Reviews

With Perfect Wives, Perfect Lies, Jennifer Anne Gordon has written a summer treat that feels like both an old school throwback and a timely piece of social satire. The reading experience is akin to drinking a vodka stinger poolside with a developing storm in the...

The Martini Club—that collection of aging, retired spies who now secretly reside in Purity, Maine—is back with another unforgettable case in The Shadow Friends, the third book in Tess Gerritsen’s latest series. Unlike the first two books in the series, The Shadow...

Over time, there has been a tendency to place all Nordic Crime Fiction under an umbrella of sameness, largely because the early successes in the subgenre were indeed dark, brooding pieces dripping with a cold and gloomy ambience, but the truth is much more complex—as...

With Not a Word, Linwood Barclay proves that a clever and well-timed twist in the early pages of a book can hook the reader and keep them glued to the pages right through to the end (and beyond). Like Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay has built a career on writing...

“Sidebar” Reviews are extremely early reviews designed to encourage readers to pre-order novels that will be released later in the year. Miss Marple is one of the most beloved characters in the history of crime fiction. Dame Agatha Christie’s first short story...

With The Cracked Mirror, Chris Brookmyre uses literary slight-of-hand to wrongfoot readers in the most spectacular fashion, all while honoring the tropes of classic crime fiction. For fans of Brookmyre, this will come as no surprise as he has proven over the years...

Although it may have felt like a leap of faith, LynDee Walker’s decision to transition to domestic suspense has proven to be an inspired choice. Each of her psychological suspense novels—from The Pastor’s Wife to The Housewife Next Door to the latest, The Other...

Every summer, fans of Carol Goodman look forward to her newest crime fiction release. From the moment she first dropped The Lake of Dead Languages, Goodman has continued to amass a following as loyal as one is likely to find in crime fiction. This, of course, is...

“Sidebar” Reviews are extremely early reviews designed to encourage readers to pre-order novels that will be released later in the year. It is very fitting that as Louise Penny enters the second decade of Three Pines mysteries she returns to the formula that made her...

Alexandra Sokoloff (Huntress Moon) and Craig Robertson (Random) have been entertaining readers for many years with their various crime fiction releases, but with the appearance of The Grapevine, this married couple join forces for the first time. Billed as The Lost...

Curtis Ippolito’s Burying the Newspaper Man remains one of the under-appreciated gems of the neo-noir movement in crime fiction. With the release of his second full-length work—Waves of Burden—Ippolito proves that his success was no accident. This is a writer who...

Jo Murray’s debut novel, Dissection of a Murder, is a serious contender for best crime fiction release of the year. Jo Murray is a former criminal barrister from North Yorkshire and her training and career bring incredible verisimilitude to her creative writing. Fans...

“Sidebar” Reviews are extremely early reviews designed to encourage readers to pre-order novels that will be released later in the year. Mikita Brottman is probably most well known for her 2018 true crime release, An Unexplained Death, about the mysterious death at...

"Sidebar" Reviews are extremely early reviews designed to encourage readers to pre-order novels that will be released later in the year. Some of the best horror fiction manages to depict real-world societal problems in such an extreme way that the risks are undeniable...

To the uninitiated, Louise Penny writing a political thriller may seem incongruous, but it doesn’t take much digging to understand just how natural a progression the release of The Last Mandarin actually is. As far back as The Nature of the Beast, readers began to see...

My Husband’s Wife is Alice Feeney’s addictive eighth novel, in which she continues to showcase her unparalleled skills at crafting the unexpected twist within crime plots that straddle the delicate line between realism and ridiculousness. Alice Feeney’s stock-in-trade...

From the Booking Desk: Back in 2015, Art Taylor published his novel-in-stories--On the Road with Del & Louise--to great acclaim. That book would go on to win the Agatha Award for Best First novel. Unfortunately, the book has been out of print for a while now, so...

Readers love debut novels. There is just something intoxicating about discovering a new talent on the cusp of their career. Be sure to keep your eye on debut awards for the inside scoop on the next hottest thing. For example, Jennifer K. Breedlove’s Murder Will Out...

Jim Fusilli has been a solid name in the crime fiction community for years. Racking up accolades and honors for his own work, Jim Fusilli is one of those authors who is constantly giving back to his community by spotlighting colleagues on his popular podcast, Writers...

One of the key tenets of most crime fiction is justice—seeking justice, evading justice, or some combination of the two. There are books where justice is ultimately denied, but even in those cases, readers find a sense of comfort in the efforts made toward...