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
Literature
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
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
A recent poll asked 10,000 US and Canadian TikTok users between the ages of 18 and 45 if they are reading more because of BookTok, the bookish community on the social media platform. BookTok is widely believed to have driven a big bump in book sales and increased the popularity of reading in general. The
The women of the Marlow Murder Club are back in business in Death Comes to Marlow, the delightful second installment of Robert Thorogood’s cozy mystery series. Life is returning to normal for Judith Potts. She became something of a local celebrity after she and her friends Becks and Suzie helped solve a series of murders
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
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
The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not immediately bring World War II to an end. Bestselling author Evan Thomas (Ike’s Bluff) explains why in his superbly crafted military and diplomatic history Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II. “This book is a narrative of how the
“Killed my husband. I am a monster.” Never say this when detained by the French police. It’s just one of several mistakes made by Anna Viera, played by Erika Sainte, in the riveting new French crime series I Killed My Husband, arriving on More4 in the UK at 9pm on Friday 26 May. You’ll also
With Pride just a few weeks away, it’s time for library workers to start thinking about the where, how, when, and what of their book displays. We know that queer books remain among the most targeted in the current book ban ~curation~ wave and we also know that Pride displays have historically been among the
At long last, a blood moon is waxing and a deadly night awaits for fans of Norwegian author Jo Nesbo and his craggy Oslo detective, Harry Hole. It’s been four years since Knife, it feels like there’s some catching up to do, and Killing Moon is our lead book this week. Alongside it, we’ll look
Is there anything more exciting than seeing a book you read and enjoyed being adapted into a film or movie? You’ve imagined all of these scenes and characters in your head. Now you get to see it all play out in front of you. Will the adaptation include all of your favorite lines or moments?
Geniuses seem to inhabit a world apart from mere mortals like us. But they don’t, as the irreverent and entertaining Edison’s Ghosts makes clear. Debut author and science writer Katie Spalding has mined history, biography and psychology to turn the cult of genius on its head, shining a sassy light on the idiosyncrasies of some