The new year has brought unusually cold and wintry weather across the country, but at least we had some good books to keep us entertained. There will be many more ahead as publishers’ spring lists sprout lots of new mysteries worth reading. In coming days and months we’ll be running reviews of new mysteries by familiar names like Jo Nesbø and Tana French as well as coverage of books by brilliant debut authors. We won’t be short of opinions.
Amy Pease, Wildwood – “The author’s second novel, following Northwoods (2024) has a sure and empathetic hand when it comes to depicting addiction and the ways our broken healthcare system fails to address it, building a plot out of the wreckage that ties together the lives of addicts in rural Wisconsin to the excessive wealth it generates for the few.” Barbara Fister
Julie Doar, The Gallagher Place – “A strong plot can make up for unremarkable characters, and memorable characters can turn a weak story into a compelling read, but sadly, The Gallagher Place has neither.” Mary-Jane Oltarzewski
Andromeda Romano-Lax, What Boys Learn – “This is a long, dense, simmering psychological thriller that bursts into action toward its end…she has put a fascinating spin on the difficulty of raising boys in a world where masculinity itself is in a state of flux.” Barbara Fister
S. J. Rozan, First Do No Harm – “Rozan has devised a complicated plot that ticks along like well-balanced clockwork as the pair of PIs delve into the underbelly of a hospital that has replaced ‘do no harm’ with ‘make as much money as possible.'” Barbara Fister
Margot Douahiy, Divine Ruin – “Like the city of New Orleans, Sister Holiday’s world is gorgeous and risky, prone to storms, full of poetry, music, and mysticism. It’s not like anyplace else, and it’s well worth a visit.” Barbara Fister
Malcolm Kempt, A Gift Before Dying – “This novel is as unremittingly dark as December days in the arctic. Though there are glimpses of beauty in the landscape, where the aurora shimmers over the ice, and sometimes poetry in the author’s prose, it’s a cold and tragic place.” Barbara Fister
Marc Levy, Symphony of Monsters – “Using a real-life atrocity to spin up an entertaining thriller is a complicated task, and Marc Levy isn’t entirely up to it as far as portraying a grim reality. That said, many readers who may be at best only vaguely aware the mass kidnappings that Russia has committed will be made aware of the situation by this novel. If that information comes in the form of a fast-paced and hopeful thriller, that may be more effective at making people care than any number of news reports.” Barbara Fister
Thrity Umrigar, Missing Sam – “While there is a crime in this story, and an investigation, the focus of this novel is on relationships tested by trauma. That trauma is personal, but also national. Sam thinks to herself that she is two people, the one before her kidnapping and the one after, living in a country that is two nations at war with one another.” Barbara Fister
Rob Osler, The Case of the Murdered Muckraker – “Though the author could have done more to integrate the reporter’s muckraking work into the plot, the grimness of life for immigrant women in the tenements is vividly portrayed. Fans of historical mysteries are likely to enjoy this series.” Barbara Fister
(Image of the north woods in winter courtesy of the New York Public Library.)