I have a thing for unreliable narrators. I’m suspicious of polarities, of the black and white, and I tend to gravitate toward the grey area where, ironically, not-completely-trustworthy characters reside. I think I’m drawn to them because I see myself there. Not because I’m hiding bodies (or am I?) or… Read more
2018 was a memorable year for a variety of reasons, but here at CrimeHQ, we’re concentrating on the things that thrilled us, scared us, mystified us, and kept us up all hours of the night. Without further ado, may we present our favorite books of 2018. And here’s to you,… Read more
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week, Ann Cleeves’s eighth and final Shetland Island Mystery combines with Courtney Summers’s breakout YA… Read more
Born in Belleville, Ontario, Courtney Summers currently resides in a small Canadian town not far from there. When she was 18 years old, she wrote her first novel, Cracked Up to Be, which was published in 2008. Best known for her unapologetic, difficult female protagonists, Summers was named one of Flare… Read more
Sadie by Courtney Summers is a propulsive and harrowing novel about the depth of a sister’s love, with an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about. Take a Visual Tour of Sadie with GIFnotes! “Created and hosted by one of our longtime producers, West McCray, The Girls explores what happens when… Read more
Sadie by Courtney Summers is a propulsive and harrowing novel about the depth of a sister’s love, with an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about. Take a Visual Tour of Sadie with GIFnotes! A missing girl on a journey of revenge and a Serial―like podcast following the clues she’s left behind…. Read more
“I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.” That’s the opening line of Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places (a favorite read of mine), and I think about it often when considering the next gritty and unpleasant story I want to write. I’m guided by that meanness, fascinated by the… Read more
Sadie is the propulsive new YA book from Courtney Summers about a missing girl on a journey of revenge and a Serial-like podcast following the clues she’s left behind. Half of the book is told from Sadie’s perspective, while the other half is told through podcast transcripts. Now, Macmillan Podcasts has created The… Read more
Sadie by Courtney Summers is a propulsive and harrowing novel about the depth of a sister’s love with an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about—take a visual tour with GIFnotes! Learn how you can win a copy of Sadie! Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s… Read more
At the heart of true crime narratives are its victims, voices (often) lost to brutal acts of violence. Their lives are hopefully painted in the recollections of their friends, family, acquaintances, and colleagues while we, the audience, circle their bodies in search of truth and justice. If we’re lucky, we… Read more
