8 New Novels You Should Read in December

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The CrimeReads editors select the month’s best new novels in crime fiction, mystery, and thrillers.

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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 historical fiction writer to accomplish. Jane Smiley has been writing literary explorations of the human condition for decades, and all of her novels are excellent, but you get the sense that she really had fun writing this one. –MO

Luke Dumas, A History of Fear
(Atria)

Dumas’s debut is a stunner that will leave readers deeply unsettled. The story follows a young graduate student in Edinburgh, an American now notorious for having confessed to the murder of a classmate, and for claiming he was forced into the deed by the devil, whose presence barged into his life when he was hired to ghost write a strange text. Incorporating elements of horror and mystery, A History of Fear reveals itself slowly and delivers on its ambitious premises. –DM

Keigo Higashino, A Death in Tokyo
Translated by Giles Murray
(Minotaur)

In this dark and elegant mystery from master of the genre Keigo Higashino, Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga is faced with a murder where the various bits of evidence do not seem to add up, with clues scattered all over the city. It’s the third in the acclaimed Kyoichiro Kaga series, by the way, so if this is the first time you’re hearing of it, get to the library and take out the first: Malice. You won’t be disappointed.–OR

Josh Haven, Fake Money, Blue Smoke
(Mysterious Press)

In this crime debut, a recent ex-con links up with an ex he still carries a torch for, only to be told that she’s given up her career in the arts for one in international currency counterfeiting and laundering. And now she needs his help to make one last score and get out of the game alive. Haven was an art critic and astrogeophysicist, among other professions, and he brings an eclectic array of characters and skills to this clever novel. –DM

Amber Garza, A Mother Would Know
(Harlequin)

I don’t have kids and it’s a good thing because if I had read this thriller while growing real human beings in my home, I might actually combust from anxiety. Valerie lives alone in a giant Victorian house and her adult daughter is growing worried that she’s becoming forgetful. Valerie decides it might be nice if her grown son comes to live with her, but he’s a bit different when she remembers. And when a woman is murdered nearby and he becomes the logical suspect, Valerie begins to wonder if she raised (and is living with) a killer. So, you know… terrifying. –OR

T. G. Herren, A Streetcar Named Murder
(Crooked Lane)

Herren’s debut cozy is a standout mystery featuring lots of local New Orleans fun. Valerie Cooper, recently widowed, finds herself the beneficiary of an estranged relative’s will and the new operator of an antiques shop—all of which gets her entangled with a local businesswoman who turns up dead after a Krewe of Athena party. Cooper finds herself a suspect, so now she has to balance her education in the antiques business with fending off a murder charge. Herren handles the many moving pieces with admirable skill and wit.

Hannah Morrissey, The Widowmaker
(Minotaur)

I loved Hannah Morrissey’s debut, Hello, Transcriber, both for the characters and for the dark ambiance of her setting. Now, she returns to Black Harbor with new characters, for a series that feels like Tana French if she was writing about the town from Red Harvest. By which I mean, things are very, very, bad in Black Harbor. –MO

Stephen Spotswood, Secrets Typed in Blood
(Doubleday)

You can’t get much better at honoring the golden age of pulp than Stephen Spotswood’s historical mysteries featuring intrepid young sleuth Willowjean “Will” Parker and her elegant, powerful, and brilliant boss, Lillian Pentecost. In Spotswood’s latest, set in 1947, Parker and Pentecost are on the trail of a copycat killer getting all their ideas from the diabolical pages of a notorious pulp fiction writer. With dialogue and descriptions straight out of Chandler, and spunky heroines with plenty of pizzazz, Secrets Typed in Blood is not to be missed.–MO

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