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BOOK REVIEW: Waking Lazarus by T.L. Hines

August10

Jude Allman has cheated death three times: at age eight he drowned; at age sixteen he was hit by lightening; and at twenty-four he freezes to death in a snow storm. Jude wants to know why he is still walking around and he is desperate to get away from the media who has labeled him as a modern-day Lazarus. The worst are the people who expect him to be able to heal them, when he can’t stand to touch anyone. In an attempt to have some sort of life away from the media’s prying eyes, Jude changes his name and disappears into anonymity in a small Montana town.

Now however, Jude’s privacy and solitary life is threatened. He is receiving visions of people’s pending deaths just as children begin disappearing from town. Are these signs pointing toward a brutal child molester? Is he finally about to find out the reason he keeps returning from the dead?

Waking Lazarus is a confident entry into the psychological thriller market. In Jude, T.L. Hines has created a character desperate to hold onto the last strands of sanity he possesses. Living in fear of the supernatural forces seeming to control his life, Jude lives a strictly regulated life guided by extreme paranoia.

As the narrative skips back and forth through time, as well as between narrators, readers quickly become disoriented and confused. This quickly puts readers into a state similar to the one in which Jude exists every day. Whether this was deliberate on the part of Hines is unclear; however it does add to the atmosphere of dread permeating the novel.

The most uneven part of Waking Lazarus is the character of Kristina. She appears suddenly at Jude’s door, knows his history and barges into his home. Despite Jude’s clearly defined paranoia, he still takes time to talk to her rather than throw her out of his home – and agrees to meet with her again. This runs so counter to Jude’s character, as Hines has defined it, to present a stumbling block to the flow of the narrative. This flaw pulls the reader out of the world of the novel and hinders the tension Hines is building.

While this is published by a Christian publisher and marketed as a Christian thriller, many readers may find the scenes written from the viewpoint of the child molester too repulsive, no matter what your religious leaning. This is definitely not a book for the sensitive or for the faint of heart, but if you want your thrillers to delve into a mind filled with pure evil, then Waking Lazarus is probably the book for you.

T.L Hines is the Creative Director for a large Montana advertising agency. While Waking Lazarus is his first foray into fiction, he has been writing professionally for fifteen years with articles published in the Conservative Theological Journal, Travel & Leisure and Log Homes.

Read the review at Curled Up with a Good Book.

ISBN10: 0764202049
Publisher: Bethany House
Publication Date: July 2006
Binding: Hardcover

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BOOK REVIEW: Conduct in Question: the first in a trilogy by Mary E. Martin

August8

Harry Jenkins has worked under his senior partner’s thumb for years in a Toronto small estates practice. When his partner drops dead from a stroke in their office, suddenly Harry is on his own and free to run their law-firm his own way. Almost immediately, he is swept into the conflict surrounding the estate of his wealthy client, Marjorie Deighton, and the massive money-laundering scheme engineered by the enigmatic Mr. Chin. Harry is convinced Marjorie was murdered but Sergeant Welkom gives little credence to his theories until Marjorie’s will is stolen and her maid found murdered.

At the root of Conduct in Question is the sadistic murderer dubbed by the media as “The Florist.” The Florist haunts Toronto, a serial killer who marks his victims with his “art,” floral designs he carves into their skin. The Florist hides behind the rigidly controlled mask he presents the world. Is The Florist somehow involved in the money-laundering scheme in which Harry is mired? Will Harry, despite his naïveté and personal troubles, find the answers before The Florist kills again?

Mary E. Martin has crafted a solid beginning to her trilogy of legal thrillers. A bit slow at the start, readers will soon be drawn into the drama created by the bickering members of Marjorie’s family, and the slowly blossoming relationship between Harry and realtor Natasha Boretsky. Harry is a very human character who is torn between his desire to uphold the ethics of the law and to keep his practice afloat. The manner in which Harry faces these dilemmas provides heart to this thriller.

Mary E. Martin, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, practiced law in Toronto for twenty-eight years. Conduct in Question is her first novel.

ISBN10: 0595358209
ISBN13: 9780595358205

Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Publication Date: September 2005
Binding: Trade Paperback
Author Website: www.maryemartin.com

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BOOK REVIEW: Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart

July27

Nora Gavin is on her way to County Offaly in the Irish midlands to examine a bog body found during peat excavation, a body carrying all the signs of suffering a triple death. The peat bog has preserved the body, as it does with all remains within its depths, but the clock began ticking as soon as the body was exposed to air and Nora and the museum staff must step in quickly to preserve the body. Shortly after her arrival at the site, a second body is found also bearing the signs of triple death – only this one is wearing a wristwatch.

Still haunted by her sister’s gruesome murder, Nora had hoped this time in the midlands would offer her the chance to tell her lover, archaeologist Cormac Maguire, that she was leaving to return to the United States. Now however, Nora is just hoping to save Cormac from a murder charge, and keep them both alive.

Erin Hart burst onto the mystery scene in 2003 with her multiple award-winning novel, Haunted Ground. In her second novel featuring Nora Gavin, Lake of Sorrows, Hart returns to the bogs for another look at local history, buried secrets, and Irish music. Hart creates her multi-layered plots by weaving together archaeology, folklore, local history, and well-crafted characters. Lake of Sorrows is a moody book, carrying in it a feeling of isolation and despair. Hart has an uncanny ability to craft a setting so real that readers will expect to smell peat smoke in the air.

A peat bog is harsh and unforgiving to the life that exists within its boundaries. A single misstep can lead to a slow, agonizing death, with the body preserved for centuries in the depths. Illaunafulla (Island of Blood), the bog surrounding the excavation, holds many secrets within its layers and the release of these secrets have profound effect on the residents of this region.

In an interview with Hennepin County Library, Hart shares that she loves “to write stories that have layers of meaning – significant images that are repeated, ideas and themes that might make readers think…I grew up reading Dickens and Jane Austen and Dostoyevsky, so I tend to like dense, complicated crime novels with an historical or philosophical element and interesting psychological twists.”

One of the main themes in Lake of Sorrows is sacrifice, explored most obviously in the triple death used by Iron Age pagans and the body Nora has traveled to study. The triple death is a sacrifice to appease the pagan triple deities; the victim was hanged or strangled, the throat cut, and then buried or staked down in a watery place. One theory is that ritual sacrifices were made at times of great stress and conflict within the society. By raising the theory that the modern body found at Loughnabrone is the victim of a ritual sacrifice, Hart adds an undertone of unease to Lake of Sorrows.

Every action taken by characters having the remotest connection to folk tradition or pagan religion, cause readers to wonder if there is a deeper meaning attached. In Lake of Sorrows, ancient practice does not feel far removed from the modern day. Readers can easily be excused for questioning whether Hart has found a way to bring merge history with the present day, for the veil separating the ages appears to have vanished, creating a world which quickly enmeshes the reader.

This review is published at Curled Up with a Good Book.

ISBN10: 0743471016
ISBN13: 9780743471015

Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: February 28, 2006
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Author Website: www.erinhart.com

Related Titles:
* Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
* The Bog Man and the Archeology of People by Dan Boothwell
* The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved by P V Glob
* The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death by Timothy Taylor
* The Man in the Moss by Phil Rickman

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BOOK REVIEW: Sonnet of the Sphinx by Diane Killian

July21

Comfortably settled in England’s beautiful Lake District, literary scholar Grace Hollister has just sold her first book. She has rented a cozy cottage and is eager to explore her developing romance with ex-jewel thief Peter Fox, as she assists at his antique shop, the Rogue’s Gallery. While sorting through papers acquired from Mallow Farm, Grace stumbles upon a letter suggesting the existence of a previously unknown Shelley sonnet, “Sate of the Sphinx.”

Suddenly Grace and Peter find themselves in the midst of chaos: Peter is threatened by a menacing thug, from his past; Grace and Peter are suspects in a murder investigation; and someone keeps trying to kill Grace. Can Grace keep herself alive long enough to unravel the mystery of the Sphinx?

Sonnet of the Sphinx is the third outing for Grace Hollister, the American sleuth invented by Diana Killian. The Poetic Death mystery series combines adventure, mystery and romance with literary mysteries. At the heart of each one of these cozy mysteries is Grace, a literary scholar researching the Romantic Poets of the Lake District for her Doctoral thesis. Inevitably her research overlaps with crime and she is drawn into the fray. High Rhymes and Misdemeanors focuses on a relic, which may shed new light on the work of Lord Byron. In Verse of the Vampyre, Grace continues her research into Romantic Poets and acts as an advisor on a local production of the play, “The Vampyre”, written by Lord Byron’s doctor.

In Sonnet of the Sphinx, Killian maintains the high quality of writing praised by critics in her earlier works. She manages to maintain the action of the plot, create empathetic characters, realistic settings and intriguing mysteries, while still including substantial literary information about the Lake Poets. She manages to integrate this research so well, that the pacing of the plot is unaffected.

The opening scene of Sonnet of the Sphinx launches readers headlong into the discovery of a letter, hinting at the mysterious Shelley sonnet. Coming immediately on the heels of a prologue so different in time and place, this can be rather disjointed for readers. This reviewer needed 15 or 20 pages to become immersed in the plot, after the initial stumble.

On her website, Girl Detective, Killian expresses her preference for mysteries of the 30s and 40s, an era of style, restraint and smart dialogue. Traces of these classic mysteries fill the pages of Sonnet of the Sphinx, evoking memories of days spent reading Nancy Drew mysteries or The Thin Man. When outcomes are mostly guaranteed, what truly matters is how the author helps readers reach that ending. Killian manages it with grace and aplomb.

Diana Killian is one of the nom de plume of writer D.L. Browne. When asked in an interview why she writes under several names, she replied “I just think it helps readers know what sort of book to expect. As Diana Killian, I write romantic suspense; as D.L. Browne I write poetry and the Mary Kelly detective stories.” Browne also has published works as Louise Harris and Colin Dunne.

Read the review at Curled Up with a Good Book.

ISBN10: 0743466802
ISBN13: 9780743466806
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: March 28, 2006
Author Blog: Girl-Detective Blog
Author Website: Girl Detective

Poetic Death mystery series:
· High Rhymes and Misdemeanors
· Verse of the Vampyre
· Sonnet of the Sphinx

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BOOK REVIEW: A Deadly Yarn by Maggie Sefton

July20

Kelly Flynn loves being back in Fort Connor, Colorado and living across from the best place to get her daily fix of coffee and fibres is a dream come true. Her daily knitting breaks with her friends at House of Lambspun are quickly becoming a necessity and she’d gladly spend more time with them, if only her boss would stop pouring on the work. Kelly suspects he wants her to return to the office in DC, while she’d rather build up her freelance business, remain in Colorado, and explore her developing relationship Steve Townsend.

Allison Dubois, one of Kelly’s knitting friends and a truly gifted fibre artist, has been invited to join an influential fashion designer at her studio in New York. When Kelly shows up to take Allison to the airport, she discovers her friend dead of apparent suicide. Kelly and the knitting circle at House of Lambspun know that Allison wouldn’t have given up this chance to pursue her dream. As they begin to investigate Allison’s life, they discover tempestuous relationships, professional rivalries and conflicting stories.

A Deadly Yarn is the third offering by Maggie Sefton in “A Knitting Mystery” series. As in the previous books in the series, A Deadly Yarn focuses on one area of the knitting industry, in this case the glamorous world of fashion design and textile art. Sefton deftly integrates Kelly’s developing knitting skills with her penchant for solving puzzles. Once again a knitting pattern discussed in the story, and suitable to Kelly’s level of skill, is included at the end of the book, with a recipe for one of the dishes eaten by Kelly and her friends.

The real strength of this series is the wonderful cast of characters Sefton has developed. Her characters have matured significantly since the first book, Knit One, Kill Two, and readers of the series will likely have strong connections to the characters. Readers usually have their favourites, this reviewer’s being Carl the golf ball thief (Kelly’s rottweiler), Lizzie and Hilda von Steuben and Megan Schmidt.

The only blight readers may find in an otherwise outstanding cozy mystery is the tentativeness Kelly exhibits in reaching a decision about her future in Colorado. While this quibbling may fit the plot outline, it seems at odds with the straightforward nature she normally exhibits.

Maggie Sefton has delivered the fourth book in this series to her publisher and is hard at work on the fifth Kelly Flynn mystery. Sefton is also the author of Dying to Sell: a Real Estate mystery.

See the review at Front Street Reviews (and stay tuned for reviews of the rest of the series there as well).

ISBN10: 0425207072
ISBN13: 9780425207079

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Publication Date: August 3, 2006
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Author Website: www.maggiesefton.com
Author Blog: The Cozy Chicks

Related Titles:
* Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton
* Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton
* Died in the Wool by Mary Kruger

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BOOK REVIEW: Interior Motives: a Deadly Décor Mystery by Ginny Aiken

June26

Haley Farrell has a lot on her plate; redecorating your shrink’s office is no easy task, especially for a first-class snoop like Haley. The temptation to “overhear” conversations is too enticing! After striking up a conversation with Darlene Weikert about plastering techniques, she is thrilled when a job to renovate Darlene’s Victorian parlour and dining room results.

When Haley arrives and is greeted by a corpse rather than a living client, her gut keeps telling her it isn’t a natural death. Now if only she can convince her arch-nemesis, the Karate Chop Cop (otherwise known as Lila Tsu), to take her hunch seriously.

Bodies aren’t all that Haley has to deal with however; she has a host of other problems on her plate. Not only must she reign in Bella, her septuagenarian neighbour who’s somehow managed to get a PI licence, and deal with an infuriating yet sexy builder, she must also worry about her Dad who somehow forgot an important part of his attire when he stepped to the pulpit to give his Sunday sermon.

Interior Motives is Haley’s third outing in Ginny Aiken’s delightful Deadly Décor mystery series. Aiken has crafted a charming sleuth in Haley; gutsy, stubborn, flawed yet full of warmth and genuine caring for her fellow creatures – except for the two evil creatures claiming to be Bella’s cats.

The sparks zing between Dutch (the sexy builder) and Haley, heating up as fast as Haley tries to run away. The wall of words Haley tries to build, to protect herself from her growing attraction to Dutch, is easily collapsed by his stinging retorts. The high-speed banter flows effortlessly from Aiken’s pen, bringing to mind famous parings such as Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy or Lauren Bacall/Humphrey Bogart.

Readers will find Haley easy to identify with and quickly become enmeshed in the drama of her daily life; cheering her on as she plunges head first into the fray, crying with her when the pain becomes too much and praying with her as she seeks guidance when the way seems too dark. Expect to see Haley Farrell in many mysteries to come!

See the review posted at Armchair Interviews.

Publication Date: August 1, 2006
Publisher: Revell
Format: Paperback
ISBN10: 0800730461

Books of Related Interest:
* Design on a Crime: a Deadly Décor Mystery, Book 1 by Ginny Aiken
* Decorating Schemes: a Deadly Décor Mystery, Book 2 by Ginny Aiken

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BOOK REVIEW: The Bullet Trick by Louise Welsh

June20

William Wilson, a down-at-the-heels conjurer, is engaged as the warm-up act to a pair of “dancers” at Inspector James Montgomery’s retirement party. Put up for the job by his friend Sam, he realizes that the skills he was hired for had nothing to do with the stage and everything to do with his skill at picking pockets. When a theft sets off a chain of events leading to the death of Sam and his partner, William spends the next year on the run, trying to evade his own conscience and, more pressing, the man whose secret he now possesses. Set in the gritty pubs of Glasgow and London, as well as Berlin’s seedy cabaret scene, The Bullet Trick is an adults-only tale, flashing between past and present, blurring the line between illusion and reality.

Louise Welsh’s The Bullet Trick is a dark, yet exaggerated, noir tale that reads like a novel from an earlier time. Named after a dangerous magic trick in which a magician appears to catch a bullet in his mouth after the gun is fired directly at him, Welsh’s novel does feature a variation of this classic act; however, in this version, Wilson is the one with the gun in his hand.

Wilson is a conjurer, guiding his audience’s attention through the use of psychology, forcing them to see what he has created. Like a master conjurer, author Welsh uses words to create the burlesque and illusions that keep her readers’ attention directed where she desires while skillfully working her slight of hand. Welsh is known for her highly evocative, yet economical language:

“Get over whatever it is that’s bothering you, because right now you’re going in one of two directions, the jail or the morgue. Now piss off. And remember, this is my local.”

I looked around at the tired décor, the deflated men, the uneasy chairs, then back at the police inspector supping his first pint of the day at eight in the morning and said the worst thing I could think of.

“Aye, it suits you.”

Elements of The Bullet Trick are drawn from Welsh’s own trip to Berlin: the clockwork toys sold at Chamäleon Varieté, the acts taking turns serving drinks at Kleine Nachtrevue, the topless male aerialist plunged repeatedly into a bath of water to the sounds of “In The Heat of the Night” also at Chamäleon Varieté and the girl twirling dozens of hula hoops about her person at The Winter Garden. These small elements are minor details in the scope of the novel but add verisimilitude to this complex work. In an article written for the British newspaper Guardian Unlimited, Welsh stated “It’s my lifelong ambition to be able to distinguish glamour from sleaze. Perhaps Berlin would teach me the difference.” If The Bullet Trick is any indication, Welsh certainly fulfilled her desire.

While many readers found The Cutting Room much too disturbing, what is unsettling in The Bullet Trick is subtler. Violence is a core theme of both The Cutting Room and The Bullet Trick. One of Wilson’s inamoratas questions him about the violence in his act, “…And you like the torture stuff?” After Wilson states he is not into pain, she shoots back with, “Not for yourself perhaps, but you chop women in two, stick them full of knives then shoot them…You don’t need women’s blood to make you look talented.”

Welsh cleverly weaves violence and illusion together to gradually force a question into her readers’ consciousness: why do people find violence against women “as art” enthralling? While no answer is provided, the awareness of the question adds to the dark seediness and sense of voyeurism present in The Bullet Trick.

Throughout this new offering Wilson suggests that conjurers are god-like on stage:

“Beyond the edge of the stage there was nothing but black punctuated by the candle flames glowing out of the darkness. God looked out into the firmament and saw nothing. Then he snapped his fingers and created the world. I gave the slightest of bows, and got on with it.”

Welsh, through continuing mastery of her craft, shows readers that the ability to create worlds is not limited to conjurers.

Publication Date: July 7, 2006
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
ISBN10: 0002005999

See the review posted at Front Street Reviews.

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BOOK REVIEW: The Monsters of Gramercy Park by Danny Leigh

June6

The Monsters of Gramercy Park by Danny Leigh draws the reader into a haunting tale of need and a struggle for power between two determined personalities. Wilson Velez, the convicted felon and leader of the Sacred Incan Royals, needs a reason to live after years of the harshest segregation known in the American prison system. Lizbeth Greene, the celebrated novelist known for the extreme violence that has haunted her life, is looking for her next book. The coming together of these two people to create a true recounting of Wilson’s life sets in motion a train of events leading to a truly horrific outcome.

While not your typical blood and gore thriller, this book is perfect for the reader who likes to be kept guessing. Throughout, manipulation and tension keep shifting the foundation upon which the novel is set. Many times I felt the rug pulled out from under my feet as what I believed to be true was ripped away.

Danny Leigh does a great job in fleshing out his characters. Just when you think you know who they are, knowledge is turned on its head and you are left scrambling for a foothold. While Wilson and Lizbeth were not characters I liked, I was compelled to keep reading their story. Several times I found myself ranting out loud at Lizbeth, something a book has not caused me to do in years.

This is a novel that will leave the reader thinking and second-guessing for days to come. Highly recommended for readers who don’t want their endings tied up in a box with a pretty bow.

See the Review at Armchair Interviews – The Monsters of Gramercy Park.

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BOOK REVIEW: Saving Cascadia by John J. Nance

April17

John J. Nance’s 17th book, Saving Cascadia, departs from the formula used in many of his earlier novels, which focused much of the action in airplanes. While fans of the genre may be disappointed in this new direction, they will still get some edge-of-their-seat flying time – just in helicopters rather than jetliners – combined with a ticking time-bomb in the form of an earthquake.

Seismologist Dr. Doug Lam has spent years researching his theory of Resonant Amplication: the idea that continuous small resonances sent into a “locked zone” can eventually trigger the big one for the Pacific Northwest, an earthquake larger than any the region has seen since the Alaska earthquake of 1964 or the largest tsunami to hit the region which was triggered by a massive earthquake in 1700. For 300 years, seismic activity has been building up in the Quilieute Quiet Zone, just waiting for the trigger to release another magnitude 9+ earthquake.

All someone needs to do to trigger that major catastrophe is to “pull the plug” on the pent-up seismic activity, and construction of Cascadia Island’s new casino resort may have done just that. Now Doug has to figure out a way to stop the devastating tsunami he knows could take many lives at any moment and save the woman he loves.

Saving Cascadia has all the requisite features of an eco-thriller: a discredited scientist, impending natural disaster, politicians who refuse to see the truth, conflict between family members and a heroine on the run from unknown bad guys. Rather than allowing this novel to become just another formulaic thriller, Nance uses his significant scientific knowledge to raise the bar for the rest of the genre.

Having completed extensive research for his 1988 book on earthquakes, On Shaky Ground, Nance is dealing with familiar subject matter in this offering. Solid research is a prerequisite for any author who wishes to add a true psychological thrill to their adventure tale. Presenting a scenario that has the potential to happen creates greater tension and engages the reader’s imagination more quickly. Here Nance handles the earthquake research with confidence, providing enough context to create credibility without bogging down the pacing with too much background.

Where Saving Cascadia does fall flat is in the romance between Doug and Jennifer Lindstrom (pilot and CEO of Nightingale Aviation). The relationship felt forced, as if it was added purely to create additional tension, but only succeeded in hindering the exact tension it was meant to enhance. Since there seemed to be little spark there, Jennifer’s supposed jealousy felt contrived and distracted from the action spinning quickly out of control.

Nance displayed a much more able hand in the relationship between Jennifer and her father, Sven. The complex psychological mess swirling between them rings true and aids in fleshing out both their characters, while also ratcheting up the price-tag on the natural disaster when their conflict threatens to hinder rescue operations. The believability of these characters creates a stronger emotional bond for the reader, pulling them deeper into Nance’s world.

Unlike many fast-paced thrillers, the surprise twist in Saving Cascadia came completely out of left field, taking this reader by surprise. In hindsight the clues were present, but so well integrated into the plot that they didn’t stand out like a beacon in a lighthouse.

John J. Nance has built an impressive body of work since first publishing in 1990: 13 fiction and 5 non-fiction. A licenced commercial pilot, veteran of the US Air Force, internationally recognized air safety analyst and advocate, author and public speaker, he folds all this technical knowledge into his writing. Saving Cascadia, released at the end of January 2006 in mass market paperback, and the soon to be released Orbit (March 2006) are his newest works.

See the review as it is posted at Curled Up with a Good Book – Saving Cascadia.

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Mystery Book Reviews – Master List

April15

This is a list of the mystery books I’ve reviewed. Most of the mystery books I’ve reviewed so far, tend to be of the cozy mystery type. With time I’m sure this will expand. I’ve put the “type” of mystery in brackets after the author’s name, as an FYI.

  • Interior Motives: a Deadly Décor Mystery – Ginny Aiken (cozy)
  • And Only to Deceive – Tasha Alexander (historical)
  • One Good Turn: a Novel – Kate Atkinson
  • Empire of Light – David Czuchlewski (psychological)
  • The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters: a Novel – Gordon Dahlquist (gothic suspense)
  • The Keep – Jennifer Egan (gothic suspense)
  • The Cruel Stars of the Night: a Mystery – Kjell Eriksson (police procedural)
  • Bad Blood – Linda Fairstein (legal)
  • Sins and Needles: a Needlecraft mystery – Monica Ferris (cozy)
  • A Beautiful Blue Death – Charles Finch (historical)
  • Volk’s Game – Brent Ghelfi (thriller)
  • Lake of Sorrows – Erin Hart
  • Waking Lazarus – T.L. Hines (Christian psychological thriller)
  • The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death – Charlie Huston (noir)
  • Sonnet of the Sphinx – Diane Killian (cozy)
  • The Monsters of Gramery Park – Danny Leigh (psychological)
  • Conduct in Question – Mary E. Martin (legal)
  • Final Paradox – Mary E. Martin (legal)
  • The Oxford Murders – Guillermo Martínez
  • How to Marry a Ghost – Hope McIntyre
  • Season of the Witch – Natasha Mostert (gothic suspense)
  • Saving Cascadia – John J. Nance (thriller)
  • Find Me: a Mallory novel – Carol O’Connell (police procedural)
  • Sisters on the Case – edited by Sara Paretsky
  • Nineteen Seventy-Four – David Peace (noir)
  • Special Topics in Calamity Physics – Marisha Pessl
  • Angelica – Arthur Phillips (historical)
  • Secret Asset – Stella Rimington (espionage)
  • Friend of the Devil – Peter Robinson (police procedural)
  • The Interpretation of Murder: a Novel – Jed Rubenfeld (historical)
  • A Deadly Yarn – Maggie Sefton (cozy)
  • The Thirteenth Tale: a Novel – Diane Setterfield (literary)
  • Murder by the Slice – Livia J. Washburn (cozy)
  • The Bullet Trick – Louise Welsh (psychological)
  • The Blind Assassins – Robert Wilson (police procedural)
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