How did it manage to become October already? Where I write, the temperatures are summery and tomatoes are still ripening on the vine, making it feel as if summer reading will never end. Here are some recent books we reviewed to give you some ideas for mysteries that might be fit for your To Be Read pile. Come back in October for more, as we review historical mysteries, a debut that mixes science fiction and crime, a thriller featuring an art gallery assistant, and more.
Mette Ivie Harrison, A Special Interest in Murder – “While there’s a solid mystery plot here, the real focus of the story is seeing the investigation through the eyes of an autistic woman who has plenty of thoughts about the prejudices she faces and the misconceptions those around her have.” Barbara Fister
Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt, Please Don’t Lie – “There are some themes here to think about: privilege vs. hardship, the role of social media in creating unease and anxiety, the effects of isolation, and more. But any related deep thinking will have to wait until the book is finished, given the pace of the plot.” Sharon Mensing
Amie Schaumberg, Murder By the Book – “Emma Reilly is a literature professor at a small college who stumbles onto a murder that seems to have been staged to appeal directly to the way her brain works, combining Pre-Raphaelite art with literary references to create symbolism she’s trained to decipher.” Meredith Frazier
Joe R. Landsdale, The Hatchet Girls – “Although much has changed regarding Hap’s and Leonard’s circumstances, this 14th book, like the first one, is about people trying to keep up with a world that refuses to stop changing. Some people can learn and grow from these changing circumstances, but for some, their commitment to a cause can go from passionate idealism to fanatical zealotry, to unhinged criminality, in not much time at all.” Mary-Jane Oltarzewski
J. J. Viertel, The Glass Eel – “This is a splendid debut, with deeply realized characters and a vividly rendered setting in which the well-paced plot unspools with many a jolt and a surprise. Perhaps the most striking sections of the novel are those that take us underwater, to see the world from the perspective of a crab, a lobster, and an eel.” Barbara Fister
Mick Herron, Clown Town – “…another delicious and absorbing trip into the Slough House universe, with its back-biting power brokers and its hapless but endearing and ultimately honorable clowns, all rendered with vivid language and razor-sharp wit.” Barbara Fister
Walter Mosely, Gray Dawn – “the convoluted plot is less important than the people whom it pulls into Easy’s orbit: lovers, ex-lovers, relatives and neighbors heretofore known and unknown. There are people, and animals, who can be simultaneously affectionate, loyal, and brutally vicious. All of them are in mortal danger, and all are working hard to protect one another. Together, they illustrate the expansive dynamics of Easy’s life, and of the human condition as a whole.” Mary-Jane Oltarzewski
Claire Macintosh, Other People’s Houses – “Though the setting is established through a sprinkling of Welsh words and phrases (and Leo’s stumbling attempts to learn the language), the focus is on a community obsessed with materialism and appearances, as well as on the evolving relationship between the two protagonists… an entertaining puzzle in a traditional vein.” Barbara Fister
Zoë Rankin, The Vanishing Place – “That tension makes the book hard to put down, as does her world- and character-building. Set primarily in the bush in New Zealand, the novel gives the reader a sense of claustrophobia and isolation paired with love of place and strength of family.” Meredith Frazier
Elmore Leonard, Picket Line – “Elmore Leonard’s long-lost, recently rediscovered novella, is a tiny, valuable thing: not a gem, exactly, because Leonard’s words don’t sparkle; there’s never been anything gaudy or colorful about his prose. The most extraordinary thing about his work is how he achieved maximum impact with minimum language.” Mary-Jane Oltarzewski
Gallery Books
on
Minotaur
Grove Atlantic / Atlantic Crime
Kensington 
Mariner
Berkley