Crime Reads - Suspense, Thrillers, Crime, Gun!
CrimeReads is a culture website for people who believe suspense is the essence of storytelling, questions are as important as answers, and nothing beats the thrill of a good book. It's a single, trusted source where readers can find the best from the world of crime, mystery, and thrillers. No joke,
3,445 topics in this forum
-
- 0 replies
- 134 views
Usually, when it comes time to round up the best crime novels of the year, we cap it at 10, but this year brought such a wide variety of excellent releases that we decided to up the number to 20. And it’s that variety, rather than any particular trends, that truly distinguishes 2022 from previous years. This year’s list includes plenty of hard-boiled noir, insightful psychological thrillers, lush historical journeys, and stunning traditional mysteries. There’s also some old ladies kicking ass, a social-justice oriented procedural, two works in translation, and the most noir depiction of a football game since North Dallas Forty. Scroll to the bottom to see our list of nota…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 126 views
“Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?” Piggy asks, in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The concept of stranding characters on a deserted island in order to test their humanity and expose their inherent flaws and vulnerabilities is not a new storytelling trope. But, like so many literary themes, for decades the concept has largely been used to shine a light on the souls and inner demons of men. There have, of course, been some exceptions: like the early science fiction allegory Angel Island by American feminist author, suffragette and journalist Inez Haynes Irwin. The novel, published in 1914, sees a group of men shipwrecked on an island occup…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 96 views
Murder is a grisly, nasty business…except in the cozy mystery subgenre, where bloodless murders are the order of the day. If the words “cozy” and “murder” sound like an oxymoron when used in the same sentence, you’re not alone. The subgenre can seem downright baffling to outsiders at first glance. There is, however, a method to the madness. Even if you don’t read cozies, you’ve seen them in bookstores—they’re the books with punny titles like Up to No Gouda and A Doomful of Sugar, frequently with cartoon covers. While cozies are typically thought of as following in the footsteps of Agatha Christie, the modern cozy has evolved into something quite different, with its own s…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 101 views
What do I look for in a good crime story? First thing first, I don’t pick a book because it is a crime story, I pick a book for the story. What I look for when I start a book, is to meet the characters. I want to know about them, about their life, about their personal story lines before the plot itself. Because I truly believe, as an author and a reader, that the real echo of a book comes from the characters. A book that really matters, a book that you will care about or will remember as a good book, is because of its characters. They are the real connection to the book, the only door to really get to the story, because the story is about what happens to the character, if…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 64 views
There was one man who had lived with the stave church’s ancient smells and creaking sounds for so long that he knew its every quirk. He tended to the cold smell of old tar and pine every day, as a fearless but respectful beekeeper tends to his hive. This man was the churchwarden, Karl Gustav Emmerich. As a young carpenter’s apprentice, he had been present for the entire rebuilding of the church. He was among the few men who had got to know Schönauer, and among the even fewer mourners at his funeral. The nearer the church came to completion, the more it seemed to close about him like a home. And when the other carpenters packed up to go, he stayed behind to work on the f…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 116 views
A couple of weeks ago, my colleague Olivia Rutigliano created a fabulous list of gift items perfect for the mystery fan, and now we’re back with part two of the CrimeReads gift guide: coffee table books! Below you’ll see a host of intriguing reads, both large and small, that each bring their own particular attributes to the table. What makes a book a gift item? Well, usually, it has really nice paper. But beyond that, these works are distinguished by design, presentation, and a unique appeal to the dark-hearted loved one. Paul Gambino, Killer Collections: Dark Artifacts from True Crime (Lawrence King) What a fascinating book. Paul Gambino interviews a number of true …
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 116 views
The display case outside Hoover’s office was not necessarily what Roosevelt had in mind when he called upon law enforcement to “interpret” the problem of crime. But it was a start, a hint that Hoover was taking notice of the public interest in crime narratives and adjusting his self-presentation accordingly. Another clue came when Hoover began to push for a new name to replace the “Division of Investigation.” Since the end of Prohibition, he had longed to break away from what remained of the Prohibition Bureau—technically a separate entity, but still under the roof of his division. He had also advocated for a renaming, pointing out that other government agencies maintaine…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 119 views
I’ve always been drawn to New England. Maybe it’s the dramatic change of seasons, the long history, or even the plethora of literature set there. I think it’s all three. New England gave us Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, and Robert Frost, among many others, who all have used the Northeast to great effect as a setting for their work. Whether the wilds of Maine or the urban streets of Boston, New England has a knack for inspiring mysterious and macabre fiction. I think history is part of it. New England is old by new-world standards. The narrow and sometimes cobblestone streets of Beacon Hill, the sinister graveyards with their skull and crossbones headstones, the legacy of…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 88 views
At age sixteen I was arguably a bumpkin, an utter yokel growing up in Illinois farm country with interests limited to baseball, girls and hay-baling jobs for pocket money, not necessarily in that order. Two influences worked to broaden my outlook. The first was a high school Spanish teacher who forced me, somewhat against my will, to learn the language and sent me on a student exchange program to Cali, Colombia, where I promptly fell in love with a beautiful Colombian girl and realized that feminine appeal did not begin and end with Illinois farmers’ daughters. When I returned at the end of the summer I had decided that traveling and learning languages would not be a bad …
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 107 views
As a genre, crime fiction isn’t hurting for evocative settings. From stormy islands to isolated mountain cabins and desolate wintry landscapes, we’ve been plunged into every conceivable environment and invited to explore it through the lens of exciting and thought-provoking stories. Because of this, many authors find themselves searching for places to set their books that haven’t yet been plumbed. Setting can have a tremendous impact on plot, from weather patterns to socio-economic factors and cultural trends, so selecting a setting that’s less common—or even completely unfamiliar—can sometimes lead to an unexpected story. When I sat down to write The Kind to Kill, the…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 130 views
One blue-sky day this past September, I stood at the edge of the Mer de Glace in Montenvers, above Chamonix. I had hiked there along the Balcon du Nord to meet my husband for coffee. Together, we gazed out at the glacier’s dirt-grayed surface cracked throughout with crevasses and stitched with snow bridges. I told him that the Mer de Glace appears in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, when the creature challenges Frankenstein’s moral obligation to the being he has brought into the world. We joked that we knew a bit about complicated bonds and obligations now, fresh from our recent experience of glacier climbing not far from where we stood. We had just completed a trip whose mi…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 109 views
Bestselling thriller authors Kaira Rouda and Kimberly Belle write dark and twisty stories centered around a marriage. Not the happy, loving kinds of marriages they both have in real life, but marriages that are filled with secrets and lies…and murder. The author of THE WIDOW (Thomas & Mercer, Dec. 1) and THE PERSONAL ASSISTANT (Park Row Books, Nov. 29) sat down to talk about how the complexities of marriage and family life naturally lend itself to the plots of thrillers and mysteries. Kimberly: I saw the NY Post article about your upcoming book–Ex-Rep’s wife writes a novel about cheating congressman killed by wife (link: https://nypost.com/2022/10/01/ex-rep-harle…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 126 views
Murder in the Basement was published in 1932, at a time when the author, whose full name was Anthony Berkeley Cox, had reached the height of his powers. Writing as Anthony Berkeley, he had established himself as one of the leading detective novelists of his generation. In the same year that this book appeared, he also published his second outstanding novel of psychological suspense, wholly different in content and style from this Berkeley novel. Before the Fact was published under another pen-name, Francis Iles, and later filmed by Alfred Hitchcock as Suspicion. In Murder in the Basement, not for the first time, Berkeley broke fresh ground as a crime writer. At the time …
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 129 views
Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. * Elyse Friedman, The Opportunist (MIRA) “This perfectly paced novel mixes intrigue, drama, and mystery. Each reveal is timed to keep readers glued to the pages, and no character is safe from the others’ lies. With so many appealing factors, this book will be popular with a wide range of patrons.” –Booklist Josh Haven, Fake Money, Blue Smoke (Mysterious Press) “Keeps the suspense high without sacrificing plausibility. [A] promising new talent.” –Publishers Weekly Tessa Wegert, The Kind to Kill (Severn House) “Considering who the bogeyman clearly is and remains, Wegert does a…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 131 views
As the leaves fall from the trees and the days grow colder, the thought of curling up with a good book becomes more enticing than ever. Although I love reading (and writing) cozy mysteries at any time of the year, there’s something about the cooler weather that makes the genre even more appealing, and I love to have a stack of fall-themed cozies ready to read when autumn arrives. In my mind, there’s nothing better than being pulled right into the fall atmosphere of a cozy mystery so I can almost smell the hint of wood smoke in the chilly air and hear the crunch of leaves underfoot. As a writer, I hope to provide that same experience for my readers. The fifth installment …
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 127 views
“I have a gun in my head.” My mother used to say that. When I was very little, I didn’t know what she meant, but soon enough it became clear. The asshole in the BMW who jumped his turn at the four-way stop? Blam. The incompetent male colleague who took credit for her ideas? Pop pop pop. The xenophobic neighbour asked her why she married a “greeny”? Right between the eyes. What my mother knew, and what I recently discovered as I wrote my first crime novel, is that it’s extremely satisfying to kill people in your imagination. Especially rotten people. Prior to penning The Opportunist, I had written three novels and a novella. They had plots that amused me: a broke artist s…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 110 views
Some people’s gateway drug into crime fiction is Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock stories. Others credit (or blame) Agatha Christie, or Ed McBain, or Raymond Chandler, or Sue Grafton for their addiction to books with a body count. My origin story is a passion for Edgar Allan Poe that has only grown deeper and richer than memorizing “The Raven” or watching the great Vincent Price/Roger Corman movies based on Poe’s tales, like “The Tomb Of Ligeia” and “The House of Usher.” I studied Poe in graduate school where the difference between his output and aspirations and those of other writers of his time is stark: he was not religious like Ralph Waldo Emerson; well-born like Nat…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 150 views
We spend a lot of time on this site recommending the dark and brooding, but as the weather grows chillier, I find myself drawn to the more light-hearted thrillers and mysteries. There’s quite a few extremely entertaining reads out this year and next year, and I’ve assembled 12 of them to keep you reading, laughing, and cheering throughout the dark months ahead. Deanna Raybourn, Killers of a Certain Age (Berkley) As the tag-line for this incredible series launch reminds us, women of a certain age may be invisible to society, but sometimes, that’s their greatest asset. As Killers of a Certain Age begins, four trained assassins are readying for their retirement after fo…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 131 views
It’s time to revisit the scene of the crime. Witnesses to this particular crime call it one of the most horrifying things they’ve ever seen, destroying forever their sense of what’s right and wrong in this cruel world. Others have forgotten the crime happened at all. We’re talking, of course, about the second season of “True Detective,” which, despite airing in ye olden days of 2015, is still capable of sparking intense discussion among noir aficionados. Those eight episodes have their fans, but so many more people seem to think it was an unholy mess, if not a high crime against art itself. But was it really that bad? A quick refresher: The first season of “True Dete…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 130 views
Culinary cozy mysteries have become a larger slice of the crime fiction market in the last two decades, mirroring the popularity of cooking shows on TV and YouTube. Most such books feature sleuths with food-related jobs. Among them are chefs, caterers, bakers, restaurateurs, food writers, and shopkeepers who sell ingredients, books, or tools for cooking. In my latest book, Bake Offed, which takes place at a mystery fan fest, a book vendor explains why culinary cozies sell well: “Readers want to know, not just whodunit, but what to eat for dinner.” The recipes appended to cozy mysteries serve that purpose. But years before culinary cozies became a mystery subgenre, cookboo…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 138 views
Both of your novels are grounded in your legal background; how did your experience as a lawyer influence your writing? Working as a lawyer has influenced my work in several ways. In both my books, I try to explore the ways the legal system can impact our everyday lives—both good and bad. Whether it’s examining a corporate organization fraught with discriminatory practices to the inequity of the American justice system to a societal structure that prevents full and fair access to the voting polls. So much of my professional working career was spent in the legal arena, it was bound to seep into my creative endeavors. From a craft perspective, I believe most lawyers are sto…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 126 views
The CrimeReads editors select the month’s best new novels in crime fiction, mystery, and thrillers. * Jane Smiley, A Dangerous Business (Knopf) In this Poe-influenced tale (the first of two on this list), Eliza Ripple, a young widow and sex worker, becomes concerned when vulnerable women start vanishing from the brothels of Monterey and no one among the authorities appears to much care. Eliza is also rather curious, and reads quite a bit of detective fiction, so she and her close friend embark on their own investigation. Eliza Ripple and her merry coterie are the kind of characters that feel both true to their age and perfectly at ease in ours, a rare feat for an hi…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 115 views
As the end of the year draws nigh, my international selections grow more brooding (although surprisingly not more Scandinavian). This month’s offerings-in-translation include an Alpine gothic, a Turkish social drama, a Soviet thriller, and a quiet Japanese mystery. Keep an eye on the site over the next few weeks for our best international crime picks of the year! Johanne Lykke Holm, Strega Translated by Saskia Vogel (Riverhead) From the very first page, Strega uses the images of crime stories to tell a deeper story of women’s bodies and trespassed boundaries: “I knew a woman’s life could at any point be turned into a crime scene. I had yet to understand that the cri…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 163 views
It was a winter night, cold and snow-sparkled and far from the marquee’s glittering Marvels over the suburban multiplexes. Instead, in this patinaed, one-screen arthouse downtown, the film festival showed Baichwal, Pencier, and Burtynsky’s stunning film, “The Anthropocene.” The Anthropocene is a concept from the 1930’s and suggested an age when human reason and development will influence the entire biosphere. More recently, and frequently, it’s being applied as an epoch, wherein the physical, lasting evidence of human presence is imprinted upon the geologic record. In the film, such impacts were affectingly illustrated. Watching massive mining operations, the orogenesis…
Last reply by Admin_99, -
- 0 replies
- 111 views
Man versus nature. It’s one of the core external conflicts of storytelling: pitting a person or persons against the forces of nature, be it a hurricane, blizzard, or killing drought. In some thrillers, this may be the main conflict; in many, it comprises a secondary conflict to the larger clash of man versus man. Often, the wilderness plays a part in this struggle, adding an extra layer of isolation, an unfamiliar stressor for many in a society interconnected by constant and instantaneous communication. A wilderness can provide the most beautiful of landscapes that beckon exploration, but that beauty can hide the most treacherous of dangers—elemental nature, exposing who …
Last reply by Admin_99,