Books

This captivating debut mystery novel by Jennifer Milder unwraps the title character’s secrets like a succession of nesting boxes. It demonstrates the truth William Faulkner captured when he said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Janus is a middle-aged woman living in Brooklyn when she receives a phone call that’s like the

Anyone who has read The Blackbird, the previous book in Tim Weaver’s series, will know that its finale left David Raker in a precarious place. As The Last Goodbye begins, the missing persons investigator is thanking his lucky stars that he is still one step ahead of the police, who hate the fact that Raker

If you’ve been on social media over the last week, chances are you’ve seen the Shiny Happy People documentary series trending. Whether you have seen that, ignored that, or did not know about it at all until this moment, this Amazon Prime limited docuseries is a must-view in order to understand the roots of today’s

Lovers of historical crime fiction can get ready for a treat as Ambrose Parry, the time travelling pen name of Chris Brookmyre and his partner Maria Haetzman, serves up an 1853 Edinburgh mystery with echoes of the bodysnatchers Burke and Hare. There seems to be a seam of tartan in our news report this week,

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a list of actions it will take to better protect LGBTQ+ Americans. Among them was a plan to address the rise in books bans, which disproportionately target queer and BIPOC- centered books. An anti-book ban coordinator will be appointed by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on the

German crime drama is returning to Channel 4’s subtitled streaming service Walter Presents with The Marnow Murders, available in the UK as a box set from 16 June 2023. Based on the novel of the same name by screenwriter Holger Karsten Schmidt, the mystery is set in the current day but was inspired by shady

Titus Crown is the first black sheriff of Charon County, Virginia. The previous incumbent ran a corrupt, racist department that Crown swore he’d clean up when he took the job. He’s determined that his officers will operate by the book, without fear or favour, and that no-one in his department can be accused of bias.

Last year, I wrote about the conservative group CatholicVote organizing what they called “Hide the Pride,” which encourages people to check out all children’s and teen LGBTQ books in the library, especially on Pride displays, in order to make sure no one else can access them. They’ve now announced the second annual “Hide the Pride”

There’s always a question over whether a senior government figure can hack it when they turn to writing crime. Often, it’s smarter to satisfy the urge by collaborating with established writers as the Clintons have done – Bill with James Patterson on The President’s Daughter and Hillary with Louise Penny to create State of Terror.

We’re almost halfway through 2023, which means booksellers, reviewers, and book lovers of all kinds are taking a moment to celebrate some of the amazing titles released so far this year. Every summer, bookselling titan Barnes & Noble joins the fun by releasing their “Best Books of the Year (So Far)” list. Last year’s list

This week, book banners showed up to the Douglas County Public Library board meeting in Colorado to protest books in the system’s collection. It is not the first time they’ve done it, and it’s also not the first time counter protestors have shown up to push back. None of this is news nor is it

This week, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón in conjunction with the Library of Congress announced that NASA’s Europa Clipper will be launching on its mission in October 2024 with “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” The poem, written by Limón, will travel 1.8 billion miles through the galaxy. It will be engraved on

Just like last week, we’re starting our column with a book in the rural noir category and author Chris Offutt has become a favourite in the sub-genre. His third Mick Hardin novel is out on 13 June. We have crime in translation from Switzerland with a Hansjörg Schneider mystery, some Australian pulp thanks to Andrew

When you gaze at the quilted cover of A Flag for Juneteenth, you will want to reach out and touch it. The artwork depicts a girl wearing a fuchsia dress and kerchief standing proudly in front of a flag, the bright colors of her outfit vibrant against the flag’s soft yellows and greens. The girl’s

For some people, the childhood memory of book fairs coming to their school is a fond one, full of precious anticipation and exciting purchases. For others, it’s bittersweet — there was the joy of looking through bright and shiny new books, but there was also that constant, nagging knowledge of not being able to afford

For their entire lives, Penny and Tate have orbited each other reluctantly. Since before Penny and Tate were born, their moms, Lottie and Anna, have been attached at the hip, and this permanent package deal means constant, unwanted proximity for the two daughters. See, Penny and Tate are not friends. They’re also not not friends.

A children’s book titled The Sweet and Sour Animal Book, written by Langston Hughes and illustrated by Elmer W. Brown, has resurfaced in Cleveland, OH and is being given a platform it never had. Hughes and Brown met in the ’30s in Cleveland’s Karma House, the oldest Black theater in the United States. Once their

In Waypoints: My Scottish Journey (8 hours), Scottish actor Sam Heughan, best known for playing Jamie Fraser in the TV series “Outlander,” describes the experience of hiking the West Highland Way, from his journey’s impulsive beginning to its funniest and most painful moments, all the way to its successful end. With disarming asides and humorous

Crossword puzzle fans and passionate readers are a Venn diagram with a lot of overlap. But even the most seasoned Saturday New York Times crossword connoisseur will bump into clues they’re unfamiliar with. So what should you study if you want to be the best of the best? Crossword Solver analyzed 6.3 million newspaper crossword

In the 1980s, Paul Newman began working with screenwriter Stewart Stern to compose an oral history about the actor’s life, from his difficult upbringing to his Hollywood career to his passions for racing and philanthropy. But the project remained incomplete after Newman’s death in 2008—until the arrival of The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

You might be in a YA low fantasy book if you turn the corner to get to your locker and come upon a daemon. They contain everything odd about high school and literalize it with fantasy. Here is a must-read list of YA low fantasy books for genre lovers and novices alike. Fantasy has a

The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World (12 hours) begins with a perilous escape attempt from Auschwitz and expands into a larger story about Rudolf Vrba, one of the first Jewish people to escape from the notorious concentration camp.  British author Jonathan Freedland (known for both his thrillers

Whether we’re consciously aware of it, most of us have some sort of bookish goals and/or habit. These can range from wanting to read more, to read more diversely, or finally start trying to make a dent in an established TBR pile. Whatever the goals are, they’re there. I know I’ve mentioned some of mine

If anyone needs a course in anger management it’s Frankie Morgan, the main character in Canadian author Hannah Mary McKinnon’s latest standalone thriller. Frankie’s trigger temper has been causing her problems both personally and professionally, and anger is one of the main themes of The Revenge List. The novel may be set in Portland, Maine

For My First Popsicle: An Anthology of Food and Feelings (7 hours), actor Zosia Mamet (“Girls,” “The Flight Attendant”) has gathered a who’s-who of creative folks, including fellow actors like Busy Philipps, musicians like Patti Smith, writers like David Sedaris and chefs like Kwame Onwuachi. Each contributed an essay about food or a food-related memory,

I’m a fierce defender of the idea that books don’t have to be hard to be good. I understand writers might prefer to take a deep literary approach when working on their manuscripts, but being hard to read doesn’t always reflect a more meaningful work of literature or worthy read. In certain circumstances, especially in

It’s pure madness that people are still moving to picturesque country villages in search of rest and relaxation when they or someone they know is far more likely to be murdered and/or accused of murder. At least, that’s what cosy crime fiction will lead you to believe. For her part, Tess Feather is clearly no

There’s wit, honesty and insight in Madly, Deeply (19.5 hours), a collection of Alan Rickman’s succinct yet keenly observant diary entries spanning 1993 to 2015. The late actor’s journals reveal a palpable lack of pretentiousness and a go-with-the-flow attitude (even after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer), as well as a compelling contrast between his two

The book lovers of Southern noir have been waiting for arrives in two weeks! We think All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby is going to storm up the bestseller lists in both the UK and the US, and everywhere else too. That’s our lead title in today’s column but if it’s not your thing