These are strange, scary times, and many of us are turning to books, new and old, for comfort, connection, and also a bit of diversion to while away the hours of quarantine. April is going to be a long month, there’s no doubt about it. Many of us will be needing new books to read, and fortunately the month is filled with standout new works from some of our favorite authors and talented newcomers, too. Below, you’ll find the CrimeReads staff picks for the month’s best new fiction. Let’s get reading, support authors and bookstores, and keep healthy.
Jennifer Hillier, Little Secrets (Minotaur)
It’s probably weird to say Jennifer Hillier is now my favorite writer about serial killers, but she is (well, in North America, since as long as Scot Val McDermid is writing Tony and Carol novels she will have a special place in my shriveled little heart). HIllier has two formidable tricks as a writer: she is very good at finding and communicating her characters’ flaws, which is precisely the thing that makes them attractive victims. She also is very, very good at writing from the criminal’s point of view, so we see the victims not just from the narrator’s point of view but also as they are being stalked and attacked. Put those two talents together and you have a bang-up thriller every time, and Little Secrets is no exception. (Lisa Levy, CrimeReads contributing editor)
Don Winslow, Broken (William Morrow)
Any new Winslow book is, in this reader’s opinion, cause for anticipation and some schedule-clearing, but especially so when the new book, Broken, is a collection of six novellas. The styles and stories range dramatically (including an homage to Elmore Leonard, set in the San Diego Zoo, and the standout story, Crime 101, which has a very telling dedication to Steve McQueen), but all bring to bear a few of Winslow’s signatures: the rich character work, the insider’s view of crime, and the pounding momentum of storytelling that carries with it a special sense of fatalism. Readers will be excited to learn that Winslow is also revisiting several favorite characters in the new stories, so if you’ve been wondering these many years whatever became of Neal Carrey, Boone Daniels, or Frankie Machine (I’ve wondered myself, more than once), this is the book for you. Winslow reminds us why Southern California is and always will be hallowed ground for crime fiction. (Dwyer Murphy, CrimeReads managing editor)
Steven Wright, The Coyotes of Carthage (Ecco)
Dre Ross, a political consultant newly fallen-from-grace, has one last chance to redeem himself to his tough-as-nails employer —he’s headed to the backwoods of South Carolina to spend a quarter mill in dirty money convincing the suspicious residents to grant concessions to a mining company. As an African-American city slicker, he needs a buffer to convince the neighborhood to sell, so he enlists the help of a blue collar white couple with secrets of their own. While the land swindle is one of the quintessential stories of the noir canon, Steven Wright’s novel take makes the set-up all his own. (Molly Odintz, CrimeReads senior editor)
Megan Campisi, Sin Eater (Atria)
Megan Campisi’s Sin Eater promises to be a rich and inventive tapestry, interweaving English history, folklore, and fantasy. Set in 16th century England, it tells the story of May, a fourteen-year-old girl caught stealing bread and so sentenced to spend her life as a Sin Eater, a person who must hear confessions and eat ritual foods to assume the sins of others, as the confessors are in turn freed from their burdens. She is apprenticed to an older Sin Eater, but when that woman refuses to eat a very symbolic deer heart that appears atop the coffin of a royal governess, it sparks a chain of mysterious and terrible events that leave May alone, to figure out what all of this means, and possibly to challenge an order too powerful to defeat. (Olivia Rutigliano, CrimeReads and Lit Hub staff writer)
Sara Sligar, Take Me Apart (MCD x FSG)
Sligar’s slick debut is another entry in one of my favorite crime fiction subgenres, the art world mystery. Theo Brand hires ex-journalist Kate Aitken to sort through his mother’s work and personal effects, but his mother was no ordinary person. Miranda Brand was an artist at the height of her career when she died, and as her archivist, Kate is privy to Miranda’s personal secrets and her feelings about the art world. As Kate moves further into the stuff of Miranda’s life, she feels a pull that gets even stronger when she unearths Miranda’s diary and a dangerous obsession takes hold of Kate. (LL)
Sheena Kamal, No Going Back (William Morrow)
In her third Nora Watts novel, Kamal dives deep into her flawed heroine’s past, especially her relationship with her estranged teenaged daughter, Bonnie, who Nora had given up for adoption so that Bonnie could have a more stable life (Watts, a recovering alcoholic and creature of Vancouver’s underworld, did not think she was mom material). In Kamal’s first book with Nora, The Lost Ones, Bonnie was kidnapped by a man with Triad connections. Now Bonnie remains a target, and Nora is determined to bring down her nemesis: a shadowy man called Dao, a Triad enforcer and all-around bad dude. (LL)
Deon Meyer, The Last Hunt (Atlantic)
The indefatigable detective duo of Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido has returned in this latest blockbuster adventure from Deon Meyer. This time, the two officers of South Africa’s Hawks elite police unit find themselves investigating a cold case: the murder of a police officer. To solve this, they must ride the world’s most opulent train ride—and hope to receive help from two travelers, who seem to have disappeared. You’ll enjoy the suspense and thrills of this runaway train of a mystery. (OR)
John Grisham, Camino Winds (Doubleday)
The recent Camino series is a rollicking departure from Grisham’s usual work, and the books give the legendary author a bit of space to stretch out and try something a little more far-flung, whimsical even. All while still delivering expertly plotted mysteries with characters as compelling as ever. In the newest installment, Camino Winds, a hurricane batters the Florida town, and bookstore owner Bruce Cable uncovers the death of a local thriller author who may have gotten himself involved with some dangerous muses. The atmospherics are top-notch and Grisham weaves together an exhilarating blend of secret texts, hidden pasts, and eccentric locals. (DM)
The Faking of the President, ed. Peter Carlaftes (Three Rooms Press)
One of the strangest, most exhilarating rides you’ll take in noir this year, this newest anthology from Three Rooms Press takes its dark premise—that presidential norms are out the window and absolutely anything can happen in the White House—to the extreme. Editor Peter Carlaftes brings together a talented group of contemporary noir luminaries, each author offering a unique vision of executive excess and intrigue. Standout contributions include stories from Sarah M. Chen and Angel Luis Colón, but really the fun here is letting these bizarre, unnerving stories wash over you one-by-one.
Both Sides: An Anthology of Border Fiction, ed. Gabino Iglesias (Agora)
As a writer and critic, Gabino Iglesias is transforming the landscape of lantinx crime fiction, and with his new anthology of border noir, Iglesias adds editing to the mix. This new collection tells the stories of the unique culture that exists along the border, where cultures intermingle, and lines on a map fail to deter people from making common ground. A necessary addition to a growing genre. (MO)
