Mystery & Crime Book Reviews

In a novel that we called “an even more thrilling, densely packed novel that makes most Chicago crime thrillers seem tame,” Charlie Newton returns to the mean streets with Start Shooting. read more

Over the last several years, I’ve become a pretty reliable consumer of handsome, complete new sets of works by prominent crime and mystery fictionists. read more

Crime and thriller novels, once read, can usually be slotted with ease into one of three categories: those you found rewarding, intriguing and memorable; those you’re content to have poured through but probably won’t recall well in the long-run; and others you wish you could unread if only to recoup the valuable leisure time you wasted in their company.  read more

William Ryan’s debut historical thriller, The Holy Thief (2010), put him on the literary map but fast. The tale of a dogged, obdurately individualistic cop—Capt. Alexei Dmitriyevich Korolev of the Moscow Militia’s Criminal Investigation Division—who’s assigned to probe the torture slayings of a nun and a crook in Stalinist-era Russia, it picked up a nomination for the British Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey Award and was shortlisted for both a Barry Award and the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. read more