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,
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Below are six YA novels that I adore for their complexity, their willingness to grapple with larger social and moral questions, and their resistance to easy answers. Part of adolescence isn’t only coming to understand one’s own self and place in the world; it’s about questioning why the world is the way it is in the first place. No wonder adults find literature and teens so terrifying. They ask the questions we don’t always have the answers to and force the issues we’ve never been prepared to answer for. Courtney Summers, The Project A girl grieving for her shattered family. A father grieving for his lost son. Their pain, their suffering, as well as her own, lead you…
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Holidays are fun to write about. Each has its own vibe. And we immediately associate iconic symbols with them. Colorful eggs mean it’s Easter and pumpkins take us straight to Halloween. There are special foods that we expect, too, like chocolates on Valentine’s Day and turkey at Thanksgiving. While families don’t gather for all holidays, when they do, authors love to write about dysfunctional family chaos. It can be very entertaining, provided it’s not our families that are involved. A GOOD DOG’S GUIDE TO MURDER is set at Thanksgiving and takes the reader into the holiday season. Holly Miller’s Jack Russell terrier and her calico cat have noses for murder. When they sho…
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Joe R. Lansdale is the author of more than 50 novels and 30 short story collections and is perhaps best known for his Hap and Leonard series of crime fiction novels. Jussi Piironen is a Finnish artist and illustrator, whose most recent illustrations appear in the graphic novel adaptation of Lansdale’s now-classic Hap & Leonard novel, Mucho Mojo. Thanks to Joe and to Jussi for answering a few questions about the collaborative process, the graphic novel form, and the cult classic series. What inspired you to adapt MUCHO MOJO into the graphic novel form? JOE R. LANSDALE: This is actually a question for Jussi, but for me the answer is simple. What a cool idea! JUSSI …
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If I could only recommend one movie from this past month, it would be Confess, Fletch, a movie of epic coolness and smoothness featuring Jon Hamm in his best role in a long time. It is so relentlessly enjoyable that I was positively shocked it didn’t have a wider release. Indeed, if you want to see it, you’ll have to hustle over to some faraway theater to catch a showing, or (like me) ride a million escalators to the top floor of the Times Square AMC, but it will be worth it, I promise you. Confess, Fletch, directed by Greg Mottola and co-written by Mottola and Zev Borow, is an adaptation of Gregory Mcdonald’s 1976 novel of the same name, the third in his series about a …
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Where were you in the spring of 1987? What were you up to? If you were Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Susan Dunlap, Betty Francis, Sara Paretsky, Charlotte MacLeod, Kate Mattes, and Nancy Pickard, you were at Sandra Scoppettone’s place, plotting the creation of Sisters in Crime, with a founding commitment to “helping women who write, review, buy or sell crime fiction.” Why plotting, you ask? I’m being facetious. While it’s obvious now to our 21st-century sensibilities that parity, at a minimum, in any professional space is vital, the creation of Sisters in Crime was met at the time with acrimony in some quarters—not to mention derision, denigration, and denial. Plotting was t…
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There’s no point in heaping more praise on the 1934 film The Thin Man, frequently cited as one of the best films of all time. It’s made several of the American Film Institute’s top lists, and film critics and scholars such as Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin, and Pauline Kael have given in high marks–in some cases, their highest. From the first screenings, audiences were dazzled by William Powell and Myrna Loy as wealthy socialites Nick and Nora Charles, and since the film heartily invited sequels (Nick keeps insisting his career as a detective is over, but Nora keeps urging him to continue sleuthing), MGM obliged and gave moviegoers five more films with Powell and Loy reprisi…
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There are few characters in storytelling that are more maligned and misunderstood than the witch. She is most often seen as grotesque and terrifying in children’s stories (not to mention that, yes, she is almost always female), and is willing to do just about anything, including eating wayward children, to retain her beautiful glow. The Evil Queen in Snow White disguised herself as the hideous witch to trick the guileless heroine with a poison apple so she could remain the fairest in the land. Ursula in The Little Mermaid steals Ariel’s voice to become young and beautiful (and let’s not forget thin). It is pretty clear that our most early interactions with the idea of a w…
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Dystopian futures dominated by malevolent artificial intelligence have long been a mainstay in science fiction. From the coldly calculating HAL 9000 of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey to Arnold Schwartzenegger’s iconic portrayal of the Terminator to HBO’s Westworld, we thrill at the prospect of being overwhelmed by our own creations. In fact, the very first science fiction novel, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, was born out of the fear that the then-nascent industrial revolution would unleash titanic forces beyond our control. That it hasn’t happened yet has done little to diminish popular interest in the topic. Ray Kurzweil, chief futurist at Google and the most …
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In this series, our editor Olivia Rutigliano rereads every Sherlock Holmes story, and puts together a small close-reading. This week: “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892). ___________________________________ It’s humid today in New York City, where I live, so I read “The Boscombe Valley Mystery,” a Sherlock Holmes story that is very much about barometric pressure. Holmes obsessively refers to a barometer while he is out and about in Herefordshire, investigating a local murder—he is checking the atmospheric pressure because he is concerned that, if it rains, the outdoor crime scene will be completely ruined. But the story’s omnipr…
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It may not be cooling down yet, but it’s gothic season, baby! And dark academia season, and social horror season, and folk horror season, and winter thriller season, and contemplative psychological suspense season—those are just a few of the trends I’m seeing in the books coming out over fall and winter. For more cozy fireside reading, there’s also plenty of fair play mysteries and historical fiction to round out the end of your year, with a few nonfiction titles sprinkled in. I’ve also included more of a sneak preview of next year’s titles than usual for a fall reading list, but that’s because I and my fellow CrimeReads editors just couldn’t wait to talk about them. As i…
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Clarence Darrow was asleep on the night of Saturday, May 31, when the doorbell of his Chicago apartment started to buzz incessantly. His wife, Ruby, answered the door: a frustrated Jacob Loeb, Richard’s uncle, had come to see the famed trial attorney. Both the Leopold and Loeb families had been surprisingly cavalier about the position of their sons, apparently unable to understand just how much trouble Richard and Nathan were in. There was, in 1924, no Miranda law that defendants had to be warned about making statements or had a right to legal counsel while being questioned, and the pair spoke freely, confessing, helping to gather evidence that could be used against them,…
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When I was in college, my dad had a plaque on his desk at work, with the saying, “Tell me what company you keep and I’ll tell you what you are.” – Miguel de Cervantes. I can’t even guess how many times I read that plaque. But I was eighteen and its wisdom was lost on me. And after a while those words merely became part of the landscape of my father’s office. Just words. I was too young to understand—or care—about a deeper meaning. It would take me decades to understand why my father, a college professor, kept that plaque on his desk and to understand the message he was trying to share with all the young people who passed through his office, to understand how impacting…
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If I were to sum up what makes a cozy mystery in just one word, the word I would choose is connection. Yes, cozies have other characteristics, including no graphic violence, no profanity, and no overt sexual behavior, but at their core these stories are about how we connect with one another. It’s these connections and the loyalties that come with them that motivate the protagonist to try to solve the crime. It’s these same bonds—or lack of them—that motivate others to help or hinder these efforts. And one of the reasons cozy mysteries are so popular with readers is because they feel a connection to the characters as well. Traditionally, cozy mysteries are set in a small …
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The CrimeReads editors select the month’s best debut fiction. * Rijula Das, Small Deaths (Amazon Crossing) Rijula Das’ sweeping novel of sex workers and the quest for human dignity is bitterly cynical, surprisingly humorous, and astonishingly beautiful. Lalee lives and works in Calcutta’s red light district, where she barely scrapes by. The murder of a popular courtesan is a chance to note the indifference of police, but gives her an opportunity to assume the dead woman’s life and clientage. Will she lose herself in the heady world of the elite? Or will she face dangers that she could never imagine? Why was the elite sex worker murdered, and what did she know about …
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If there’s anything this Florida girl loves more than the silken sands of Siesta Key Beach, it’s the changing of the seasons—more specifically, the changing of the leaves. For better or worse, my knowledge of the photosynthesis-induced light show our arboreal friends treat us to every autumn extends no further than what I learned in elementary school (something about the sun…becoming food?), but what I can tell you is a close second to my excitement over the ~foliage~ is the brand-new crop (see what I did there?) of true-crime podcasts coming our way this fall. Grab your PSL and your coziest #fallfeels sweater and settle in for some downright chilling ear treats. Fed …
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One of the reasons I love writing cozies is because they are written in series. While each book is a complete and complex mystery that can be read on its own, my series offer readers a sense of familiarity regarding the picturesque town I’ve created where everyone knows everyone else. They enjoy reading about problems, issues, and events that sometimes pit one character against another and often end in murder. Cozy readers are especially drawn to the characters in cozy series, often viewing them as friends or as people they wish were their friends. They enjoy reading about their personalities and foibles, their growth, their relationships, and their pasts. Ensconced in …
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We only seem smarter than fictional characters when we’re indulging in horror. No one watching a crime drama or a romantic comedy sees characters walk into a deserted house says to their screen, Look out, that place is haunted! We only do it with the foreknowledge of Something Bad Happened Here, even though there are more present fears in a crime drama between serial killers, organized gangs, and murderous cops than a ghost. Except when that’s not the case. Sometimes the crime layer peels and reveals more horrific muscle underneath. Crime and horror, especially the occult, have a long-entwined history. Sometimes it’s a ruse like Sherlock Holmes faces in The Hound of the …
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I sometimes use movies to talk about books. In my experience, particularly in classroom settings, it’s easy to point to the story structure of a popular film that most, if not all, those present have seen, then compare it to a book that maybe hasn’t made the rounds. It’s not an uncommon practice. As any Black horror writer is aware of post-2017. That was the year Jordan Peele’s Get Out premiered and knocked the entire filmmaking industry back on its heels. “I would’ve voted for Obama for a third term.” The teacup. The Sunken Place. And, my favorite moment, “Where are those keys, Rose?” It is a fantastic film I revisit often. It was certainly the springboard for what we m…
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In 1990, when I was in law school, my Jessup International Moot Court team won the award for writing the best legal brief in the world. Proud and honored, I remember thinking that if I could accomplish this, I bet I could write a novel as well. Writing as a means of creative expression had always intrigued me, but I considered that pursuit far above my abilities. So, I spent the next two decades practicing law but also studying the craft of writing, working on a manuscript in my spare time. In that time, I learned that being a lawyer brought with it some important advantages when it came to writing mysteries and thrillers, but it also brought enormous obstacles that had t…
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When I went to see the new Bond film No Time to Die last year, I was surprised to find that Rami Malek’s character, the supervillain Safin, had visible facial scars. In recent years, Bond films and indeed broader cinema have been criticised for using facial scars, burns or marks as shorthand for villainy. When the British Film Institute announced in 2018 that it would no longer fund films that featured scarred villains, I thought this trope had been put to pasture—but clearly I was wrong. No Time to Die has not one but two such villains, the other being Blofeld played by Christoph Waltz. The film reminded me of another oft-used villain in both cinema and literature: the …
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Our living rooms were once called death rooms. Back in 1918, as influenza swept through households, killing millions, the pandemic necessitated a space within our own homes to host the dead. The front room—parlors, derived from the French ‘parle,’ or ‘to speak’—was the designated chamber under our very roofs where living relatives could sit with their loved ones one last time. We could reminisce with the dead and bid farewell as a family before the body was bound for its funeral. Once immunities improved and the number of flu-borne deaths decreased, these mourning rooms were no longer deemed necessary, essentially phased out of their domestic lamentation. Leave it to the…
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A look at the week’s best new releases. * Richard Osman, The Bullet That Missed (Pamela Dorman/Viking Books) “The mysteries are complex, the characters vivid, and the whole thing is laced with warm humor and—remarkably, considering the body count—good feeling. Your next must-read mystery series.” –Kirkus Joel Shulkin, MD, Toxic Effects (Blackstone) “A riveting adventure…Memorable characters and a chilling plot are certain to keep the reader turning pages deep into the night.” –Leonard Goldberg Hailey Piper, No Gods For Drowning (Agora) “Readers will be in horror heaven with this mesmerizing, original, and breathtaking debut.” –Library Journal Susa…
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We are excited to host the cover reveal of S. A. Cosby’s latest novel, All the Sinners Bleed, forthcoming from Flatiron Books in June 2023. S. A. Cosby was kind enough to answer a few questions to go along with the cover reveal. Scroll to the bottom to see the cover. Congratulations on winning the Anthony Award for Best Novel two years in a row! How does it feel? S. A. Cosby: Surreal, especially when you look at who I was nominated with. Every book in my category is an instant classic. I’m so honored. You’re one of a few writers redefining rural noir, especially for stories set in the South. What does rural noir, or Southern noir, mean to you? SA: I think it’s the go…
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Let’s be honest, few of us will age as well as Florence. Central Italy, the Tuscan capital, the birthplace of the Renaissance, perhaps more great art per square foot than any other place on earth. Local authors Dante Alighieri and Niccolò Machiavelli gave us visions of hell and a guide to how to be duplicitous but always victorious. You’d have to work hard to find a more beautiful city of over a million people. And of course there’s some great crime writing too. Let’s start in the medieval urban marvel that was Florence, the city state. DV Bishop’s Cesare Aldo books. City of Vengeance (2021) takes us back to the winter of 1536. A prominent Jewish moneylender is murdere…
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Female friendships can build us up, tear us down, define us, or destroy us. From best friends to toxic friends, having such a wide range of possible dynamics makes it the perfect fit to include in thriller and suspense stories. Is the best friend going to help the main character bury the body? Or are they the reason a person is dead? Are they going to air someone’s dirty secrets? The opportunities are endless, and a lot of readers can relate to the relationships forged in these stories on some level, even in extreme scenarios. In our novel, When She Disappeared, a female friendship plays an integral part of the story and our main character, Margo’s, evolution. After Margo…
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