Breaking into the crime game isn’t easy, but every month, a few brave and talented souls make a go of it. For readers, there are few experiences so thrilling as finding a new author whose career is just beginning and whose work promises years of enjoyment to come. But it’s sometimes hard to find those debuts. That’s where we come in. We’re scouring the shelves in search of auspicious debuts and recommending the very best for your reading pleasure.
Kate Elizabeth Russell, My Dark Vanessa (William Morrow)
My Dark Vanessa has extraordinary ambitions. It wants to be Lolita rewritten so the nymphet pulls the strings—or she thinks she does. Vanessa Wye was 15 years old when she had an affair with her 42-year-old English teacher, Jacob Strane, a few years ago. She never imagined the affair was anything but consensual, though when it was discovered she was asked to leave her tony boarding school. It is not until she hears that Strane is having an affair with another student that she really examines the way he gaslighted, manipulated, and controlled her. Score one for the #MeToo movement; this is among the best crime fiction to emerge steeped those issues, from consent to grooming to what counts as sexual assault.—Lisa Levy, CrimeReads contributing editor
Caitlin Mullen, Please See Us (Gallery)
In Caitlin Mullen’s slow-burn debut, loosely based on a real-life string of murders, two women bond intensely over one summer in the gambling haven. One has been having visions she thinks are linked to the murders happening all over town, and the other might just have the know how to connect the dots and stop a killer. Lush description of a faded but still glamorous resort scene permeate the pages, for a gorgeous and evocative description of a coastal city in need of constant reinvention.—Molly Odintz, CrimeReads senior editor
Jessica Moor, The Keeper (Penguin)
Moor has a background in working with women who have experienced domestic violence, so her depiction of such relationships in her debut novel are both subtle and terrifying. A woman’s body is found at a known suicide spot, and the police are ready to put this case into the finished pile. But the women in the domestic violence shelter where Katie Straw (the victim) worked have no doubt it was murder. The Keeper cleverly alternates points-of-view so that we are privy to both the investigation and the opinions of the women who know Katie would never have killed herself: she was murdered.—LL
Rachel Harrison, The Return (Berkley)
Rachel Harrison’s gothic horror debut displays a deft touch with narrative and genre conventions that belies her status as a first time author. In The Return, a group of friends is torn apart by the mysterious disappearance of one of their number. Years later, they reunite to celebrate the return of their missing friend—but she’s come back…different. And whatever she’s become, only one thing is certain: she’s hungry.—MO
Brian de Palma, Susan Lehman, Are Snakes Necessary? (Hard Case Crime)
The answer to the question in the title is obviously yes, they are, but we have lots more questions about Brian de Palma’s new novel, written with Susan Lehman, that can only be answered by picking this one up. In de Palma’s fiction debut, a politician gets involved with the wrong young woman—instead of staying silent, she’s going to take him down.—MO
Stephanie Wrobel, Darling Rose Gold (Berkley)
This is a super twisted delectable read which is likely be among my favorite books of the year, one of those things I recommend with the preface, “What pushes your buttons around mother-daughter relationships?” (Reader, you should ask yourself that question too.) It’s a book you have to have a certain cynicism to enjoy: good-bye Pollyannas and others who believe in the that people are ultimately good. In Rose, there’s no room for such sentiment. No one is telling the truth, both daughter and mother have serious agendas, and you have a book that wonders just how far a daughter should go to please her mother–especially when her mother is obviously unhinged.—LL
Richard Z. Santos, Trust Me (Arte Publico Press)
When a political fixer loses big, he heads to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a change of pace, running publicity for a brand new airport. Construction’s barely started before diggers turn up a skeleton, claimed to be Geronimo’s secret grave, and like all good noirs about land deals, things quickly go south from there. There’s a lot of fine details about how political corruption works in practice that I appreciated reading, and the author’s knowledge of Santa Fe and its quirky denizens shines throughout the book. Highly recommended! —MO
Kirsten Alexander, Lost Boy Found (Grand Central Publishing)
Based on the real case of Bobby Dunbar’s mysterious disappearance in 1912, Alexander’s debut is one of the endless permutations on a plot I always think of as the Martin Guerre, where a person who has been missing returns and his family and friends have to decide if this new person is actually the loved one they lost. In this case the boy, Sonny Davenport, disappears in the woods and is found two years later in the company of a tramp (a hobo, not a loose woman). But another woman besides Sonny’s parents lays claim to the boy, and the kidnapping trial that ensues reveals that the truth is far from simple.—LL
James Queally, Line of Sight (Polis)
James Queally’s debut promises to be a classic PI noir with an activist twist, as his crime writer turned private investigator protagonist teams up with a social activist to seek justice for police brutality. Line of Sight has it all: contemporary themes, classic gumshoes, and unlikely heroes galore.
