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Need a little diversion? Our crime columnist has plenty of books to recommend.

The thriller writer Hank Phillippi Ryan recommends seemingly impossible, deeply satisfying whodunits.

One of the first Iranian novelists to write in English, she examined the clash between East and West. Her debut novel, “Foreigner,” provided insight into pre-revolutionary Iran.

Not only is her latest cookbook her first best seller, the veteran chef has come around to whimsical rainbow flair on baked goods.

“The first album I ever bought was ‘Hunky Dory,’” said the actress and author, “and all those songs, every single one, is amazing.”

She wrote of peasants, unsung women, border crossers and, most popularly, Martin Guerre, a 16th-century village impostor recalled in a 1980s movie.

As a cookbook author, TV personality and mentor, she sought to burst the chicken-fried stereotype of the South. Sometimes her life was as messy as her kitchen.

An architect, he wrote in his book “Lost New York” about the many buildings that were destroyed before passage of the city’s landmarks preservation law.

She wrote about heroic Jewish resisters in her book “Defiance,” which was later made into a film starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.

His biographies of Charles Bukowski and Lawrence Ferlinghetti came to overshadow his own work. “I would love an interview,” he once said, “where Bukowski is not mentioned.”