Reviews

After writing a fun and successful cozy mystery series of twelve novels (each tied to one of the months), Jess Lourey shifted gears to write a collection of poignant crime fiction standalones inspired by true crimes that took place in and around her native Minnesota....

By following Mango, Mambo, and Murder with Calypso, Corpses, and Cooking, Raquel V. Reyes establishes that her Caribbean Kitchen mystery series will be delighting cozy crime readers for years to come. Miriam Quiñones-Smith and the diverse community and culture she...

With Under a Veiled Moon, the second in her Inspector Corravan series, Karen Odden weaves together political unrest and societal flaws to craft a page-turning historical mystery. On an evening in September of 1878, London is shaken to its core by a horrific maritime...

Adam Hamdy’s The Other Side of Night is one of those rare books that is truly unclassifiable, which means that it is also the perfect book to be Exhibit A in any discussion of why the whole concept of categorization is illogical, reductive, and ultimately pointless. A...

With 1989, Val McDermid continues her latest series starring Allie Burns. In this unique sequence of novels – each set ten years after the previous entry – McDermid chronicles the life of journalist Allie Burns as she navigates the ever-changing landscape of the...

With By the Time You Read This I’ll Be Gone (Murder, She Wrote #1), Stephanie Kuehn introduces a whole new generation of readers to the mysterious happenings in and around Cabot Cove, Maine. Beatrice Fletcher is the bi-racial great-niece of the legendary Jessica...

In Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Amanda Flower has the inspired idea to center beloved poet Emily Dickinson within a gripping period-appropriate murder mystery. The concept works incredibly well and has enough legs to ensure that this new novel is just the first...

Kim Taylor Blakemore’s brand of historical thrillers not only bring to life a long ago time, but they also elucidate how relevant yesterday is to today and how that can and will affect tomorrow. By centering her female characters in plots that are very much of their...

Kia Abdullah is a London-based author who has forged her own career path by releasing a series of excellent legal crime standalones that challenge readers to contemplate exigent legal situations from the perspectives of all the individuals involved – victim,...

The thriller genre is especially adept at weaving in current societal fears into compelling narrative fiction. Given that global warming and climate concerns are one of the most pressing catastrophes facing the world today, it is no surprise that thriller writers are...

Jessica Fellowes is most well-known for writing several companion books for her uncle’s television smash, Downton Abbey, and for her own series of historical mysteries featuring the Mitford sisters. Today marks the release of her first stand-alone domestic suspense...

Tampering with any icon is risky business, but fortunately in Marple, the anthology of new short stories featuring Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, the invited authors respect the reverence readers feel for this character while also managing to infuse their own styles...

At this point, Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope has become one of the most beloved crime fiction characters of all time. Vera has appeared in nine novels, many short stories, and a highly successful television series where she is vividly brought to life by the legendary...

When the writing duo behind Michael Stanley (Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip) first introduced Detective Kubu in 2008, the crime fiction community and fans of the genre immediately took notice. Here was a character who was iconic as he was original, solving crimes...

With Complicit, critically acclaimed author Winnie M. Li once again taps into her own past to tell a story that will resonate with readers everywhere. Unlike many of the #metoo-inspired novels flooding the market in recent years, Winnie M. Li dares to pull back that...

Alice Feeney continues her impressive string of unpredictable suspense novels with the unforgettable Daisy Darker. Readers who have read Sometimes I Lie, His & Hers, or Rock Paper Scissors will already anticipate how impossible it is to predict what Alice Feeney...

“The Woman on the Island” is Ann Cleeves’ most recent short story. While the tale is extremely brief, it does help to fill in some backstory on Vera Stanhope’s past relationship with her father, Hector. Needing a respite from her police duties, Vera takes what she...

Night Shadows is the third book in Eva Björg Ægisdóttir’s Forbidden Iceland series. Following both The Creak on the Stairs and Girls Who Lie, Night Shadows continues the evolution of Detective Elma and her family, friends, and colleagues, while also documenting the...

Lauren Wilkinson’s “A Scandal in Brooklyn” is a clever short story that updates the Sherlockian mythos for a more modern and diverse audience. Here, Irene Adler is a Black woman in the midst of divorcing her tech billionaire husband, when a girlfriend asks Irene to...

Zac Bissonnette is releasing his debut cozy mystery, A Killing in Costumes, at a time when the current publishing marketplace is celebrating diversity of all kinds. Through planned intent or lucky happenstance, Bissonnette’s novel capitalizes on this trend with what...