Itβs the best day of the week: new release Tuesday! This week, crime fiction readers will want to clear their TBR lists and their calendars to devour the newest elegant suspense novel by The Silent Patient author Alex Michaelides, and to dive into a twisty, paranoia-inducing thriller by breakout star P.J. Vernon. Itβs a huge week for new crime fiction, and to celebrate, I wanted to mix up my review coverage a bit and give you a joint review of my picks for this weekβs buzziest new crime fiction: THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides and BATH HAUS by P.J. Vernon. Because when the new releases are this good, why limit yourself to just one?! Without further ado, letβs dive on in to todayβs two-for-one book review.
Read MoreCBTB's Frequently Recommended Supernatural-ish Mysteries & Chillers
If you had told me when I started this blog that I would someday be writing a blog post recommending a few of my personal favorite crime books with some supernatural elements to them, I would have never believed you. I used to be staunchly opposed to crime books with any supernatural touches, but as time has gone on, and thanks to the work of very talented authors including Yrsa Sigurdardottir, C.J. Tudor, and many more, Iβve not only become open to books in this categoryβ¦ Iβve actually begun actively seeking them out. While I think it will always be important to me as a reader that the crime novels I read, even the supernatural-ish ones, have an earthly, logical solution to the mysteries at their core, Iβve come to discover just how much fun a thriller with a dash of the supernatural can be. Today, Iβm so excited to share a roundup of my frequently recommended supernatural-ish mysteries and thrillers! Some of these books have true supernatural elements to them, while in others, the supernatural is more of a suggestion or a question to be answered over the course of the story. No matter what, all of these books have an extra-creepy edge to them that will have you reading with all the lights on. To help you guide you through this list and narrow down which books might be of interest to you, Iβve divvied this list up into three categories: Ghosts & Haunted Houses, Folklore & The Occult, and Possessions & Inexplicable Events. The books in this list exemplify that delicious blend of earthly mystery and supernatural touches that Iβve come to love so much, and Iβm so excited to share this rundown of books in this category that I recommend most frequently with you today! Grab your coziest blanket, turn on all the lights, and dive in to my frequently-recommended supernatural-ish mysteries & thrillers.
Read MoreCBTBβs Recommended Locked Room Mysteries
Itβs one of crime fictionβs oldest tropes, and one of its most perennially-appealing, too: a group of individuals find themselves locked in a hotel (or on an island, or in a houseβ¦ you get the idea!), a murderer in their midst. Who among them is the killer? The locked room mystery is an unfailingly entertaining crime fiction subgenre. Clever plots, impossible solutions, red herrings a plentyβthere is so much to love about books that fall into this category, and theyβve been a longtime favorite for me ever since I began reading Agatha Christie novels back in the day! With the recent popularity of locked room-style mysteries including THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley and THE SANATORIUM by Sarah Pearse, Iβve been receiving more requests than ever for a blog post dedicated to my personal favorite locked room mystery recommendations. Well, the day is finally here! Iβm thrilled to share my list of Recommended Locked Room Mysteries with CBTB readers today. From Nordic mysteries to modern-day twists on the genre to classics and more, I hope that every reader will find a little something to catch their eye in todayβs blog post.
Read MoreNordic Noir November: Spotlight on Finnish Crime Fiction
Happy Sunday, readers! Welcome back to our final spotlight on Scandinavian crime fiction this year! If youβre new to CBTB, every Sunday this November, Iβve been spotlighting crime fiction from a particular Scandinavian country, and sharing with you a rundown of my personal favorite crime writers from that country. Weβve βtraveledβ (virtually!) to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland, and today weβre going to be exploring crime fiction from Finland! Of all the Nordic crime fiction traditions, I am the least familiar with Finnish crime fictionβbut Iβm on a mission to change that! As always, in todayβs blog post I will share with you a rundown of the Finnish crime writers whose work Iβve read and loved. But given that Iβm still in the learning-whatβs-out-there phase of exploring crime fiction from Finland, Iβm also going to give you a little sneak peek into another Finnish crime book thatβs on my TBR list. I hope this will be a helpful resource for anyone else who wants to start on their own journey into Finnish crime fiction!
Read MoreNordic Noir November: Spotlight on Icelandic Crime Fiction
Happy Sunday, readers! Welcome back to our weekly spotlight on Scandinavian crime fiction! If youβre new to CBTB, every Sunday this November, Iβm spotlighting crime fiction from a particular Nordic country, and sharing a rundown of my personal favorite crime writers from that country. Weβve already explored Norwegian crime fiction, Swedish crime fiction, and Danish crime fiction, and this week, weβre βtravelingβ to beautiful Iceland! This blog post is going to be shorter than my previous Nordic Noir November posts for a very simple reason: when it comes to Icelandic crime fiction, I have two ride-or-die authors whose work I will literally always read, no matter what, and those are the two authors I want to spotlight for you all today. There are a number of fantastically talented Icelandic crime writers whose work has been translated to English (and many more whose work looks very intriguing, and I hope will be translated to English soon!), but as has been the case with all my previous installments in this series, I want to keep this list focused on highlighting just my personal favorite authors from each country. When it comes to Icelandic crime fiction, that means Iβve got two authors to spotlight for you today! Whether you love creepy, horror-inspired thrillers, modern mysteries with classic crime vibes, or gritty procedurals, my two favorite Icelandic crime writers have a book for you.
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