Mystery & Suspense from our 2017 Summer Newsletter

Megan Abbot is the queen of nourishing family dramas unfolding around troubled teen girls, and this is her best yet. Katie Knox’s daughter Devon is a gymnastics prodigy, and Katie and her husband will do whatever it takes to see Devon’s dreams realized. When a death happens in the supposedly tight-knit gymnastics gym, fractures in both family and community expose unpleasant truths. I was completely sucked in and didn’t want to put it down. - Flannery

With its deftly spun narratives whose sources range from transcribed wiretaps to a flashback of underground gay bars, Oakland Noir has everything I want in an anthology. Filtering the grit and harsh circumstances is a kind of protective empathy, with glimpses of hope that make the noir gut-punch hurt that much more. - Rachel

This excellent debut by Paul Vidich is a classic Cold War spy thriller based on actual events during the McCarthy period in the early 1950s. Reminiscent of John le Carré, An Honorable Man tells the story of a mole hunt conducted the old-fashioned way: with deception and lies. It is richly atmospheric, with compelling characters and brisk pacing through its twists and turns. - Trey

In her new stand-alone novel, Laurie R. King tackles a modern horror—a high school career day gone terribly wrong. Anyone who loves King’s deft writing and nuanced character building will be more than satisfied. King weaves the threads of her characters’ lives and secrets together into a taut psychological tale that is poignant and provocative and an excellent example of her range and skill. - Flannery

Lyndsay Faye is a card-carrying Sherlock Holmesian—literally: she is a member of at least three Sherlock Holmes societies, including the Baker Street Babes—who fell in love with Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters as a child. Faye’s stories, collected here for the first time, reflect that deep and abiding love and respect. Echoing Doyle’s syntax, Faye brings her own depth and engrossing humanity to the seminal detecting duo that has preoccupied pop culture for more than a century. - Jocelyn

Books, booksellers, and bookstore patrons all play a role in this rich and unusual debut mystery by Matthew Sullivan. This clever tale of a bizarre and somewhat unsettling suicide and murder is hard to put down, as tantalizing clues keep the story moving quickly. Fascinating characters and excellent writing combine to make a riveting story with an ending that will surely surprise you. - Trey

Lo, a journalist for a travel magazine, gets a lucky break when she receives an assignment on a luxury cruise. Her ideal job turns into a nightmare when she believes she witnesses a body being thrown overboard in the night. However, all passengers are accounted for, and Lo finds herself an unlikely detective as she refuses to believe she imagined the murder. She is pushed to overcome her personal insecurities in order to solve a mystery that apparently does not exist. - Sara

If you like Agatha Christie, closed-room mysteries, publishing industry tales, books within books, narrators in crisis, or any combination thereof, Magpie Murders has something for you. Both a delightful homage to the British village mystery (containing the manuscript for a British village mystery) and a fiendishly clever story of an editor on the hunt for what she suspects is a real-life killer, this dark, suspenseful, inventive book is a must-read. - Flannery