Books

We’re a quarter of the way through the year, if you can believe it, which makes it a good time to look back at the state of books so far in 2024. Goodreads has just released a list of 51 Nonfiction Hits of 2024 (So Far), separated into Essays, Memoirs, History & Biography, Science, and

Crime fiction lovers, we have some pretty important releases for you this week. Anthony Horowitz and Sara Paretsky are established names in the genre, Alyssa Cole and Ella Berman are rising stars, plus we’ve got a classic from the 1940s reprinted. April is off to a very fine start in our book… Read on to

The 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction has been announced. Out of the 445 eligible novels, this year’s judges, Xochitl Gonzalez, Alan Michael Parker, and Lynn Steger Strong, named What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez as the book that is a “first among equals.” In addition to the award, Ramirez will be granted $15,000,

A new Stuart Turton novel is always met with great anticipation and high expectations. The author, who frequently draws inspiration from Golden Age crime fiction, is undoubtedly skilled at crafting original mysteries. In his latest high-concept thriller he creates an entirely fictitious and post-apocalyptic setting on a remote Greek island. Here, 122 villagers and three

Everyone wants a shortcut to love, especially if a happily ever after is guaranteed. So it’s not surprising that Justin Dahl gets a big response when he explains his gift (or curse) on Reddit: Whoever he dates goes on to meet her perfect match right after things end with him. To his shock, Justin soon

Sometimes, a book takes you by surprise. In an age where cosy crime is having a resurgence and shop shelves creak with hybrid novels more romance than thriller, Razor Country comes along and punches you in the gut. This hardboiled collection of tales by author Nicholas Wagner reminds us why we’ve always loved short, punchy,

When shape-shifting monster Shesheshen is woken from her hibernation by monster hunters, she does what she must: She kills and eats one of them. In retaliation, the nearby townsfolk, scared and desperate to hand over a “wyrm” heart to Baroness Wulfyre, poison Shesheshen with rosemary and hunt her until she toddles over a cliff .

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside

The Napoleonic wars have been fertile ground for historical fantasy in recent years. From the draconic aerial combat of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke’s wry fairy tale of manners, that continent-spanning conflict provides an ideal canvas for fantastical retellings. It’s sweeping in scope, and is easier to romanticize

For a collection titled Modern Poetry, the latest offering from Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Diane Seuss spends a fair amount of time communing with the past. In the title poem, named after a textbook she studied in college, she reminisces about how she and her roommate referred to William Carlos Williams as “Billy C. Billygoat,” and

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen. View

Past and present collide in Jeffrey Round’s engaging The Sulphur Springs Cure, which jumps back and forth between 2009 and 1939 as our central character, Violet McAdams recalls what happened in Sulphur Springs in the Dundas Valley in Ontario, Canada, in the last summer before World War II broke out. Violet was just 13 then,

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Is there spring madness in the air? Scrolling through this week’s new releases, there’s something a little odd about each of them. In a good way, of course. We do like it when crime novels deviate from the norm. So… vampires and detectives, anyone? How about hardboiled in a World War I milieu? Or a

Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her

This is the second novel in the entertaining historical mystery series Bridget Walsh launched last year with The Tumbling Girl. The stories are set in Victorian London, in a particular world we less often read about – a music hall called the Variety Palace. The Innocents takes its title from a mass-casualty event that occurred

In his haunting debut, Death Row Welcomes You: Visiting Hours in the Shadow of the Execution Chamber, Tennessee journalist Steven Hale sheds light on a rarely seen part of American society: the places where more than 2,700 people await execution by the state. Hale’s reporting began when, after a decade-long lull, Tennessee began executing the

We’ve reviewed several of his New York-based police procedurals featuring NYPD Detective Mike Stoneman on this site, and Kevin G Chapman sticks with the Big Apple for his latest work, The Other Murder. The action begins inside one of the city’s landmark green spaces, Washington Square Park, where talented young basketball player Javier Estrada is

MacArthur fellow and National Book Award finalist Hanif Abdurraqib is a prolific poet and author, writing across genres of poetry, essay and cultural criticism to great acclaim. Abdurraqib turns his sensitive lens towards basketball in his newest work, There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. With carefully constructed and imaginative prose, he immerses us

There isn’t much Argentinian crime fiction that makes it into English translation, but when does arrive it’s usually very interesting. Recently, the indie publisher Corylus Books introduced us to a new author – Elsa Drucaroff – with her novel Rodolfo Walsh’s Last Case. Its title is unusual. Rodolfo Walsh? Sounds like he might be a

Early in the shattering true crime memoir Rabbit Heart: A Mother’s Murder, A Daughter’s Story, Kristine S. Ervin pauses mid-sentence to tackle a question of grammar. Which tense does one use when discussing a relationship in which one person has died? It is a question that seems to form the crux of this stunning debut:

Jimmy Fallon announced yesterday the return of his book club, the Fallon Book Club. Previously, the book club would announce a short list of options to choose from. This time, though, there are 16 books facing off in a March Madness-style bracket to select the spring read. [embedded content][embedded content] The books range across genres,

Take a look at this! Close to Death, the fifth novel in Anthony Horowitz’s wonderful Hawthorne series, is due to go on sale on 16 April, and our friends at Harper Collins in the United States have sent us this beautiful hardback copy. We love to celebrate sumptuous book design here at Crime Fiction Lover

Jennifer Thorne’s Diavola is an exercise in delicious twists and masterful suspense, told in the smart, snarky voice of Anna Pace, a jaded Manhattanite on a vacation quite literally from hell. Anna’s swanky upcoming family trip certainly doesn’t seem monstrous on the outside. A marketing artist by trade and a painter by passion, she’s thrilled

At first glance, task #7 of the 2024 Read Harder Challenge might sound a little intimidating, especially if you’re not a poetry reader: Read an indie published collection of poetry by a BIPOC or queer author. Here’s the good news, though: if you go out looking for queer and BIPOC poetry, you’ll find that most

Translated by Slava Faybysh — Fact and fiction overlap, reinforce, and illuminate each other in this historical ‘true crime’ novel by Argentine novelist and literature professor Elsa Drucaroff. In real life, as in the novel, Rodolfo Walsh was a well-known Argentinian writer of detective fiction and an investigative journalist during the politically tumultuous 1950s and

The National Book Critics Circle honors excellence in literature and focuses its work on elevating the conversation about books, reading, and criticism nationwide. The group formed in 1974 at New York’s legendary Algonquin Hotel. There are currently 600 members who are editors or literary critics. Every year, the group honors the best of the prior

Good news: the final story in Don Winslow’s Danny Ryan trilogy is here. Bad news: its author is retiring. He’s one of the finest in the genre and he will be missed. And now, our roundup of the latest crime releases which also includes a new Judge Dee story, a retro LA mystery from Gary

What happens in Vegas . . . never stays in Vegas. It’s no secret that the bright lights of Sin City just barely disguise a dark legacy of bad deals, gangsters and buried bodies. What happens when post-COVID craziness and cryptocurrency fads come on the scene, fatalities pile up and two estranged sisters are caught

Here’s a heads-up for UK-based crime fiction lovers who enjoy mystery board games. Rent, Shuffle and Roll is an interesting startup that gives you the chance to play hundreds of tabletop games without having to buy them – and they’ve just launched their Mystery Vault. In it are over 100 boxed games you can rent, play