The heroine of Timothy Schaffert’s latest historical, The Perfume Thief, certainly stands out in a crowd. Clementine, an American ex-pat in her 70s, dares to dress in tuxedos and trousers at the height of the German occupation of Paris, a time when bucking convention or being outwardly “Other” is exceedingly dangerous. But Clem, a queer…
Making a courtesy call upon the newly married Sir Charles Wyatt on behalf of her infuriating father, clever widow Lily Adler finds herself unexpectedly drawn into the family’s affairs when a servant is accused of a theft. “Your footman is innocent. I am afraid it was your nephew who stole the money.” “Percy?” Sir…
Lynette belongs to an exclusive club. To join, it’s pretty straightforward: everyone around you just has to die. You have to outlast the psychotic maniac. Survive your grievous wounds. And then you have to do it again. She’s what society calls a Final Girl. You’re watching a horror movie and the silent killer knocks off…
From the very first page, Suburban Dicks flies out of the gate at top speed: Satkunanathan Sasmal would have been the first to admit he’d had worse nights working the midnight shift at his uncle’s Valero station. There was the old lady who fell asleep while driving and plowed into the first island. Satkunanathan…
Frankie Croy was once a literary darling, her debut novel a smashing success both critically and financially. But in the ensuing decades, her star has never risen beyond the height of that initial book, and a particular review of her most recent release sent the author into an emotional tailspin culminating in a very public…
What Doesn’t Kill Us—David Housewright’s latest McKenzie mystery, the 18th in the series—opens with quite a shocker: our hero has been shot in the back and lies in a coma. McKenzie’s friends, reeling from the news, have plenty of questions they need answered in a hurry. The unlicensed P.I. never officially took on cases since…
A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver is the first book in the new Electra McDonnell series, set in England during World War II, and a delightful mystery filled with spies, murder, romance, and the author’s signature wit. Like they always say: desperate times call for desperate measures. Electra McDonnell and her Uncle Mick know it’s…
It’s February of 1832. Kiera, the former Lady Darby, and her husband and private inquiry partner Sebastian Gage have returned to Edinburgh to prepare for the birth of their first child. This should be a joyful time for the happy couple. But things are not peaceful in the Scottish capital, with a cholera outbreak gripping…
The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon is a haunting, twisty, and compulsively readable modern-day ghost story about a woman who returns to the old family home after her sister mysteriously drowns in its swimming pool—but she’s not the pool’s only victim. Social worker Jax has learned to ignore her sister when she’s in the grip…
Twenty-four years ago, two eleven-year-old girls disappeared in the small town of Repentance, Arkansas. Mary Grace Dobbs remembers that year very well—she was a sixth-grader herself, a classmate of the missing girls. I was coming up on the anniversary of my parents’ death when the girls began disappearing. That summer twenty-four years ago, right…
