Reviews
BOLO Books’ Top Reads of 2016
From the Booking Desk: I feel like a broken record, but every year I say that compiling my Top Reads list gets more and more difficult. 2016 was a stellar year for crime fiction and as such, I had to make some very difficult cuts to my final list. I could easily...
Chasing the Dead – A BOLO Books “Cold Case” Review
Often, the success of a series rests squarely on the shoulders of the characters who populate the fictional world. Occasionally, it takes several books for that respect to build, but in some cases – such as Tim Weaver’s Chasing the Dead – the reader’s connection to...
IQ – The BOLO Books Review
This past year, Hamilton revolutionized the Broadway musical by infusing it with elements drawn directly from hip-hop culture. This modernization inspired a new segment of society to engage with this historic art form – the diversity on the stage stimulated a more...
Moral Defense – The BOLO Books Review
It probably goes without saying, but readers looking to experience crime fiction centered on the legal system should look no further than the books written by Marcia Clark. Earlier this year, Blood Defense introduced readers to defense attorney Samantha Brinkman and...
Snowed – The BOLO Books Review
Writing an effective holiday story is never an easy task; there is always the risk of getting too schmaltzy, of lacking originality, and of offending readers. Maria Alexander’s Snowed easily avoids the first two and strategically straddles the line on the last. Snowed...
Little Grey Cells – The BOLO Books Review
“The past is the father of the present.” This quote by Hercule Poirot from Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party is just one example of the many pearls of wisdom to be found in Little Grey Cells – The Quotable Poirot. This stylish little book is a treasure-trove packed...
The Next One Will Kill You – The BOLO Books Review
Neil S. Plakcy’s The Next One Will Kill You is best described as exhilarating, escapist entertainment. The novel’s exciting and fun nature generates from the fact that it never takes itself too seriously and the fact that Plakcy manages to avoid allowing the players...
Set Free –
The BOLO Books Review
Set Free is the latest novel from Canadian-based crime fiction author Anthony Bidulka. As with much of his work, Set Free shows Bidulka’s love of travel and exotic locales. Set Free opens with Jaspar Wills’ arrival in Marrakech after he has left his previous life...
Sunshine Noir – The BOLO Books Review
This year has seen a plethora of outstanding short story anthologies. Already this year, BOLO Books has covered Echoes of Sherlock Holmes, Blood On the Bayou, and Storm Warning – with a few others still to come, including today’s choice. Sunshine Noir is edited by...
Say No More – The BOLO Books Review
Most crime fiction readers are aware that Hank Phillippi Ryan came to fiction writing by way of her highly successful investigative reporting career on Boston television, so it should be no surprise that her novels often feature hot-button topics which affect and...
Peepland (Issue One) – The BOLO Books Comic Review
The Times Square of the Nineteen-Eighties looked vastly different to the family wonderland found in New York City today. Often described as a den of depravity, there is little doubt that at the time it was a sketchy and seedy place, but it was also a place populated...
Echoes of Sherlock Holmes – The BOLO Books Review
Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger have once again edited a volume of stories aimed at expanding the Sherlock Holmes multiverse. As always, these two have gathered a stellar cast of writers for their new anthology, Echoes of Sherlock Holmes. This time out, the...
The Vanishing Year – The BOLO Books Review
Domestic suspense continues to be an increasingly popular sub-genre of crime fiction, rife with variations on the theme of danger lurking in the most unexpected, yet commonplace, locations. The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti is one of the most recent examples and one...
Blood on the Bayou – The BOLO Books Review
From the Booking Desk: Blood on the Bayou is the latest Bouchercon Anthology - release recently at the 2016 Bouchercon in New Orleans. This collection of stories is 100% solid and is as diverse as the city of New Orleans itself. I could have reviewed any of these...
The Branson Beauty –
The BOLO Books Review
It is sometimes incorrectly assumed that the traditional mystery is the sole domain of the Golden Age. While it is true that many of the touchstones of the genre came from that period, there are plenty of modern mysteries that fit this mold – and in some cases expand...
Only Daughter – The BOLO Books Review
Anna Snoekstra is a debut author from Melbourne, Australia. Only Daughter is her first foray into crime fiction and was recently released. Readers who enjoy dueling timelines and complex female narrators will enjoy this succinct debut. This tightly written novel (it...
The Prison Guard’s Son – The BOLO Books Review
Over the years, many crime fiction works have been inspired by the case of James Patrick Bulger – the British two-year-old who was brutally tortured and killed by two ten-year-old boys in the early 1990’s. Authors such as Laura Lippman (with Every Secret Thing), Alex...
A Great Reckoning – The BOLO Books Review
Over the course of eleven novels, Louise Penny has amassed a legion of fans who anxiously await the release of a new Inspector Gamache novel each year. This year’s entry, A Great Reckoning, is one of the best in a series that has already reached great heights in terms...
Huntress Moon – The BOLO Books Review
(This is the third and final in a series looking at the work of Bouchercon 2016 Guests of Honor.) With Huntress Moon, Alexandra Sokoloff has used her background in screenwriting and her interest in feminism to aid in writing a thriller that manages to be both...
Closed Casket – The BOLO Books Review
Sophie Hannah is known in the crime fiction community for writing some of the most complex and psychologically sound mysteries available, so it was not a surprise when the Agatha Christie estate announced that they had chosen her to write a new Hercule Poirot novel....