 2025 to local acclaim. Our rankings were informed by 1) where the books fell in each respective list 2) whether book titles appeared on multiple lists, and (3) the local critical reception and impact of each book. Booksellers who contributed to our data crunch include: Baldwin and Co. Books and The Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans, The Conundrum in St. Francisville, Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs and Lafayette, Lemuria Books in Jackson, and TBR Books in Baton Rouge.
[Find our 2025 Bestseller List for Children's Books, here.]
The CR Bestseller List
1. Dominion
by Addie E. Citchens
Southern Fiction
“It’s rare that a debut author produces a work of such tenderness and ferocity, but that’s what Addie E. Citchens has done in her unforgettable Dominion. Rich with metaphor and thrumming power, it tells a vivid and unforgettable story of two Mississippi Black women. If Citchens didn’t exist, the South would invent her. But she does exist and our common literary soil is enriched because of it.”—Maurice Carlos Ruffin, bestselling author of The American Daughters
2. Home of the Happy
by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot
True Crime Memoir
“In an impressive feat of both memoir and original reporting, Jordan LaHaye Fontenot has cast a reporter’s gaze on her own family’s buried secrets. But the real value to Home of the Happy lies beyond the brutal crime at its center, in showing us Acadiana and its people as we’ve never seen them before—mired in complexity, rife with beauty, and haunted by injustice.” —Walter Isaacson
3. The Jailhouse Lawyer
by Calvin Duncan
Memoir
“Duncan’s story is so incredible it strains belief. It is so heartwarming and hopeful that it will stay with you for a long time.” —John Grisham
4. Firebird
by Juliette Cross
Romantic Fantasy
“Fresh and exciting . . . a scorching love story” —Cosmopolitan
5. Poison Wood
by Jennifer Moorhead
Suspense/Psychological Thriller
“Helmed by an iron-willed protagonist, this book is a wild, absorbing ride through the vicious world of teenage girls, buried secrets, and original wounds, guaranteed to keep you racing through the pages.” —Ashley Winstead, author of This Book Will Bury Me
6. Bless Your Heart
by Landon Bryant
Southern Humor
"Landon Bryant talks about grits, prayer lists, and humidity, addressing a diverse audience bound by its fascination with a colorful, complicated place." —The New York Times
7. Lay Your Armor Down
by Michael Farris Smith
Mystery
"Lay Your Armor Down is a prophetic, propulsive tale that is sure to leave its lasting mark on the Southern gothic cannon . . . This novel is a masterclass in storytelling, with characters that are uniquely unforgettable, and an ending that’s well worth the journey." —Scott Blackburn, author of It Dies with You
8. Proud Flesh
by Catherine Gray
Memoir
“I could not put this book down . . . A fresh, vibrant narrative for mothers, women, and anyone who has dared to fully look at the scars of the past.” —Molly Caro May, author of Body Full of Stars
9. Split the Baby
by Lauren Rhoades
Memoir
"There is a circularity to Split the Baby as Rhoades explores the threads of a childhood bifurcated by divorce. In beautifully frank prose, she navigates her two homes and the two women she loved: the pain of a mother, a stepmother in competition. Split the Baby is an ethically generous memoir, told with compassion and grace, in which Rhoades shows us what it feels like to inhabit a body divided."—Mary Miller, author of Biloxi and Always Happy Hour
10. Of Flesh and Blood: The Untold Story of the Cajun Cannibal
by N.L. Lavin and Hunter Burke
Horror
“A delightfully chilling debut steeped in Southern gothic, with a villain you won’t soon forget, Of Flesh and Blood is a page-turning success. Beautifully rendered atmosphere and a haunting structure pull you in fast and hold you tight.”
—Scott Carson, New York Times bestselling author of Lost Man’s Lane
