Books

The tag ‘psychological thriller’ is loosely attached to so many crime novels these days, but Elle Marr is an American author who really does delve deeply into the psychology of her characters and how it affects their behaviour. This could be one of the reasons her books have become Amazon bestsellers. In March 2023, her

Horace Manning is a sinister madman. He is also a scientific genius. This combination of characteristics provides an indication of danger from the outset of Billie Houston’s Twice Round the Clock, although surprisingly, despite an atmosphere of evil hanging around him like a fog of stale tobacco smoke, Manning turns out to be the victim

The Color Purple by Alice Walker was published in 1982, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction for that year. In 1985, it was adapted into a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg directed by Steven Spielberg. In 2005, it was also adapted into a musical. The 2015-2017 revival won a

The new historical mystery The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh blends murderous deeds with a healthy dose of romance between an unlikely pair of investigators. Set in the Victorian era, Walsh’s novel effectively evokes the sights, smells and sounds of 1870s London, while believably capturing the social class distinctions of the day. Minnie Ward is

Martin Amis died Friday in his Lake Worth Florida home from esophageal cancer. Amis was born to a novelist father, Kingsley Amis, in 1949 Oxford, England, and won the 1974 Somerset Maugham Award for his first novel, The Rachel Papers. He became a big part of the literary scene in London in the ’80s and

Separated from the US mainland by thousands of miles of ocean, and with its own identity and culture, the state of Hawai’i is an intriguing setting for crime novels. It can be a wild and mysterious place, isolated and with ancient myths and legends. A former lawyer, Robert McCaw is a crime author who is

New Jersey’s democratic senators proposed new legislation May 22 which would ban book bans from public schools and libraries across the state. The bill, drafted by senators Andrew Zwicker and Teresa Ruiz, alongside Assemblywoman Mila Jasey was inspired by librarian Martha Hickson, who has been at the center of several attempted book bans and who

Translated by Megan E Turney — From Ruth Galloway to Eve Ronin, if there’s one thing readers can’t complain about in recent years it’s a lack of strong female protagonists in crime novels. Now, debut Danish author Jenny Lund Madsen introduces Hannah Krause-Bendix, who is perhaps more she-devil than shero. Hannah is a Copenhagen-based literary

Steadily, quietly, with the stealth of an MI5 agent, you could say, James Wolff has been building his reputation as a creator of spy stories that are grounded and intelligent, with a little wit and quite a bit of compassion too. How does espionage – normally regarded as another world by most of us –

From Scooby Doo to Sherlock Hound, Kommissar Rex to The Littlest Hobo, canines are no strangers to the fictional crime-solving business. It’s no surprise really, given dogs’ uncanny ability to sniff their way into trouble at every turn, and it’s equally unsurprising that a number of the delightful floof balls are now taking the cosy

The publishing industry has shaken off its pandemic slumber and this summer is going to be hot for crime fiction readers. There are so many strong late-May releases that we couldn’t keep our selection down to five and so this week our news column brings you eight new titles to choose from. They include two

A couple of weeks back, I shared a roundup of pending legislation across several states and at the national level which would ensure the right to read. There is another bill worth highlighting during this legislative session that is making positive progress in Connecticut. Senate Bill 2, called the Act Concerning the Mental, Physical, and

Sister of Mine is a psychological thriller that explores the relationship between Hattie and Penny Grayson – sisters whose bond will be tested to the limit by the threat of having their deepest, darkest secret exposed. This is Petrou’s debut novel, first published by No Exit Press in 2019 and now reissued by Verve Books

The Killers of the Flower Moon trailer was released today. Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated new movie is based on the book by the same name that shows how the Osage Nation — who were the richest people per capita in the world in the ’20s — were slowly killed off. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart,

James Wolff writes a different kind of spy novel. His British intelligence agents are renegades. Jonas Worth and August Drummond, the protagonists of Beside the Syrian Sea and How to Betray Your Country, respectively, both found themselves at odds with their bureaucracies. Wolff’s storytelling skills are such that you adopt these oddball characters and want

In 2019, we had Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, but in 2022, we were gifted with the Korean adaptation of the 19th century American classic. “Loose interpretation” might be a better term for the K-Drama that works as espionage thriller, high-stakes political drama, supernatural mystery, and Cinderella story. Each episode clocks in at over an hour, drawing viewers into the twisted

When eight old friends from high school manage to stay in touch and call on each other’s help over the years for matters great and small, you know a lot of history is there along with innumerable possibilities for comic mayhem. That’s certainly the case with JP Rieger’s new police procedural, Clonk! Humour? The clue

In Archives of Joy: Reflections on Animals and the Nature of Being, French Canadian author Jean-François Beauchemin looks back, around and into the mystic, to great effect. His brief and often breathtaking reflections on creatures he has encountered throughout his life meld into a salve for the troubled, weary or distracted mind and will appeal

If there is one thing I love as much as I love books, it is coffee. I buy my beans through a subscription service, and start every day with a hot cup of freshly brewed “hairbender” roast. I take it black, and I have more funny mugs than fit in my cupboard. Most mornings, my

Skyler Moore can’t escape the past in Kate White’s new psychological mystery, Between Two Strangers. The disappearance of her younger sister 12 years earlier, when Skyler was a graduate art student in Boston and her sister an undergraduate, not only haunts her, but her relationship with her mother was forever damaged. Skyler’s mother blames her

For fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe, a stunning debut following Clytemnestra, the most notorious villainess of the ancient world and the events that forged her into the legendary queen. As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best… You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant.

The world is tough. Living in the modern world involves grappling with pressures from all sides, and if you are a marginalised person, you have added structural barriers and pressures to deal with. We’re all harmed by capitalism, bigotry, and other social factors, as well as having to live with medical issues, mental health problems,

Translated by Dr Jacky Collins — Everything about Skin Deep is, well, a little unusual. If you’re someone who likes to adventure beyond straightforward plotting, storytelling and character traits, you should find this peculiar 110-page novella most interesting. Taking you from Biarritz in southwest France to Paris and back again, it will give you glimpses

T.C. Boyle has never been afraid to torment his characters or draw from real life, and he does both in Blue Skies, putting his cast through just about every climate-related calamity to make the contours of the crisis so prominent that no one could miss them. He begins this bicoastal adventure—the action toggles between Florida

The Cure has been my favorite band since I was about 14. This was not too long after Wish came out, and while I enjoyed “Friday I’m in Love,” it was pretty far on the light side of pop for my 8th grade punk-grunge taste; I liked it, but I listened to Nirvana and the

Canadian author Sam Wiebe is known for his gritty, realistic Vancouver noir, especially the Dave Wakeland series about a former cop turned private investigator. Sunset and Jericho is the fourth book in the series however it can be read as a standalone. If you are familiar with Vancouver, you’ll recognise the two city beaches named

Author Abdi Nazemian won a Lambda Literary Award for his debut novel for adults, The Walk-In Closet. His debut novel for teens, Like a Love Story, received a Stonewall Honor and was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest YA novels of all time. His fifth book, Only This Beautiful Moment, seems

Researching and reading books for this piece has been an unexpectedly needed experience for me. I may be speaking for myself, but when I think of “Asian horror” my first thoughts are of works in translation and their movie adaptations that make me want to pour bleach on my eyeballs. And I say that as

It’s with great reluctance that Alex Tillerson is spending time in the strangely insular Australian coastal town of Merritt – and there are many reasons why she really doesn’t want to be there. For starters, the place brings back unhappy memories of childhood visits to her grandparents, who were not exactly the kiss and cuddle