Spring is here, summer is coming, and June is Pride Month. What does this mean? Lots of great new queer mysteries and thrillers to read on the beach or at the park on a lazy Sunday. This season, many beloved characters return: Katrina Carrasco’s queer 19th-century outlaw Alma Rosales, John Copenhaver’s 1950s crime-solving (and—committing) lesbian duo Judy Nightingale and Philippa Watson, Dharma Kelleher’s goth tattoo artist and vigilante Avery Byrne, and Robyn Gigl’s passionate trans defense attorney, Erin McCabe. New characters and scenarios also abound: Leslie Karst and Jack Ori begin a new series set in beautiful Hawaii and on an ominous college campus, respectively. Anne Laughlin returns with a standalone thriller about a sober living home, and David Pederson offers a motley cast of suspects in mid-century Michigan. Craig Willse debuts a steamy, Highsmith-esque thriller, and Paul David Gould takes us to Moscow in the 1990s in his first novel.
Queer Crime Writers* represents a vibrant part of the crime fiction world; as well, the diversity of subgenres being written by LGBTQ+ authors continues to impress and entertain with their range. So, this spring, return to some old friends you’ve been missing or get to know a few new ones; you won’t be disappointed.
*Queer Crime Writers is an organization that advocates for LGBTQIA+ crime fiction authors and creates community for them.
April 2024
Molten Death, by Leslie Karst
(4/2)
Author of the Sally Solari Mysteries and Justice is Served, Karst begins a new series with Molten Death: An Orchid Isle Mystery. Retired caterer Valerie Corbin and her wife vacation on the Big Island while Valerie is grieving the recent death of her brother. They visit an active lava flow with their friend, Isaac. Valerie ventures off alone and then witnesses what she believes is a body in the molten lava. By the time she alerts the others, the body has disappeared, and law enforcement finds no evidence of it. Unable to let go of what she saw, she investigates on her own. Valerie seeks justice for the unknown victim against the backdrop of the gorgeous setting of Hawaii, including parts the tourists don’t often see. Karst uses this amateur sleuth’s adventure to dive into the Hawaiian culture and the complex politics of Hawaiian tourism.
Rough Trade, by Katrina Carrasco
(4/9)
This follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Best Bad Things continues the story of a gang of opium smugglers in the rough-and-tumble world of the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest. Outlaw and genderfluid Alma Rosales, also known as Jack, is making a fortune moving opium with their smuggling crew. Trouble starts when two dead men with connections to the opium trade bring the attention of the police. Alma moves quickly to keep the heat off their operation but is distracted by the appearance of Bess Spencer, their ex-lover and old partner at the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Furthering the tension, a crew member’s new lover starts asking questions. Is he an undercover agent? Alma must decide how far they’ll go to protect their people. Carrasco reimagines queer communities as she considers the pleasures and costs of satisfying desire.
Providence, by Craig Willse
(4/28)
Debut author Craig Willse’s Providence is a thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. The shine has come off English professor Mark Lausson’s career in higher education, but things change when handsome, self-possessed sophomore Tyler Cunningham enters his classroom; the young man shows him another, more exciting way of living, and they begin a steamy affair. At first, the rush of sex and secrets is thrilling, but as Lausson gets further in over his head, Tyler’s true nature starts to surface. As he demands more and more, Lausson discovers that his paramour can’t be trusted. Willse explores how feelings of isolation and longing can warp our perceptions of ourselves, others, and moral boundaries.
May 2024
A Plague of Grackles, by Dharma Kelleher
(5/7)
In book three of Kelleher’s Avery Byrne Goth Vigilante series, Avery takes justice into her hands when malevolent forces target a fellow transgender woman in a swatting attack. A tattoo artist by day, Byrne moonlights as a vigilante and links the swatting to a string of vicious assaults on members of the trans community. Unsurprisingly, the police refuse to take action, so Avery, passionate about protecting her community, teams up with her girlfriend, Roz, to get to the bottom of the conspiracy in a fast-paced, blood-soaked whirlwind that shakes them to their cores. As the story unfolds, Avery pushes her limits and faces past trauma to stand up for what’s right. Kelleher uses the vehicle of a gritty thriller to communicate important truths about trans lives today.
Clean Kill, by Anne Laughlin
(5/14)
The four-time Goldie award winner Anne Laughlin returns with her seventh suspenseful stand-alone queer crime thriller. Clean Kill’s former Chicago homicide detective, Nicky Sullivan, has taken a job managing a sober living facility, Olive Street House, a home to ten newly recovered alcoholics. When a resident is murdered, Nicky sets out to catch the killer. Soon, more female residents with similar profiles are murdered, each with a connection to Nicky. Working with her former detective partner and his beautiful new sidekick, Joanne Parker, she searches for a serial killer with a vendetta against newly relapsed women. Soon, Nicky becomes a prime suspect of the police and a prime target of the killer. With themes of redemption, recovery, and courage, Clean Kill will appeal to fans of Sarah Paretsky and Sue Grafton.
Puzzles Can Be Deadly, by David Pederson
(5/14)
An author of a number of historical series, including the seven-book Heath Barrington series set in 1940s Milwaukee and the three-book Mason Adler series set in post-WWII Phoenix, Pederson now takes us to 1950s Ann Arbor. His new mid-century sleuths, Skip Valentine and Henry Finch, encounter a cast of eccentric characters on their trip to visit Henry’s uncle: a bizarre old woman who worships the memory of her lost son, a nun with hidden secrets, a spinster housekeeper with a secret, an angry young man with a troubled past, and a neighbor who claims to talk to dead people at séances. When a vicious murder occurs, they find they have a bunch of rather unusual suspects.
June 2024
Hall of Mirrors, by John Copenhaver
(6/4)
Following up Lambda Award-winning The Savage Kind, the second book in the trilogy, Hall of Mirrors, opens in 1954. Lionel Kane watches as his Washington, DC apartment erupts in flames while his lover and writing partner, Roger Raymond, is inside. Police declare the fire a suicide, but Lionel refuses to believe it, even though distraught Roger had recently been fired from his job at the State Department, a victim of the anti-gay crusade, the Lavender Scare. Judy Nightingale and Philippa Watson, lesbian amateur sleuths from the first novel, have been tracking Adrian Bogdan, a spy and vicious serial killer protected by powerful forces in the government. Has the pursuit of their archvillain brought a murderer to Roger and Lionel’s door? Or are they involved in Roger’s death? This layered book explores the homophobic political paranoia of mid-century America.
Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants, by Paul David Gould
(6/4)
Having spent years in the former Soviet Union earning a degree in journalism, Gould uses that experience to write his Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants. Set in post-Soviet 1993 Moscow, where new liberties have been introduced, like the freedom to travel abroad, to make money, and to explore the new gay underground, the story focuses on twenty-one-year-old Kostya, who comes out of the closet to find love and pursue his dream of working in the theater. However, betrayals and tragedy beset him, his family, and the boys he loves. In this debut thriller, Gould explores the deeply human experience of living in a country and culture undergoing startling change. When the world you know crumbles, the question becomes: what will take its place?
Open Secrets, by Jack Ori
(6/7)
Five years after escaping from a vicious pedophile, non-binary college student CJ Jennings hopes to change hearts and minds with a campus podcast. When a frightened child reaches out for help, the freshman responds, making a grim discovery. The victim, a bright and promising researcher, was entangled in so many secrets and scandals that more than one person wanted her dead. As CJ navigates a dangerous maze of lies, manipulations, and coverups, they find themselves up against the university: an institution willing to protect its reputation at all costs. CJ must find the truth before the dirty administration stops them and casts the blame elsewhere. Fans of dark academia will find this first book in the Cedarwood Campus Mysteries particularly appealing.
Nothing But the Truth, by Robyn Gigl
(6/25)
In this fourth installment of Gigl’s popular award-winning Erin McCabe series, Erin, a transgender attorney, and her partner, Duane Swisher, take on a racially charged, headline-making case. Their client, a gay white cop, is accused of killing a black investigative reporter. The evidence says he did it, but Erin believes him when he says he was set up by a nefarious group of state troopers known as the Lords of Discipline. Now, the Lords have a bigger mission—to silence anyone who can expose their existence and name its members, people like the murdered man who was writing an expose on the group. As it becomes clear corruption runs deep in the local government, Erin and Duane are in a battle against powerful forces to protect their client from becoming their next victim.
