Crime Fiction Review is now a year old. We started this site to fill a gap left when Reviewing the Evidence closed its digital doors after a quarter of a century and thousands of reviews. While we’re far from being a true replacement, we strive to uphold the same tradition of reviewing a wide range of crime fiction independently and honestly. These days influencers promote books in a way that blends readerly enthusiasm with advertising. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not what we do. We simply want to share our love of the genre in a way that will help readers find books they might enjoy (and perhaps from time to time to steer them away from ones we think they won’t).
We’re pleased to have two reviewers added to our roster. Rebecca Nesvet, formerly an editor at Reviewing the Evidence, join us this month with a review of one of our favorites from last year. Julie Campbell, a long-time crime fiction reader, brings us a review of the first in a new series from one of her favorite authors.
We’re saddened to mark this anniversary of our review site with news of Yvonne Klein’s passing at the end of March at age 92. For many years she brought her sharp wit and high standards to the work of reviewing books. As you can tell from her obituary, she led a full and fascinating life that included being an award-winning translator of fiction, a professor of English, and a lifelong feminist activist. We are honored to have known her, if only for many of us in her role as the editor of Reviewing the Evidence and a fellow lover of the genre.
Here’s what we read and reviewed in April, with Mary-Jane’s cat making a return visit to head them up, given her striking resemblance to Reviewing the Evidence’s longtime mascot, Smokey.
Taylor Brown, Wolvers– “The Gila Wilderness is … vividly described in all its rugged, dangerous beauty. While the story is a propulsive one of hunting and survival, the language the author uses is as compelling.” Barbara Fister
Simon Brett, A Disorganized Death – “…what is primarily rather a cozy-esque puzzle mystery has some disturbing depths. But the main plot line is mostly a light adventure as Ellen questions witnesses and uncovers some surprising truths. Ellen is smart and insightful, which makes her fun to follow.” Meredith Frazier
Ed Lin, The Dead Can’t Make a Living – “The night market is a fascinating setting, and the descriptions of food are guaranteed to make readers hungry. Though the series is quite cozy, Ed Lin addresses serious topics with a light touch.” Barbara Fister
C. L. Miller, Murder at the Castle – “Although there’s a fairly small cast of characters and an Agatha Christie-like reveal in a drawing room while the suspects are trapped by a blizzard giving the story the familiarity of a cozy, the plot is convoluted enough to keep the reader guessing right to the end. And while the novel is primarily plot-driven, the recurring main characters are given enough depth that they’re worth spending time with.” Meredith Frazier
Allison Winn Scotch, The Insomniacs – “The story unfolds from four points of view, with each character growing deeper and more complex as the reader pieces things together and as the group’s connections grow stronger. This is very much a character-driven novel, but also well-plotted as the search for answers accelerates.” Barbara Fister
Spencer Quinn, Cat on a Hot Tin Woof – “Each novel stands alone as a clever, quick-witted detective story narrated by Chet, the canine half of the partnership known as the Little Detective Agency. (The human half is Bernie Little, a tough talking, hard-hitting, big-hearted West Point graduate and decorated combat veteran.)…Old fans and new readers can consider themselves lucky to have this latest installment.” Mary-Jane Oltarzewski
Jane Harper, Last One Out – “… an effective and affecting story that, once again, makes the Australian landscape a vivid character of its own. Last One Out is a fine addition to Harper’s literary atlas of a fascinating and varied country.” Barbara Fister
Jennifer N. Brown, The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton – “Elizabeth Barton and her world are thoroughly captured, as are Alison Sage and the world of academia. But don’t be put off by the academic qualifications—this is a very readable work of fiction, in spite of the real historical events it imagines and portrays so well.” Meredith Frazier
Wolf Haas, Short Circuit – “What starts out as a humorous yet somewhat arid metafiction, with characters who are barely sketched in, grows increasingly warm, human, and engaging. It feels as if the books the two main characters are reading are coming to life, animating the shared story.” Barbara Fister
Marcie R. Rendon, Broken Fields – “As the series continues, Cash’s investigative victories pile up but she doesn’t really gain power in her limited post-colonial farmtown world. The series is riveting while never promising the reader–or Cash herself–more than reality can deliver.” Rebecca Nesvet
Alan Parks, Gunner – “What Parks does best, in this series and the previous one, is to evoke the time and place. Midnight air raids, prisoner of war camps, and the grit and hustle of a populace that refuses to buckle.” Julie Campbell
Anthony Horowitz, A Deadly Episode – “Written as though it’s lifted from Horowitz’s own life (and there’s more than a bit of a sense that it could be), the novel mingles fact and fiction into a metafictional tale that’s a great deal of fun to follow. And it’s a good mystery, too. In fact, it’s two good mysteries in one.” Meredith Frazier
Kristen Perrin, How to Cheat Your Own Death – “The two story lines twist and circle one another and both involve murders that seem to be somehow related. In both timelines, Annie and Frances work through the available clues aided by men with whom they are in complicated relationships that are ambiguously romantic… It’s all cleverly complex as murders are solved and the puzzling fortune’s meaning is worked out, with a revelation in the end that predicts a future episode for Frances and Annie.” Barbara Fister