Journalist and author Sarah Weinman is the new crime fiction columnist for the New York Times, the newspaper announced Friday.

Weinman, author of The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World and editor of Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession, is taking over from Marilyn Stasio, who has written the Times’ crime fiction column since 1988.

New York Times Book Review deputy editor Tina Jordan praised Stasio, who is retiring as columnist.

“Long before I came to work at The Times, I turned to Marilyn’s column for reading recommendations,” Jordan said. “She covered the fictional murder-and-mayhem landscape so thoroughly—not just books by big-name authors, but books in translation, books from small presses.”

Weinman’s first column was published Friday. In it, she writes about Walter Mosley’s Blood Grove, Belinda Bauer’s Exit, Catie Disabato’s U Up?, and Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan Is Killing It.

On Twitter, Weinman noted that her first column coincides with her birthday.

“You are all very kind and I’m reading all of your tweets and messages and emails and it feels very THIS IS YOUR LIFE right now,” she wrote. “Thank you, and now it’s time to read!”

Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.