Reviews
BOLO Books’ Top Reads of 2018
From the Booking Desk: 2018 will always be the year I was awarded the Mystery Writers of America Raven Award. This accolade represents a career highlight and I have been thrilled to celebrate with all of you throughout this year. But the work continued. ...
The Stranger Diaries – The BOLO Books Review
If you’ll permit me... Along with writing two popular series, Elly Griffiths has decided that it is time to add a stand-alone psychological suspense novel to her repertoire. That novel is The Stranger Diaries and is currently available overseas and will appear in the...
The Ruin – The BOLO Books Review
The epigraph at the beginning of Dervla McTiernan’s debut novel exposes the complexity of the book’s title alone. Whether one calls it The Rúin – as it was originally called in Ireland – or The Ruin – the less exotic title given to the novel by its English-speaking...
Kingdom of the Blind – The BOLO Books Review
Despite plans to take a year off from releasing a new Three Pines novel, Louise Penny surprised her fans by announcing that Kingdom of the Blind would indeed be released before year’s end. Every book in the series feels personal, but because the basis of this new...
Dead Ringer – The BOLO Books Review
Kate Kessler’s Dead Ringer is a visceral reading experience – simultaneously addictive and off-putting in equal measure. It is almost impossible to prepare the reader for the journey they are about to take – but a warning is necessary: Dead Ringer is not a book for...
An Unexplained Death – The BOLO Books Review
The Belvedere is a historic building constructed in 1903 and located on North Charles Street in downtown Baltimore. This landmark’s "Beaux Arts" style architecture has resulted in many iconic photographs across its history. Once a hotel catering to the hoity-toity...
Beyond the Truth – The BOLO Books Review
Fans of police procedurals should definitely be reading the books of Bruce Robert Coffin. His Detective Byron mystery novels set in Portland, Maine present accurate depictions of all aspects of the law enforcement profession and they continue to grow stronger with...
The Skeleton Makes a Friend – The BOLO Books Review
Readers would be forgiven for assuming that a novel featuring an ambulatory skeleton as an amateur detective might not address too many real-world issues, however, Leigh Perry’s Family Skeleton series repeatedly proves that just because a book features paranormal...
Go To My Grave – The BOLO Books Review
When Catriona McPherson puts words to paper, readers can always count on the resulting story being unexpected and successful. Is there nothing this woman can’t write? First she has a much-loved historical cozy series, then she started writing the occasional – and...
Th1rt3en – The BOLO Books Review (UK Edition)
It is rare to find a novel with a hook so ingenious that the book immediately becomes a must-read, but that is exactly what Steve Cavanagh achieved with his newest novel, Th1rt3en. The novel is a legal thriller with the tag line: “The serial killer isn’t on trial,...
A Rising Man – The BOLO Books Review
A Rising Man is Abir Mukherjee’s debut historical mystery. It was nominated for the the 2018 Best Novel Edgar Award, so a review hardly seems necessary. But a concerted effort must be made to celebrate the diversity within the crime fiction genre, so this series must...
FlabberGassed – The BOLO Books Review
Michael Craft is the talent behind the highly-regarded LGBTQ+ mystery series featuring Mark Manning. Those novels, along with his other writings, have allowed readers to meet multifaceted characters populating engrossing mystery plots. In 2016, he welcomed his readers...
Under My Skin – The BOLO Books Review
Under My Skin is Lisa Unger’s contribution to the current renaissance of psychological suspense novels lead by unreliable narrators. As with any influx of releases within a hot, of-the-moment sub-genre, the quality of writing varies across the board, but fans of Lisa...
Hold The Dark – A BOLO Books Television Review
Regardless of whether you classify it as Alaskan noir, a revenge thriller, or metaphysical suspense, the new Netflix original movie Hold the Dark will maintain your interest from first frame to final shot. Based on William Giraldi’s well-reviewed novel of the same...
The Druid of Death – The BOLO Books Review
In June of 2014, the character of Sherlock Holmes and the world-building that surrounds him was decreed by court order to be in the public domain. This freed up writers such as Richard T. Ryan to expand upon the existing canon with new stories featuring these iconic...
Lies – The BOLO Books Review
Domestic suspense was once the sole domain of female writers – which is sadly also why it was often sneered at by so-called “serious readers” of crime fiction; but more and more, male authors are exploring what their version of domestic suspense looks like. Take for...
Sweet Little Lies – The BOLO Books Review
With her debut novel, Sweet Little Lies, Caz Frear has knocked it out of the ballpark. It doesn’t take any hidden twists or clever convolutions to manipulate the reader into this love affair; strong writing and a faith in the audience’s intelligence are Caz Frear’s...
School Lies – The BOLO Books Review
Kimberly G. Giarratano’s School Lies is an academic-set mystery with LGBTQ+ themes. Like many books set in the hallowed halls of institutions of higher learning, School Lies pivots on the interactions of the student body, often out of the sight of “responsible...
In Her Bones – The BOLO Books Review
The reading public’s interest in psychological suspense shows no sign of diminishing. In Her Bones is Kate Moretti’s third book in this genre and yet, each of these stand-alones is distinctly different. Unifying them all is an easily-readable writing style and a gift...
November Road – The BOLO Books Review
Nostalgia is a complex concept. Most often, we define it as fondly looking back on a simpler time, a better time; but it has a sinister side as well. Because, in order to long for yesteryear, we must also forget – or at the very least obfuscate - that those times had...