Books

The Killing star Sofie Gräbøl returns to our screens, swapping the knitwear for a prison-issue blue shirt in Prisoner, which begins airing on BBC Four at 9pm on Saturday 24 February 2024. It’s a crime show where the perpetrators are already in prison – but that doesn’t make things any easier. [embedded content] Originally broadcast

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. _____________________________________________________ Can You Name Sequels to These Best-Selling Novels? I count myself a

This originally appeared in our Today in Books daily newsletter, where each day we round up the most interesting stories, news, essays, and other goings on in the world of books and reading. Sign up here if you want to get it. ___________________________________ Cormac McCarthy’s Valentine Day Candy Hearts “Everywhere the dying groan and the

We’re back in the cold wastes of Alaska for Village in the Dark, Iris Yamashita’s follow up to her debut novel City Under One Roof, which got a five-star review on the site early last year. That story was set in the fictional town of Point Mettier, and a portion of book number two takes

Anita Kelly dedicates their latest rom-com, How You Get the Girl, to “every queer and trans person in Tennessee. Your joy will outlive the cruelty of your government.” A teen librarian by day, Kelly knows intimately how remarkable educators can make all the difference in the world. Julie Parker is enjoying her first season as

Dictionary.com has released their updates for winter 2024 and reported that their lexicographers are updating their dictionary “more frequently than ever.” The latest update incorporates words, phrases, and meanings as they are used in the modern lexicon, rather than how some may think they should be used. There are 1,228 revised definitions, 173 new definitions,

No crime show character elicits quite as much sympathy from viewers as Astrid Nielsen, the crime-solving archivist from Paris who has autism. People love the way she’s portrayed by Sara Mortensen, and as soon as we’d posted our preview of season two of Astrid: Murder in Paris last year, comments appeared asking about a third

In Olivia Dade’s witty and warm new romance, At First Spite, the incredibly named town of Harlot’s Bay in coastal Maryland is the perfect place to start over. That’s good because jilted, 37-year-old Athena Greydon has two graduate degrees, no job and nowhere else to go. Even before her broken engagement to man-child Dr. Johnny

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. WICKED Trailer Airs During Super Bowl I like musicals. And I like Wicked. But I have to admit that there as been this part of me that a) felt like the long-time-coming adaptation might never

In 1911, 12 Black men were delivered to the forest in rural Maryland and began building their new residence, the State Hospital for the Negro Insane. During its near century of existence, the hospital (re-named Crownsville) held patients in prisonlike conditions without offering them adequate medical attention, food, space or safety. In Madness: Race and

Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. And the Nominees Are… Award season rolls on with the recently revealed longlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The ten nominees range from commercial hits (Emma Cline’s The Guest) to critical darlings (Catherine Lacey’s Biography of X)

Sometimes writing the headline for this piece is easy. Sometimes, not so much. The one thing we’ve spotted with this week’s varied collection of crime novels is that the sleuthing in every single one of them is done by a woman – in some cases more than one. So let’s start our journey in Nigeria, head

Translated by Gregory Dowling — It’s surprising it has taken so long for The Lover of No Fixed Abode to appear in English. Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini were highly respected Italian journalists and authors whose novels were bestsellers across Europe, a partnership that began in the 1970s and lasted until Lucentini’s death in 2002.

Meet the Pike Boys, heavy hitters in the New Orleans underworld. A step outside the law is the only way for dirt poor people to break out of poverty and make it in 1920s America – and when it comes to setting, what could be sexier than the Big Easy during the birth of jazz

The protagonist of Temim Fruchter’s remarkable debut novel, a queer grad student studying Jewish folklore, describes her work as collecting scraps. In the wake of her father’s death, 30-year-old Shiva decides to get her master’s, hoping to unravel the family mysteries her mother has kept hidden from her all her life. Shiva eventually travels to

There’s religious strife brewing in Belfast, but it’s not what you might expect. A group known as the Followers of Eden have been operating in and around the city for years, although their power and influence have reached significant heights of late. Led by shadily charismatic American expat Seymour Huber and sponsored by the likes

The Clinic Celebrities in rehab: Newsworthy, if not especially surprising. Celebrities dying in rehab: front page, above the fold for at least a day, maybe even a week. But what about celebrities murdered in rehab? That’s the “what if” at the center of Cate Quinn’s deft new thriller, The Clinic. Let’s start with The Clinic

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

Translated by Ekin Oklap — Daughter of Ashes is the third and possibly final instalment in Italian author Ilaria Tuti’s Teresa Battaglia series. It follows on from Painted in Blood in 2022, which was also published as The Sleeping Nymph. This bittersweet conclusion takes place a mere 20 days after the close of the Sleeping

If you asked romance author Tia Williams what her favorite genre is, you might be surprised to learn it is horror. In fact, she once took a yearlong class on Dracula, taking an interest in the mythology of immortality and the fearsome, seductive title character. Williams chuckles as she says, “I’d love to write [a

Kacen Callender dedicates their first foray into young adult fantasy, Infinity Alchemist, to “the younger me who always wanted to write a YA fantasy.” While this might make one imagine a teenage Callender dreaming of a future as an author, Callender explains it is actually in reference to their early days of their career, when

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

Smoke seems to be the theme this week as we begin with The Smoke in our Eyes from veteran author James Grady, and conclude our report with Smoke Kings by debut writer Jahmal Mayfield – two very different books but the smoke is pervasive. Our report includes a debut from Northern Ireland, and two historical crime

Behind You Is the Sea, Susan Muaddi Darraj’s debut novel, brings readers into the lives of three Palestinian families in and around Baltimore: the Salamehs, the Baladis and the Ammars. Generational disputes form the core of the novel’s action, which unfolds through weddings, graduations, unplanned pregnancies and funerals. Women’s issues are also at the fore,

Tim Sullivan’s The Teacher is the newest in his entertaining series of police procedurals whose titles come from the murder victim’s profession and we’ve previously reviewed The Monk. When thinking ahead to 2024, and the kinds of crime books that are likely on the horizon, ones with neurodivergent protagonists seemed quite likely. The success of

Almost from the moment it docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, much has been written about the Clotilda, the schooner that brought 110 captive Africans to the U.S. in 1860, more than five decades after the slave trade had been outlawed. The illegal voyage was conducted with stealth, but the arrival of the ship was an

February begins with a fine selection of crime fiction books to choose from, and we start this week’s roundup off with Iris Yamashita’s second novel set in Alaska, Village in the Dark. There are also new books from Gregg Hurwitz, Tony Kent, Tina Baker and Brandy Schillace – action, intrigue and mystery await… Village in

Some of Ben Guterson’s most treasured childhood memories center around two now-defunct grand old department stores in downtown Seattle: Frederick & Nelson and The Bon Marché. They “were absolutely places of magic for me,” the author reminisces in a call from his home in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. “At Christmastime, I would go

At long last, the Argylle author has been revealed! If you’re a little late to the latest bookish conspiracy theory, read this rundown to catch up. Essentially, there’s been a lot of speculation surrounding the true identity of Elle Conway, the listed author of the book that inspired the new spy action comedy titled Argylle,

Elly Griffiths is best known for her Ruth Galloway series, which came to a halt in the North Norfolk salt marshes last year. Griffiths has set that series aside for the time being at least, but the good news for the fans of this hugely popular British author is that it gives her more time