Invisible City by Julia Dahl is about a murder in a Hasidic NYC community, and the only way for hopeful big-city reporter Rebekah to catch the killer is to must immerse herself in the traditionally closed-door culture (available May 6, 2014). World building is something readers often associate with fantasy worlds or stories set on…
The Long Shadow by Liza Marklund, translated from Swedish by Neil Smith, is the eighth featuring Stockholm reporter Annika Bengzton, who'll jet to Spain's glitzy Costa del Sol to investigate the murder of an entire family (available April 15, 2014). Annika Bengzton is probably annoyed with you. Oh, you two haven’t met? That’s okay. The…
The Axe Factor by Colin Cotterill is the third Jimm Juree Mystery about a relocated news reporter in rural Thailand who finds herself entwined with a suspicious crime writer (available April 15, 2014). The setting is Thailand. I close my eyes and hear the sounds of Chiang Mai and the smell of cooking fills my…
Providence Rag, the third book in the Liam Mulligan series by Bruce DeSilva, forces a journalist to dig through his town's archives in order to keep a convicted serial killer in jail (available March 11, 2014). Bruce DeSilva, 2011 Edgar winner for Best First Novel, reflects his 41 years as a journalist in his new…
Death of an Irish Diva by Mollie Cox Bryan is the third in the Cumberland Creek series featuring a small town's residents (and scrapbookers) dealing with a dance teacher's death and one backyard's historical bones (February 4, 2014). Okay, okay so we’ve all been waiting for the third book in the fabulous Cumberland Creek mystery…
Bad Wolf by Nele Neuhaus is the second translated novel in the Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein detective series (available January 21, 2014). Nele Neuhaus knows how to kickstart a story. The first chapter of Bad Wolf, the second novel in her series about detectives Pia Kirchoff and Oliver von Bordenstein, opens with a…
Delivering Death by Julie Kramer is the 6th mystery featuring Minneapolis investigative reporter Riley Spartz (available January 7, 2014). One of my favorite things about reading a new-to-me author is meeting new characters. It’s rare and, to use a cliché, magical, when a character draws me in immediately. When I started reading Delivering Death, I…
Keeping Secrets by Cathi Stoler is the second novel in the Laurel and Helen New York Mystery series, in which the reporter and private eye team up to help a young women in fear of her life (available November 1, 2013). Laurel Imperiole is an investigative journalist working for Women Now magazine, headquartered in New…
Montana by Gwen Florio is a debut mystery featuring war correspondent Lola Wicks (available October 25, 2013). I’m no great fan of prologues. I find they tend to distract more than they add the majority of the time. At any rate, any book whose first chapter starts with a female reporter embedded with rebels in…
Silent City by Alex Segura is the first book in a new series about reporter-turned-P.I., Pete Fernandez (available October 29, 2013). It takes a hard man to become a private investigator. Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe investigated crimes for the Los Angeles' D.A.'s Office before he went into business for himself. Robert B. Parker's Spenser was…
