Amid the lazy days of summer, indulging in a new read is a simple pleasure. But what if you’re looking for something to get your pulse pounding?
Whether it’s inside in the cool, or outside in the sun, these well-plotted thrillers are the perfect pastime for long bright afternoons.
Nightshade, Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company, 352 pages)
This is the beginning of Connelly’s new series, and it promises to be even better than his terrific Renée Ballard books; it might just come close to the best of his Harry Bosch novels.
Catalina Island, off the Los Angeles coast, is home to people who live a quiet life with no cars or hard crime to be found. It’s also a dumping ground for disgraced cops, which is why Detective Stilwell is there. He gets around in a golf cart and has adjusted to a peaceful life – until the former homicide detective is tasked with hunting a local who mutilated a bison. Meanwhile, a dead body surfaces in the local harbour.
Connelly, as always, takes us step by step into both the investigations and into the conflicts in Stilwell’s life. I loved this book and can’t wait for the next instalment.
King of Ashes, S.A. Cosby (Flatiron, 352 pages)
Southern noir writer Cosby returns with a story so complex, with such dazzling characters and suspense, that you won’t put it down despite the grisly parts. Be warned: This is the novel of nightmares.
Roman Carruthers is a rich and well-connected financial wizard living in Atlanta with a client list of rap stars and billionaires. When his father is injured in a car accident, he’s summoned back to his Virginia hometown, where his family runs a crematorium.
Roman quickly learns that his father’s injury wasn’t an accident and that his feckless brother is in deep trouble with gangsters. Meanwhile, his sister is trying to keep the business afloat, with Roman putting away his city duds to help out. But when he and his family are harassed by criminals, Roman must outwit his enemies at a great personal cost. This is one of the best books of this or any other year.
The Doorman, Chris Pavone (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 400 pages)
Pavone’s third novel, equal parts thriller, suspense and character study, has all the elements of a great read in any genre but is among the top tier in crime.
Chicky Diaz is the doorman at the Bohemia, one of New York’s fabled condominiums, where the very rich and famous live their private lives and staff like Chicky know their place: keep the unwanted out and the residents’ secrets private.
In the penthouse, Emily Longworth is fed up with her husband. But how can she get out of her marriage without destroying the image of perfection she’s created? Then there’s Julian Sonnenberg, getting older and not better, particularly after an upsetting phone call and now it’s heart disease at his door. Against these bits of misery for the upper class, police have shot and killed a another Black man in the city and protests are headed for the streets of the rich. But today, Chicky has a gun beneath his smart uniform. This is a terrific story that moves like an NYC subway train.
A Schooling In Murder, Andrew TaylorAmazon/Supplied
A Schooling in Murder, Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins, 384 pages)
Taylor hooked me decades ago with Caroline Minuscule and is still one of my favourite authors 20-plus books later. This time, it’s a ghost story set in a tatty English boarding school as the Second World War is ending, and murder is afoot; the problem is that no one knows the victim is dead. The prevailing opinion is that teacher Annabel Warnock decamped in the night, leaving the school in the lurch.
Annabel knows she’s dead because she’s the narrator, trapped on the school grounds. As she tries to solve her own murder – Annabel doesn’t know who pushed her off a cliff into the sea – Alec Shaw, a wannabe mystery author employed as her replacement, is the only person she can trust.
This is a typical Taylor novel, with a stunning setting and intriguing characters – including a smart middle-school girl who wants to know what happened to her favourite teacher, and her sidekick, a 13-year-old boy who wished that same teacher gone.
Ceylon Sapphires, Mailan Doquang (WW Norton, 304 pages)
This follow-up to Doquang’s superb debut, Blood Rubies, picks up the latest chapter in the life of jewel thief Rune Sarasin. It’s a classic thriller, starting in Paris and racing across Europe and Asia.
We begin at the Louvre. Napoleon’s great-great-grandniece is there for a private showing of a painting of her ancestor. She’s wearing a priceless necklace of ceylon sapphires, commissioned by Napoleon himself. But there’s a commotion, and the necklace disappears. The suspect is a young woman who has also disappeared. Enter our anti-heroine, Rune, who stole from the wrong man and now must steal on demand until her debt to him is paid.
But when he demands Rune snatch earrings to match the fabulous sapphires, she realizes her debt will never end – unless she gets rids of her tormentor. I was rooting for Rune across the continents.
Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie, James Lee Burke (Atlantic Monthly, 368 pages)
Long ago, I stopped reading James Lee Burke’s excellent mysteries. His interest has always been character and history – or rather, how history forms character – but until now, Burke has never given a book to a woman, though he writes them brilliantly. His latest novel, dedicated to his mother, follows his Holland family and features a female protagonist while incorporating some criminal history as part of the plot.
Bessie Holland, born at the turn of the 20th century, is watching her beloved Texas landscape change with the ruthless advent of the oil industry. Inspired by a suffragette teacher, Bessie fights back – but accidentally kills an unarmed man. Sent to New York under the dubious care of her older brother, Bessie learns the ways of a new world from a group of young thugs who will grow into major criminals. How all this plays out is woven into Burke’s fluid prose that always makes me cry. A perfect part of the Holland family saga.
Smoke and Embers, John Lawton (Atlantic Monthly, 416 pages)
Fans of great espionage have long adored Lawton’s excellent historical spy novels, but this one, the ninth in his Inspector Troy series, is one of his best. If you haven’t already discovered Lawton, start here and I promise you’ll go back and devour the entire series.
London is still a mess after the Blitz in the 1950s, with the economy in the dumpster and the future murky. Things aren’t getting any better for Troy when he discovers his trusted sergeant is having an affair with a woman connected to a known local criminal. Worse, the bad guy might have connections going back to Germany and even worse crimes.
Lawton is a slow read, and character drives the plot – the details really are the story, and I loved every one.
The Blue Horse, Bruce Borgos (St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 368 pages)
When I first encountered Borgos and his central character, Sheriff Porter Beck, I saw him as nowhere near the superb writer Craig Johnston. However, Borgos is on a roll with the third in the Beck series. He still drifts a bit into technospeak, and he does love his weapons and gadgets, but this tale of murder and ecological warfare has a great plot and some terrific scenery along with good characters.
Beck, losing his sight, is working to end his time as sheriff. He’s planning on joining his soulmate, Detective Charlie Blue Horse, with the Nevada state police. But destiny has a plan for Beck and as the COVID-19 pandemic begins, he’s faced with two vicious murders, both connected to a group protesting roundups of Nevada wild horses. The woman in charge of the protests is the logical suspect, but Beck isn’t buying it. Meanwhile, this being a Borgos book, there’s a conspiracy led by big-time criminals. Borgos’s complex plots come with lots of moving parts, so readers be warned: It’s dense but worth it.
The Woman in Suite 11, Ruth Ware (Simon & Schuster, 400 pages)
The Woman in Suite 11 is the sequel to Ware’s hugely successful The Woman in Cabin 10, which took place on a luxury yacht. Ten years later, travel journalist Laura (Lo) Blacklock is off to Switzerland in a well-plotted novel with plenty of action.
Since we first met Lo, the pandemic has changed the dynamics of publishing and she is married with a baby. Lo would like to rejig her languishing journalism career and an invite to the opening of a luxury hotel in Geneva seems ideal, especially if she can land an interview with the reclusive billionaire who owns it. But after an unexpected anonymous upgrade to first class, then a meeting with guests who were also on the infamous yacht, Lo is thrown into another mystery. When she’s called to the billionaire’s room late at night, her past and present collide in dangerous ways, sending Lo on a gripping race across Europe.
Death at a Highland Wedding, Kelley Armstrong (St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 319 pages)
Armstrong is so prolific across four genres that her talents for old-fashioned mystery sometimes get overlooked. That’s a pity, because the Canadian author really knows how to pace a good whodunit and Death at a Highland Wedding shows her at her best.
This being Armstrong, we have a bit of fantasy. Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has slipped 150 years into the past in the author’s Rip Though Time novels and acclimated as Scottish housemaid Catriona Mitchel, aid to an undertaker and guide to a local detective. The three attend a wedding in the Highlands on a beautiful estate, but the discovery of a hurt cat in the woods with wounds that are difficult to explain casts a pall. Meanwhile, the groom’s strange behaviour unnerves Mallory – and that’s before a murder happens. With plenty of suspects, lots of backstory and at least three red herrings, it all plays out in classic style, leaving us waiting for another book in the Mallory/Catriona series.
Nimbus Publishing/Supplied
Salt on Her Tongue, C.S. Porter (Vagrant, 256 pages)
This excellent sequel follows Detective Kes Morris’s return to service after the harrowing events of Beneath Her Skin. After a mandatory leave, Kes is on a special missing persons case with instructions from her captain for top discretion. Kes heads to the glorious Bay of Fundy, and a fishing village that’s both insular and secretive. When Kes arrives, it’s to a body floating in the tide. It’s not the young woman who’s gone missing, but a clear case of murder, and Kes finds no assistance from the grudging locals.
If you missed the earlier Kes Morris novel, you’ll want to read it next. This is a great series beginning with real literary style and a wonderful setting. Porter is a writer to watch.
This Stays Between Us, Sara Ochs (Sourcebooks, 416 pages)
Ochs dazzled readers with her Thailand-set debut, The Resort. Now she returns in an even better story of love, betrayal and murder.
Ten years ago, best friends Claire and Phoebe went on the an trip of a lifetime that took them to Australia to study abroad. It all starts as planned, but romance, all-night parties and lies begin to cause friction. Then Phoebe disappears. The party ends and everyone – except Phoebe – goes home.
Jump ahead to present day, and remains are found. But why has Claire been dreading the discovery? Ochs’s spellbinding suspense will keep you reading until the last sentence.
