23-03-2025
The Best Books to Read After You Finish Binge-Watching 'The Residence'
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If you've already binge-watched the entirety of The Residence on Netflix—the new murder mystery from Shonda Rhimes set at a state dinner at the White House—and are searching for what to watch or read next, you're in luck: The show was actually based on a book, and there are plenty of memoirs, historical accounts, and novels like The Residence to enjoy, too.
From works of narrative nonfiction to thrillers set in Washington D.C., here are 15 books sure to please fans of the series:Shonda Rhimes's The Residence is adapted from this book by Kate Andersen Brower, which dives into the service staff of the White House. The Residence 'really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the President and First Family,' per the publisher. Unlike the Netflix adaptation, however, this filled with true stories—and no murders.
$10.41 at S. Truman was president from 1945 to 1953; he lived in the White House with his wife, Bess, and their daughter, Margaret Truman. Starting in 1980, Margaret published a series of murder mysteries set in and around D.C. in her 'Capital Crimes' series. The first one: Murder in the White House, in which the Secretary of State is strangled in the Lincoln bedroom.
$6.83 at B. West was the 6th chief usher of the White House, serving from 1957 to 1969, and authored a memoir on his time working at the famed residence. First Lady Jackie Kennedy once called him 'one of the most extraordinary men I have ever met.'
$15.09 at you're searching for more of a thriller than a murder mystery, Matthew Quirks's The Night Agent will do the trick. Also adapted into a Netflix series (starring Gabriel Basso), the story follows Peter, an FBI agent who works at the White House as a night telephone operator monitoring an emergency line. When the phone rings one night, he's thrust into a world of conspiracy theories involving a Russian mole who is a top-ranking U.S. official.
$10.99 at House butler Eugene Allen served eight presidents in over three decades, retiring in 1986. Notably, Eugene was the first butler ever invited to a White House state dinner. (Very relevant for The Resident!) Plus, it's another book-to-screen work: The Butler served as the basis for a 2013 film directed by Lee Daniels starring Forest Whitaker
$13.99 at key part of the plot of The Residence is the state dinner, and in Dinner with the Residence, author Alex Prud'homme—who co-authored Julia Child's memoir My Life in France—goes deep on the White House kitchens over the decades. As Prud'homme writes in the introduction, 'Like any other house, the White House runs on Executive Mansion is the most powerful house in the world. And so it follows that the meals and food policies created there are among the most influential in history.'
$20.43 at president Bill Clinton co-authored this thriller with James Patterson about the disappearance of a president. The publisher notes it is 'filled with information that only a former commander in chief could know.'
$10.94 at Us March is a historical fiction novel inspired by the true story of Lizzie McDuffie. Lizzie was hired as a maid in the White House and then told President Franklin D. Roosevelt she intended to be his 'SASOCPA,' or 'Self-Appointed-Secretary-On-Colored-People's-Affairs.' Shara Moon imagines her story, and glimpses into the life of the White House staff under FDR.
$15.19 at autobiographical novel, first published in 1961, is based on Lillian Rogers Parks's career as a seamstress at the White House for thirty years. It was so popular that 'Jacqueline all White House domestic employees to sign a pledge not to write about their White House experiences.' Her book was adapted into a 1979 miniseries starring Leslie Uggams as Lillian and Olivia Cole as her mother, Maggie, who also worked in the White House.
$25.95 at Lusane's The Black History of the White House focuses on African Americans at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from the 18th century up until the first Obama administration. Lusane does not shy away from the cruel history of the locale, including how during the administrations of presidents including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson, enslaved men and women worked in the White House.
$19.95 at Andersen Brower, who wrote The Residence, returns with a look at First Ladies, who among their other roles are the 'CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House.' It serves as an apt read after watching The Residence.
Read more: The 25 Best Books About (And By) First Ladies
$15.99 at what intrigued you most about The Residence was the compound of the White House itself, you'll love Robert Klara's The Hidden White House, about the reconstruction of the building during the Truman administration.
$2.99 at Dyer served as the White House Social Secretary during the Obama Administration, and her memoir Undiplomatic peels back the curtain on what it's really like to organize major White House events.
$22.25 at in The Residence, the Secret Service are sidelined for Detective Coredlia Cupp, IRL, the Secret Service is responsible for the safety and security of the First Family. Ronald Kessler's The First Family Detail takes a fly-on-the-wall approach to telling the stories of Secret Service agents and the First Families through the years.
$14.81 at Pryer's horror novel The Residence shares a name and setting with Netflix's The Residence, but that's where the similarities end. The story, set in 1853, is set in the aftermath of the tragic death of President Franklin Pierce's son Benjamin in a train accident. After moving into the White House, First Lady Jane Pierce then holds a séance to connect with her late son—but something goes very, very wrong.
$16.80 at
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