Reviews

Brooke Robinson is a playwright who used the downtime during the pandemic to write her first novel, The Interpreter. While it is quite a dense book, Robinson executes it with skill and style—entertaining while also educating. As readers will no doubt guess from the...

When a highly respected blogger raves about a novel, readers (and other reviewers) take notice. Such is the case with Ayo Onatade when it comes to Jake Lamar’s Viper’s Dream. Viper’s Dream was released earlier this year in the United Kingdom, where Onatade resides....

Over her varied career, Jess Lourey has amassed a loyal fanbase who not only devour her books the moment they appear, but who will also tell everyone they know to read her work. After a stellar run of standalones in which her profile in the crime fiction community...

Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist The mystery behind this series is just as intriguing as the books themselves. Stella Blomkvist is not just the character in the novels but is also the nom-de-plume used by the mysterious author no one has been able to...

With each book, Kia Abdullah continues to highlight her willingness to tell the difficult stories, the ones that most writers would conjure in their mind before kindly telling themselves “there’s no way in hell I’m going there.” Because of her bravery, each novel...

Reykjavík is the new novel from Icelandic crime fiction superstar, Ragnar Jónasson, written in collaboration with the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir. With that pedigree, anticipation for this new thriller is understandably high and thankfully, this...

Gillian McAllister has been writing quite successful suspense novels for years now, but last year’s Wrong Place, Wrong Time appears to have elevated her to another level. She is now following that bestseller with Just Another Missing Person—a more traditional domestic...

With the enigmatic sentence “We didn’t call the police right away,” Angie Kim’s Happiness Falls is off and running—luring the reader into an unforgettable journey through this epic new novel that is quite unlike anything else on the market. Happiness Falls is a...

For many US readers, the name Sabine Durrant is likely an unfamiliar one. It is a real shame as she has been writing some of the strongest psychological suspense novels for years now. This reviewer is partial to Lie With Me, but fans of the subgenre will be more than...

Michael Koryta is one of those consistently excellent authors who seem virtually incapable of letting their readers down. This is most surprising because every Michael Koryta book is different than the previous. He has written series and standalones, thrillers,...

The name Alice Feeney should be at the top of every domestic suspense fan’s “must buy” list. With five books released, Feeney has proven that she is both skilled at devising complex plots and has a knack for developing characters readers truly care about. That Alice...

Historical fiction is at its best when it can both educate the reader about the past and elucidate something about our present at the same time. This is a tricky balance, but Sujata Massey has made it look easy across the first three novels in her historical India...

Maybe perfectly timed to end the recent debate about what small town America is really like, Kelly J. Ford’s The Hunt is a snapshot of Presley, Arkansas—a fictional locale that feels more real than anything depicted on country radio. With a writing voice that...

Michael Craft has been…well…crafting crime novels for over twenty years. He is justifiably considered a legend in the LGBTQ+ mystery arena, with his Mark Manning Mysteries often referenced as prior generations gateway into LGBTQ+ crime…reading. Last year he launched a...

Chandler Baker’s first crime novel, The Whisper Network, dealt with women in a corporate environment and the near-universal specter highlighted by the #metoo movement. She followed this with The Husbands, a psychological suspense narrative that aimed its satire at...

Alex Hay’s debut crime novel, The Housekeepers, is a dastardly and delightful romp through Edwardian London with the servant class as the reader’s guide. The Housekeepers is a confection—almost like a bon-bon served beside a flute of expensive champagne while lounging...

The release of a new Carol Goodman novel is always an exciting moment. Fans of Carol Goodman know that while each novel will be different, there will be a consistency in her ability to bring to life a complex cast of characters, a sure-handedness in her sculpting of a...

As we head into Iceland Noir weekend, Ann Cleeves has gifted her fans with a new Shetland short story. And the best part is that it is FREE. "Missing in the Snow" is told from Tosh's point of view and was inspired by an incident that happened to Ann Cleeves last year...

Many of the reviews praising The Anatomy of Desire—the debut novel from the writing team calling themselves L. R. Dorn—acknowledged the innovation built into the very structure of that deep-dive psychological portrait of a crime, so it will be no surprise to readers...

When the pandemic hit, readers wondered how that would be incorporated into their favorite long-running contemporary crime fiction series. And while it may seem slightly odd, some extremely devoted fans even found themselves wondering how their favorite characters...