mys-susp

Mystery & SuspenseAudioMystery

The Anatomy of Desire

Review by Deborah Mason

We appear to be living in a golden age of crime stories, with podcasts and series galore, but this popular fascination is truly timeless, everlasting and ever evolving. L.R. Dorn’s debut novel, The Anatomy of Desire (8 hours), updates Theodore Dreiser’s classic 1925 crime drama, An American Tragedy, by using the documentary format to explore whether Instagram influencer Cleo Ray murdered her ex-girlfriend in the middle of a lake.

Dorn uses interview transcripts, director commentary and courtroom clips to strip away Cleo’s “all-American girl” social media personality and expose the traumas fueling her relentless ambition. This narrative structure is perfect for the audiobook format, and it’s compellingly and convincingly performed by a fine ensemble cast. Tony Award winner Santino Fontana stands out as the documentary director Duncan McMillan, and Marin Ireland portrays a formidable defense attorney, but Shelby Young absolutely shines as Cleo. From Cleo’s chirpy pretrial Instagram posts to her gut-wrenching testimony, Young delivers a performance that is as vulnerable as it is ruthless, as loving as it is spiteful.

Make some popcorn, settle in, and get ready to devour an extremely enjoyable story.

The unique documentary format of L.R. Dorn’s crime novel makes for a winning audiobook, compellingly performed by a fine ensemble cast.
Mystery & SuspenseAudioThriller

No One Goes Alone

Review by G. Robert Frazier

Bestselling author Erik Larson’s first work of fiction, No One Goes Alone (7.5 hours), is a ghost story that’s available only on audio. In 1905, experts from the Society for Psychical Research arrive on a remote island to investigate the disappearance of a vacationing family. The researchers are immediately beset upon by strange occurrences, from the seemingly mundane to the deadly serious. The investigators offer scientific explanations for the increasingly bizarre happenings, but an abundance of disconcerting events edge closer to the paranormal.

British actor Julian Rhind-Tutt narrates in a smooth, even tone. Adding twinges of doubt and fear at just the right moments, he delivers a performance so convincing that the listener is likely to believe the impossible before all is said and done.

This eerie turn-of-the-century adventure will please fans of haunting tales like “The X-Files” and listeners nostalgic for radio dramas.

For Erik Larson’s audio-only work of fiction, narrator Julian Rhind-Tutt is so convincing that the listener is likely to believe the impossible.
FictionThriller

The Anomaly

Review by Arlene McKanic

Why are a bunch of airplane passengers being rousted by the FBI and the CIA? Their only commonality is that they were on an exceptionally turbulent flight from Paris to New York City. A few chapters into Hervé Le Tellier’s Prix Goncourt-winning novel, The Anomaly, we learn that it’s because their plane did not land where and when it should’ve and so triggered something called Protocol 42. Furthermore, it’s not the only plane of its kind, but the other plane landed in China and the Chinese government isn’t talking.

The passengers of Air France Flight 006 are the types of people you’d expect on a transcontinental flight—or maybe you wouldn’t. There’s the wife of an Afghanistan War veteran and her young children; a brilliant and ambitious lawyer who recently married the great love of her life; a translator who wrote a novel titled The Anomaly; a rapper who dreams of jamming with Elton John; and a man who leads a double life as a reliable father and hired assassin. And of course, there’s the pilot, who finds that the mess he’s in may, ironically, give him a second chance at life.

First published in France, The Anomaly is pleasingly Gallic, with chapters weaving together comedy, melancholy, tragedy and a strand of noir. Lovers and would-be lovers have their hearts broken. The stone-cold assassin seems right out of a Jean-Pierre Melville movie. Only the children on the plane seem to take things in stride, as children often do. A battalion of scientists, government agents, philosophers and clergy members struggle to figure out what happened, but there’s simply no good explanation.

No doubt you’ll find yourself wondering how you would react if you were a passenger on Flight 006. Would you find your situation intolerable? Would you try to live with this new reality to the best of your ability? It is to Le Tellier’s credit that these questions linger long after you turn the last page.

In Hervé Le Tellier’s Prix Goncourt-winning novel, the passengers of Air France Flight 006 must learn to live with a life-altering situation.
Mystery & SuspenseHistorical Mystery

Miss Moriarty, I Presume?

Review by Carole V. Bell

Charlotte Holmes has never been in more danger and the ride has never been more exciting than in Miss Moriarty, I Presume?, Sherry Thomas’ sixth Lady Sherlock mystery.

Defying her parents’ most fervent wishes and every rule of polite Victorian society, the singular Miss Holmes has successfully contrived to live freely, both professionally and personally. Having put her talents and temperament to good use as a “consulting detective” under the guise of a fictional brother named Sherlock, Charlotte now helms a thriving business. She’s forged a lasting friendship with Mrs. Watson, her professional partner, confidante and landlord, and has finally found love and peace with Lord Ingram Ashburton, the man she’s admired since they were children. (Their surreptitious and sexy flirtation reaches new heights in this outing.)

Despite these happy circumstances, there is one thorny problem. Over the course of her previous cases, Charlotte attracted the dangerous attentions and ire of the criminal mastermind known as Moriarty. In Miss Moriarty, I Presume? that shadowy figure finally comes calling. Moriarty enlists Charlotte to verify the health and welfare of his errant adult daughter, who now lives on a mysterious commune and from whom he has recently stopped receiving scheduled updates. Alighting to Cornwall to see what has become of Miss Moriarty is a mission Charlotte doesn’t dare refuse, given that beneath Moriarty’s unsubtle demand lies an unspoken threat of violence.

Moriarty’s daughter’s whereabouts offer a complex and satisfying puzzle: She may be on the run, sick or even dead. The questions surrounding her and her motivations are plentiful and compelling, and her home, the pseudo-religious Garden of Hermopolis, is a superlative setting. Simultaneously quirky and dark, the walled and guarded compound provides a fertile environment for the mystery to grow. 

With a plot hinging almost entirely on Moriarty and his kin, Miss Moriarty, I Presume? does much to mend Moriarty’s vague characterization and motives in the series’ earlier books. The mystery man becomes a little less opaque, and disparate threads involving other recurring characters come together as well. Key elements at the center of the series—the cold war with Moriarty and the romantic relationship between Charlotte and Lord Ingram—progress by leaps and bounds. Readers will revel in seeing Charlotte and her dearest companions at the top of their game in this eventful and pivotal entry in the formidable series.

Charlotte Holmes has never been in more danger and the ride has never been more exciting than in Miss Moriarty, I Presume?, Sherry Thomas’ sixth Lady Sherlock mystery.

Mystery & SuspenseThriller

Nanny Dearest

Review by Elyse Discher

Conflicting memories of the past converge like a fever dream in Flora Collins’ riveting debut thriller, Nanny Dearest.  

Though only in her mid-20s, Sue Keller is an orphan. Her mother died when she was a child, and after the loss of her father, Sue descends into a depressive funk.  She struggles to leave the house, relying on delivery and work from home options. On a rare outing she meets a woman named Annie, who recognizes Sue and claims to have been her childhood nanny—but Sue has no memory of her at all. Craving a connection to her lost parents, Sue continues to meet with Annie, desperate for stories about a period of her childhood her mind has mysteriously blacked out.

Toggling between Sue’s present and Annie’s past, Nanny Dearest explores how the need for family and connection can become toxic, even deadly. Annie longs to escape her abusive father, so a live-in nanny position with the Keller family seems like the perfect escape. Mr. Keller is a successful novelist, sequestered away as he works on his latest book, and Mrs. Keller is focused on a career of her own, as well as her position as a socialite. So Annie and young Sue are left largely to themselves, leading Annie to bond immediately with her young charge, to the extent that she will do anything to remain with the Kellers indefinitely.

Decades later, Sue can’t figure out why she has no memory of Annie. Her former nanny’s photographs and stories confirm she was Sue’s caregiver, but Sue obviously can’t ask her late parents why Annie left almost immediately after Mrs. Keller’s death or why her father never talked about Annie in the years after her mother’s death. When Annie’s grasp on Sue’s life begins to feel suffocating, Sue launches to research her past in a desperate search for answers.Collins, a lifelong New Yorker who based her story partially on her own experience with a childhood babysitter, leans on the intense psychological drama of the caregiver-child relationship to keep the reader turning pages, never depicting violence on the page. The perfect choice for those who want thrills without the gore, Nanny Dearest is as compelling as it is unnerving.

Conflicting memories of the past converge like a fever dream in Flora Collins’ riveting debut thriller, Nanny Dearest.
Mystery & SuspenseMystery

The Witching Tree

Review by Lauren Emily Whalen

Everyone loves a legend—until it ends in murder.

“Don’t stare too long at the Witching Tree / Defile it not, or cursed you will be.” So goes the saying behind the spookiest landmark in Burning Lake, New York, a small town with a dark past and an even darker present. Alice Blanchard’s The Witching Tree follows detective and lifelong Burning Lake resident Natalie Lockhart through a murder mystery that deftly addresses what happens when personal trauma and professional responsibility collide in a town steeped in complicated history.

The third book in Blanchard’s award-winning series begins with a horrific awakening. Beloved local Wiccan priestess Veronica Manes awakens from a drugged sleep, dressed in a Halloween-esque witch costume and chained to a railroad track with a freight train quickly approaching—a train she is unable to escape in time. At the same time, Natalie is enjoying a cozy morning with her wealthy boyfriend, Hunter Rose. She’s ready to leave cop life behind after working two disturbing cases, including one that involved her own family. When Natalie learns of Veronica’s murder, she’s as baffled as the rest of Burning Lake, but she knows she can’t quit the force until the mystery is solved.

Natalie is a smart, believable heroine. She’s a skilled detective with an admirable sense of duty to the place that has raised her, even though it spectacularly failed her family. Indeed, Blanchard’s writing shines the brightest when depicting all her characters’ gray areas. Despite the macabre elements of the murder and setting, the people who populate The Witching Tree are realistically drawn: No townsperson is all good or all bad. Could eccentric Marigold Hutchins, who runs the town’s Wiccan shop, be gunning for Veronica’s leadership position in the local historic coven? What about the young couple Veronica befriended, who were dealing with drug addiction and dabbling in dark magic before they disappeared completely? Natalie also can’t forget the legacy of the town, whose the citizens burned three accused witches at the stake in the 18th century. Blanchard crafts a spectacular sense of place, and though readers may fear Burning Lake, they also won’t want to leave.

While it’s the third in a series, The Witching Tree offers sufficient background information for new readers and a town full of complex, dynamic characters, making it an enjoyable novel that stands easily on its own.

Though readers may fear Burning Lake, the creepy small-town setting of Alice Blanchard’s mystery, they also won’t want to leave.
Mystery & SuspenseMystery

Shoot the Moonlight Out

Review by G. Robert Frazier

In late ’90s Brooklyn, simple actions have a long-lasting impact, and not always for the better. The dynamic cast of characters in William Boyle’s turbulent crime thriller Shoot the Moonlight Out learn that the hard way.

Consider teenager Bobby Santovasco. Along with his friend Zeke, the pair do what kids do: They wreak havoc for fun. In their case, it’s throwing objects off a bridge at passing cars on the Belt Parkway. First, it’s harmless. Aluminum cans. Water balloons. But it’s not enough. So, the boys up the stakes—with rocks. 

The result is the death of a young woman, Amelia Cornacchia. 

Flash forward five years to 2001, where we find Charlie French. A brutish debt collector, he steals a horde of cash from a reluctant client, and stashes it with his friend Max Berry for safekeeping. Bobby, who now works for Max, falls for Francesca Clarke, who inspires him to rob Max’s safe so they can escape the oppressive confines of the neighborhood.

Unbeknownst to Bobby, his stepsister, Lily, has fallen for Jack Cornacchia, a student in her writing class. Jack is a self-styled neighborhood vigilante, who just so happens to be Amelia’s father.

Boyle (A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself) slowly introduces each of his players in chapters from their perspective, deepening the reader’s empathy for each member of the large cast as he digs into their individual losses, hopes and loves. Hailing from Brooklyn himself, Boyle imbues the setting with an air of authenticity and stark realism as his characters leap from the page. Readers can only grasp at the slimmest of hopes in this grim, modern-day noir, but the determination of Boyle’s characters defies expectations. He increases the suspense and intrigue of the story across alternating chapters, seemingly checking in with characters at random as Shoot the Moonlight Out subtly builds towards a collision of lives intertwined and fates inextricably linked.

William Boyle’s stark and turbulent crime thriller boasts an endlessly fascinating and empathetic cast of characters.
Mystery & SuspenseMystery

As the Wicked Watch

Review by Linda M. Castellitto

Jordan Manning is a crime reporter at the top of her game, but staying there is proving increasingly exhausting. When she moved to Chicago from her home state of Texas, she hit the ground running in four-inch stiletto heels—which didn’t deter her from being first on the scene of a steady stream of crimes in the Windy City. As a Black woman, Jordan is the only woman of color at News Channel 8, and she’s the only reporter in her newsroom with journalism and forensic science degrees. Her experience and savvy serve her well, as does her empathy—a trait that isn’t always present in the highly competitive news business.

Because of Jordan’s empathy, plus her finely tuned intuition, the disturbing case of Masey James—a smart, well-liked Black teenager found dead in a park—just won’t let Jordan go. She had already been frustrated by the police’s unwillingness to declare Masey missing, and now authorities are in a rush to arrest someone instead of conducting a thorough investigation. Jordan is determined to not only ethically and comprehensively report on the case but also help solve it.

Read our interview with Tamron Hall about her series launch.

As the Wicked Watch is a compellingly realistic and timely first entry in Tamron Hall’s new mystery series starring the ambitious and fabulous Jordan, a woman not unlike her creator. Hall was an award-winning anchor on NBC and MSNBC, was the first Black woman to host “TODAY” and now hosts the Emmy-winning “Tamron Hall Show.” Her fiction takes on racism, sexism, media ethics and institutional bias, offering a fascinating inside look at the intricate ballet that is a live newscast.

Readers spend much of the story inside Jordan’s very busy head. The naturalistic narrative reveals her investigative strategies, conflicting emotions and minimonologues about everything from Chicago restaurants to her quest for a healthy personal life as she works to earn the trust of Masey’s family and neighbors, and edges ever closer to the truth about the killer she believes might strike again. It’s a dangerous pursuit, but to Jordan it’s just part of “a calling and a purpose larger than myself.” As the Wicked Watch is a promising start to a series sure to appeal to fans of badass women with mysteries to solve and something to prove.

Tamron Hall’s debut is a promising start to a series sure to appeal to fans of badass women with mysteries to solve and something to prove.
Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

Red Widow

Review by Elyse Discher

Alma Katsu, known for her spooky historical novels, showcases her versatility in Red Widow, an espionage thriller.

A rising star in the CIA, Lyndsey Duncan finds herself in hot water for dating another intelligence officer. She’s given the chance to redeem herself by sniffing out a mole in the Russia division. Three high-level Russian assets are either missing or dead, and it appears the FSB (the contemporary successor to the KGB, Russia’s secret police and intelligence agency) is being fed information from inside the CIA. For Lyndsey, it’s personal. She was the former handler for one of the assets, and she can’t help but feel as though the agency let him down.

Theresa Warner, one of Lyndsey’s colleagues at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, is called the Red Widow behind her back. Theresa’s late husband, Richard, was rising up the ranks of “the company” before he was killed in Russia during an operation that went catastrophically wrong. Theresa’s allegiance to the Russia division after her husband’s tragic death makes her a legendary figure in the CIA, but Lyndsey, known as the “human lie detector,” can’t help but feel something is off with the other agent.

Katsu spent 35 years as a senior intelligence analyst for both the CIA and the National Security Agency, and her insider perspective lends nuance and depth to the plot. Many spy thrillers depend on globe-trotting adventures, car chases or action sequences, but Red Widow zeroes in on the inner workings of the CIA and the FSB. Lyndsey never leaves Langley, which could have made the story feel airless and limited, but Katsu’s extensive knowledge of this world creates a deeply immersive experience instead.

As Lyndsey’s and Theresa’s stories become more entwined, a shocking betrayal forces both of them to question their allegiance to an agency that specializes in manipulation—even of its own professionals. The proverbial call is coming from inside the house, and that jolt of paranoia ratchets up suspense since it gives both characters, and by extension the reader, absolutely nowhere to feel grounded and no one to trust.

Katsu’s real-life experience and skill at maintaining taut, nail-biting tension make Red Widow a standout espionage thriller.

Alma Katsu’s real-life experience and skill at maintaining taut, nail-biting tension make Red Widow a standout espionage thriller.

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