We launched Crime Fiction Review this month, sharing our responses to fifteen new mysteries as we do what we can to fill a gap left by our sad but inevitable farewell to Reviewing the Evidence, a long-running project to help readers discover new books they might enjoy. (Grace Jones, pictured above, is here to represent continuity – she looks very like Smokey, the mascot of Reviewing the Evidence.) While most of these books were published in April, a few came out earlier as we catch up on recent releases. We hope there might be something in this list that fits your reading tastes – or, perhaps, encourages adventurousness.
Maha Khan Phillips, The Museum Detective – “Based on an actual scandal, it’s a rousing start to a new series with a memorable protagonist.” (Barbara Fister)
Kelley Armstrong, Cold as Hell – “The ending kept me reading deep into the night, absolutely unable to set the book aside. Armstrong is among the best at making an impossibly implausible resolution feel possible in the moment.” (Sharon Mensing)
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Easeful Death – “It’s a solid, satisfying story that balances a criminal investigation with the ongoing relationships of its recurring characters, leavened with plenty of humor.” (Barbara Fister)
Paige Shelton, Written in Stone – “a complex mystery involving the shared history of the Pictish people and the technical issues around creating fake artifacts. Ms. Shelton’s novel is challenging but well worth the time and effort.” (Ruth Castleberry)
John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan, The Railway Conspiracy – “This series, co-written by a seasoned mystery writer and a comic book publishing executive, is a curious mashup of cultural references … a creative exploration of genres in collision and an entertaining romp.” (Barbara Fister)
Hannah Deitch, Killer Potential – “Undergirding the fast paced plot, the book analyzes, from a variety of perspectives, the question of how an individual is seen both by others and by themselves.” (Sharon Mensing)
Belinda Bauer, The Impossible Thing – “It’s a rollicking read, touching, funny, well-paced, and highly original.” (Barbara Fister)
Nita Prose, The Maid’s Secret – “Readers new to the series may find it hard to keep track of the number of eccentric characters and their histories, but those who enjoyed The Maid and The Mystery Guest will be happy to see how their favorite characters are doing as Molly and Juan Manuel’s wedding day approaches.”(Barbara Fister)
Jessie Q. Sutanto, Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) – “This is undeniably a cozy mystery, with an amateur sleuth who cooks and makes healing cups of tea while interrogating suspects and uncovering secrets … But there’s a surprising amount of darkness in this tale.” (Barbara Fister)
Deanna Raybourn, Kills Well With Others – “Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie and Helen are an elite squad of assassins who are Boomers in every sense of the word: they are in their early ‘60s, and wherever they go, things are likely to go boom.” (Mary-Jane Oltarzewski)
Claire Anderson-Wheeler, The Gatsby Gambit – “Anderson-Wheeler has borrowed the setting and characters of a novel familiar to many a former high school student, The Great Gatsby, giving Jay Gatsby a sister, changing who gets murdered and why, and adding a cozy murder investigation.” (Barbara Fister)
“Elizabeth Kaufman, Ruth Run – “Those looking for predictability or for clear-cut distinctions between heroes and villains may find this wild road trip unsettling, but Kaufman writes with a wry wit and an eye for peculiarities of Americana” (Barbara Fister)
Patrice McDonough, A Slash of Emerald – “The multiple plot lines also give McDonough plenty of opportunities to keep the reader guessing with red herrings, distractions of all sorts, and lots of suspense. (Meredith Frazier)
Anne Hillerman, Shadow of the Solstice – “The story opens as a runner stumbles across the body, and it is that encounter that ties together two plot lines that crisscross throughout the book … readers weave between the two, anxious to find out what’s happening in each.” (Barbara Fister)
Emily Sullivan, A Death on Corfu – “While this is definitely a mystery, it’s the pairing of Minnie and Stephen’s will they/won’t they relationship with the solving of the murder that makes this a fun read, because it’s in that relationship that we see the characters most clearly … the ending leaves enough unresolved to ensure a follow-up novel in a series that should be a delight to follow.” (Meredith Frazier)