Books

How can you find like-minded people in your community to work with in ending censorship? It can certainly feel overwhelming and, in some instances, impossible, but now is the perfect time to find your allies and work together toward ensuring access to books and information for all. The Florida Freedom to Read Project, helmed by

Nigerian debut author Amen Alonge lives in London, where he is a practising lawyer – but he explores the other side of the law in A Good Day to Die, the first book in a trilogy featuring Pretty Boy, a young man out for vengeance at any cost. We reviewed A Good Day to Die

Boy, Warner Bros. has had a week, haven’t they? First, they canceled Batgirl, the $90 million movie starring Leslie Grace, their first headlining Latina superhero. This decision, spurred by their merger with Discovery+, appears to be part of a strategy to eliminate mid-budget projects in favor of big budget theatrical blockbusters and cheaper streaming projects.

As much as we all love crime fiction, sometimes it can get stuck in an irritating groove. Remember when every other book had ‘Girl’ in the title? Recently there has been an onslaught of dodgy new neighbours causing havoc in quiet suburban cul-de-sacs. And as for women going off to somewhere remote for a hen

After the publication of her landmark 2018 book Dopesick, which featured six years of reporting about how the opioid crisis affected families in her adopted hometown of Roanoke, Virginia, Beth Macy vowed to herself, “I’m not writing about this again.” Her physician feared Macy might have PTSD after bearing witness to so many tragic deaths,

One of the biggest Barnes & Noble sales of the year has started and is offering 50% off hundreds of books, board games, planners, and more. Among the books offered are fiction, nonfiction, new releases, audiobooks, YA, and kids’ books. Below are some of the most popular titles offered. The prices listed factor in the

The American author Chris Carter and his serial killer catcher Robert Hunter return this week to head up our new crime books column. As you’ll know if you’ve read a book in this series, the blood drips from the pages when Chris Carter writes and his fans love it. It’s not all gore, terror and

Though Nuar Alsadir set out to write a book about laughter, Animal Joy is a far deeper study of how we express and understand our most powerful emotions, told through meticulous psychoanalytic research and Alsadir’s own experiences. Animal Joy opens at a clown school where Alsadir enrolled to explore laughter. The only nonactor of the

I really wish folks would get the whole story before they go running around spreading inaccurate information. People are just so eager to create a villian or miscarriage of justice or something to make them feel better — Larry White, Executive Director* An anonymous source reached out to me the morning of July 15, stating

Klara Sandberg is a reality TV producer who’s had an epiphany. In the middle of the brainstorm for MILFs Hotel season seven, she decides all the ideas are rubbish. The whole thing is rubbish. She’d rather be doing something more important, something that matters. Perhaps something involving life and death. Just as she’s about to

British author and illustrator Raymond Briggs died Tuesday in Brighton, England at the age of 88. For the past six decades, he has delighted readers with his often melancholic children’s and adult stories of everyday British life. In many of his picture books, he used unique elements, like unconventional storylines and comic book panels to

Throughout her career, South African crime author and journalist Margie Orford has dealt extensively with the way trauma manifests itself in countries with a turbulent political history such as South Africa and Namibia. She’s particularly interested in how it permeates the social structure, often culminating in violence against women. In her first crime fiction novel

“I’m not trying to ban any books. I’m trying to stop an indoctrination campaign against kids. Any person in this county that has children knows full well what I’m talking about,” said South Carolina Senator Josh Kimball in a press conference held yesterday across the street from Spartanburg County Public Library’s main branch. The senator

Alexis Hall leaps from the world of contemporary romantic comedies to the realm of Regency romance with A Lady for a Duke (15.5 hours). Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood, has been moping around his family’s country estate ever since his closest friend died at the Battle of Waterloo. What Gracewood doesn’t realize is

As you may or may not know, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing to prevent Penguin Random House (PRH) from acquiring/merging with Simon & Schuster, on the grounds that it will lose authors money. Unlike many antitrust suits, it is not concerned with monopoly (not enough sellers) but monospony (not enough buyers).

Val McDermid’s cold case police detective Karen Pirie is coming to the small screen in September 2022 in a new three-part ITV crime drama. Adapted from the first novel in the six-book series, The Distant Echo, the programme will star Lauren Lyle of Outlander fame as the lead detective. Watch the trailer below… [embedded content]

I like to consider myself a curious person. I always want to know how things work, who did this thing, and why that happened. What I’m not always great about is the follow-/ through. Sometimes I look at a prose nonfiction book about a topic and think maybe I should just read the Wikipedia article

True crime and crime fiction that feels like true crime are very popular at the moment. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether the story you’re reading actually happened or not. Which is fine, as long as it’s a good story. With Rook, Buffalo-based author Stephen G Eoannou has unearthed one of the most sensational crime

Thursday 18 August will be an interesting day for crime fiction lovers this year. It’s a date when a lot of important releases hit the shelves, setting the tone for our Autumn reading. Four of our books this week will arrive on the 18th and they’re all exciting, however our lead book is The Twist

★ Invisible A fresh and cleverly conceived take on the beloved 1985 film The Breakfast Club, Invisible is a colorful and engaging tale written by first-time graphic novel author Christina Diaz Gonzalez and illustrated by Gabriela Epstein (Claudia and the New Girl).  Diaz writes in both English and Spanish, the languages spoken by her archetypal

I’ve been going through the incredible responses to a survey on what tools and information would be helpful for fighting back against book bans. One thing that popped up was having quick templates and guides to action for folks who want to do something but don’t know where to begin. Today, let’s look at how

American author Lee Goldberg returns with his fourth Eve Ronin novel, which he loosely bases on chilling series of real-life killings that took place in Malibu, California in 2018. Research scientist Tristan Beaudette was shot dead while camping in Malibu Creek State Park with his two young daughters, the latest in a series of shootings

Jamestown Conservatives, a right-wing group in Jamestown Township, Michigan, is responsible for helping defund their public library. After a year-long battle with the Patmos Library, which has included the departure of the Library Director Amber McLain after a harassment campaign by the group, the library did not win its primary ballot measure to renew its

Debut author Tom Mead is receiving considerable publicity for his historical mystery Death and the Conjuror. The story takes place in 1936 London, with its lead characters the elderly showman and conjuror Joseph Spector and Scotland Yard detective George Flint. Flint hopes Spector’s skills at misdirection can lead him to figure out what really happened

Warner Bros.’ Batgirl movie has officially been canceled. It was originally approved in 2021 as the studio was making efforts to make more movies for HBO Max, but now it won’t even show on the streaming service. The decision to forego releasing the movie— which starred Leslie Grace, J.K. Simmons, and Michael Keaton— comes not

Texan author Gabino Iglesias’ two previous novels, Coyote Songs and Zero Saints, earned him an enviable reputation for being able to blend genres. Writers who can pull this off successfully – like Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron and Cynthia Pelayo – manage to meet readers’ expectations for what a good crime novel should provide while also

Born in Harlem in 1924, James Baldwin began his life as a child out of wedlock and rose to prominence virtually unseen by other Black authors or queer authors of his day. Though he’s best known for collections of essays such as Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time, his eloquent, thoughtful

The comic book industry and crime fiction are intertwined. For example, the pulp comics of the 1930s such as Black Mask and The Shadow led to the superhero comics we know today as well as the pulp fiction novels of the 1950s and 60s. New York author Alex Segura knows this history well and has

In Craigslist’s “Missed Connections” section, you can almost always find a titillating headline or two, something like “Goth Woman in Piggly Wiggly Produce Section” or “Saw You at Six Flags’ Drop of Doom, May 17.” We all have a story about the one that got away, but not everyone takes that obsession to the lengths

Sean Munger is an Oregon-based LGBT crime author who loves the freedom that writing crime novels gives him. He sees his books as a place to craft characters and narratives, turning over a variety of social issues and exploring different areas of the world with his readers. His latest, The Son Thief, arrives on 2