Have you ever told a particular lie for so long that now it seems like the truth to you? It’s become so much a part of you that it’s no longer a betrayal to tell it? In In the Blood, author Lisa Unger has concocted a clever tissue of lies that is the new normal for Lana Granger. The author allows readers brief glimpses that all may not be what it seems.

Readers know Lana has a troubled past. Her father is in prison, convicted of killing her mother. Lana’s mind claims certain facts about the event and discards others, creating a fragile tapestry of her life experiences. How long will it hold together? Now in her senior year of college, she has taken a part-time job looking after Luke, an 11-year-old who attends the school for troubled kids where Lana interns under the guidance of psych professor and school counselor Langdon Hewes.

Luke’s not only eerie and subject to anger; he’s also quick and devious. The two play chess, and Lana knows that he’s “confident, crafty, always five moves ahead.” But Luke may have other, more dangerous games in mind for Lana. Readers may imagine virtual warnings posted on nearly every page: Turn back now! Go no further!

Lana’s careful mental and emotional house of cards is tested when her best friend, Beck, disappears. The police investigate what appears to be a sexual subtext to their relationship. Unger sets up an intricate masquerade—a push-pull of fact and prevarication in the tense interplay between Lana, Langdon and disarming young Luke. The story includes entries from an enigmatic, anonymous diary to further ensnare readers who seek the connection between Lana’s past and present.

This fast-moving book is a rollercoaster thrill ride, withholding crucial facts and then pounding you with them as the chapters wind down. It’s a quick, adrenaline-filled read with a slam-bang climax. Unger’s skill with words, combined with a pace that never lets up, is guaranteed to keep the pages turning long past the midnight hour.

Who knew that a pair of octogenarian detectives would become a hit with crime fans? Christopher Fowler’s mystery series about the ancillary London police team aptly called the Peculiar Crimes Unit has become just that, and his ninth book, The Invisible Code, has solidified the series’ reputation as a durable success.

Forget beautiful, young noir heroines and sexy, bad-boy PIs—the unlikely “old guys” duo of John May and Arthur Bryant have stolen the show. They aren’t exactly Abbot and Costello, but the straight arrow / nutty sidekick model describes them well. May’s the impeccably dressed rationalist, a list-maker who follows leads from A to Z, and is (fortunately) not off-putting to higher police authorities. Bryant, with his rumpled, Columbo-style wardrobe and scraggly scarf, uses eccentric methods, capitalizing on the irrational and traveling a winding mental road to detective enlightenment. The two have a longstanding friendship, and their styles complement each other. They’re at their most humorous when the author is not trying to make them funny.

At the beginning of The Invisible Code, two children play a game called “Witch Hunter” while a woman drops dead inside an ancient London church. At the same time, a government official enters fragile negotiations for an international deal that can ensure his promotion and make his career, while his wife goes off her mental rails, claiming she’s pursued by witches. 

In fact, there’s more than a whiff of witchcraft in this tale, as the detectives investigate a bizarre series of murders that seem unconnected. They follow a trail that veers drastically from power games among government officials and their wives to eerie hints of the supernatural. Maybe, the detectives think, it’s all the same thing.

En route to catching the killer, the duo must think beyond the traditional borders of sanity, unravel a puzzling code, de-mystify a grim relic lying in a concealed room and travel from the famed enigma-solving Bletchley Park to the Cedar Tree Clinic for the mentally troubled. Bryant even consults with an eccentric government worker who helps on cases containing “abnormalities” and sifts clues dispensed by a character with satanic aspirations, forebodingly named Mr. Merry.

If anyone can do it, who is better suited than the mischievous, inventive detectives from Peculiar Crimes? Bryant and May are at the top of their game as they cast reason aside and challenge the halls of power and influence.

The world is about to be buried up to its neck in snow and ice. A perfect storm of gigantic proportions is descending on the Adirondacks, and in Through the Evil Days, it becomes yet another enemy to add to an already impressive list. This addictive new entry in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Russ Van Alstyne/Clare Fergusson mystery series is a worthy successor to the previous books in the award-winning series that began in 2002.

Now married, Millers Kill Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne and Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson are expecting their first child—an unplanned life change that has sent Russ reeling. He feels they need time together to adjust to the upcoming event, so they’re off for a delayed honeymoon at a cabin on a remote Adirondack lake. When the snowstorm begins in earnest, they mistakenly think that being snowed in will leave them snug and warm, holed up with plenty of food for the duration. Wrong!

Back in Millers Kill, New York, police officers Kevin Flynn and Hadley Knox investigate a local house fire that claimed two adult victims and left missing an 8-year-old foster child with a life-threatening illness. As the detectives search for the youngster, the fire becomes a complicated case involving a meth operation in the Adirondack wilds and a host of suspects. The drug connection leads the detectives to an uneasy alliance with an odd husband-wife pair of federal agents—who may have another, more devious agenda.

Kevin and Hadley provide a commanding side story to that of the beleaguered honeymoon couple. Russ and Clare each bring a personal and professional crisis to the isolated cabin—stories they’ve yet to share with each other. These intriguing sidesteps make the book all but impossible to put down.

The chapters jockey back and forth between the Millers Kill cops, as they slip and slide through an increasingly dangerous investigation, and the disastrous and life-threatening scene facing Russ and Clare, stranded by the weather and threatened by the very criminals their compatriots seek. These complicated storylines come together seamlessly, providing readers with an evening or two of nail-biting tension as the crippling snow and ice bring law enforcement and criminals alike to their knees. Hate to offer up that old chestnut, but this is a book not to be missed.