Never has there been a more perfect time to read a “locked room mystery” than in 2020. This summer, while holed up in my house during lockdown, I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of Ruth Ware’s chilling new mystery, ONE BY ONE—a book that puts a fresh, modern spin on the classic crime fiction “locked room” structure. The premise of Ware’s newest: a group of employees on a corporate retreat to a picturesque ski lodge in the French Alps find their getaway horribly disrupted when an avalanche cuts off their access to the outside world. In the claustrophobic confinement of the lodge, the group finds tempers rising, personalities clashing, and long-buried secrets threatening to reappear. Confined spaces and isolation, you say? If that doesn’t sound like 2020, I don’t know what does. Now, (thankfully!) my lockdown experience has been nowhere near as dramatic and sinister as the experiences of Ware’s ill-fated characters in ONE BY ONE, but if there ever were a moment when a “locked room mystery” rang especially true for me… this year is it. Ruth Ware’s newest suspense offering delivers a deliciously dark and dramatic tale of a group of individuals whose egos, secrets, and personal motivations clash in sinister and deadly ways when they find themselves isolated in close quarters with one another. Replete with red herrings a plenty, multiple narrators who will keep you on your toes, and an ever-intensifying sense of dread, ONE BY ONE is another outstanding crime novel from the writer who has rightfully been dubbed a modern-day Agatha Christie.
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CBTB's Most-Anticipated Fall 2020 Crime Fiction Releases
The best time of year is upon us! As we head into the chillier months of the year, now is the perfect moment to start stocking up on some equally-chilling reads. In today’s blog post, I’m rounding up my personal most-anticipated releases of Fall 2020! This list by no means encompasses all of the thrilling new crime books that will be published this fall, but it does highlight the books I’m personally most excited to read, and most excited to talk about with you! For ease of reference, I’ve organized this blog post in order of publication date. Some of these books I’ve already been lucky enough to read, others are still on my fall TBR list—but all of them look poised to deliver some truly outstanding crime fiction storytelling. Dive into this blog post and start building your own Fall 2020 crime fiction reading list!
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Book Review: WHEN I WAS YOU by Amber Garza
There’s a fine line between devotion and obsession—a fact that Amber Garza brings to life in her sinister, deliciously page-turning new psychological thriller WHEN I WAS YOU. Kelly Medina has never felt so alone. With her son off at college and her husband busy with a job that takes him out of town every week, Kelly finds herself adrift, searching for purpose and direction in this new stage of life. Everything changes when Kelly meets a young woman who - against all odds - shares her exact same name. Kelly #1 becomes fascinated by Kelly #2, a young, single mother raising a beautiful baby boy. But as their unlikely friendship blossoms and intensifies, Kelly #1 becomes a bit too interested in Kelly #2, setting both women on a deadly collision course. Amber Garza weaves an utterly unputdownable story of friendship, motherhood, and obsession in WHEN I WAS YOU. Grab this book for a pacey, twisty, just-one-more-page read that will satisfy all your “popcorn thriller” cravings. Summer may be winding down, but there’s still time for one more thrilling beach read, and WHEN I WAS YOU will make for a perfect selection.
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Cover Reveal: THE GIRL WHO DIED by Ragnar Jonasson
If you’ve been around Crime by the Book for a while, you will already know what a huge fan I am of Icelandic crime writer Ragnar Jonasson. Thanks to Ragnar’s US publisher, Minotaur, I am beyond excited to be able to exclusively reveal the cover for Ragnar’s first standalone crime novel, THE GIRL WHO DIED—publishing in the US in May 2021! Read on to view the book’s beautiful cover, learn more about the plot, and check out Ragnar’s previous series while you’re at it.
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Book Review: THE SILENCE OF THE WHITE CITY by Eva García Sáenz
What was the last book you read that turned out to be exactly the book you never knew you needed? For me, the answer to that question is easy: it was Eva García Sáenz’s outstanding trilogy launch, THE SILENCE OF THE WHITE CITY—published in the US for the first time this July. This gritty, intricate serial killer thriller is the perfect late-summer read for any crime fiction aficionado looking to get caught up in a truly immersive puzzle. Set in the Basque country, THE SILENCE OF THE WHITE CITY places readers in the heart of a terrifying series of events: a shadowy villain appears to be replicating the city of Vitoria’s most infamous crimes, twenty years after their initial occurrence. The perpetrator for the original crimes, an archaeologist whose charm and charisma propelled him to fame, has been locked away in prison for all these years. So who is committing these gruesome murders now? Is a copycat killer at work, or is there more to this story? Following an endearing and troubled detective known as “Kraken,” THE SILENCE OF THE WHITE CITY draws readers deep into the history and mythology of the Basque country—and into the mind of a sinister and shadowy villain whose reach and intelligence are far greater than the police ever suspected. Chilling crimes, page-turning pacing, endearing characters, and a healthy dose of local lore are woven together seamlessly in THE SILENCE OF THE WHITE CITY. This is a serial killer thriller for anyone who has loved genre greats like The Silence of the Lambs, and for anyone who just plain loves a great mystery to solve. Pick this book up for pure, chilling entertainment.
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