CBTB’s Favorite Crime Fiction Series

May 3, 2020

If there’s one thing I love as a reader, it’s finding a crime fiction series that I can’t put down. There’s something so special about finding a fictional world that you never want to leave, and if you’re in the market for a crime fiction series to sink your teeth into while you stay home, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, I’m rounding up my personal favorite crime fiction series—the series I personally come back to over and over again. As you’ll see in this list, my personal tastes skew Nordic. You’ll find here a whole assortment of (if I may say so myself!) top-notch Scandinavian crime series to immerse yourself in this spring, and sprinkled in among these Nordic picks are a number of excellent serial killer thrillers and police procedurals from elsewhere in the world, too. These books have a lot of differences—some are fast-paced, some are slow-burns; some are gritty and violent, some are stylish and refined—but they are all staples of my crime fiction library, and books that I would highly recommend to any crime reader.

Crime Books to Read While You Stay at Home

March 19, 2020

It’s safe to say these are unprecedented times. With the rapid spread of the new coronavirus around the world, a whole lot of us (yours truly included!) are finding ourselves with a whole lot more solitary time on our hands as we stay home and self-isolate. If you’re in this position and looking for a new book or two to take your mind off the news cycle, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve compiled a big list of highly-recommended crime books for you to peruse—and my hope is that one of these (or a few of these!) can keep you company and give you a sense of escape during these very overwhelming times. To help you find a book that will suit your reading tastes, I’ve organized this reading list by mood. Whether you’re in the mood for something binge-worthy, something bookish, or something downright scary, there’s a book for you here.

Book Review: CAGED by Ellison Cooper

June 21, 2018

I’m always on the lookout for new, buzzworthy serial killer thrillers to add to my reading list, and that’s how I came to find CAGED by Ellison Cooper, a chilling crime novel releasing from Minotaur Books this July. With a dark premise, complex female lead, and eye-catching cover, CAGED initially ticked all my boxes for serial killer thriller “must-haves.” While I certainly enjoyed CAGED, I would recommend it most of all for readers who are new to the genre; experienced readers of serial killer thrillers are likely to find that the book relies a bit too heavily on genre stereotypes and cliches. There’s nothing hugely, offensively wrong here—CAGED just never quite kicks into the gear I had hoped it would. I’m confident many readers will enjoy CAGED this summer, but I would hypothesize that those who will enjoy it most of all will be the readers dipping their toes into the genre for the first time - not a negative by any means, but a qualification to be aware of. To me, the story of CAGED is most of all a story of unfilled potential: a crime novel with an eye-catching cover and a chilling plot that delivers page-turning entertainment value, but doesn't quite reach the levels of darkness or psychological insight I had hoped it would.

May 2018 Wrap-Up

June 2, 2018

Happy June, reader! I feel like I say this every month, but I can’t believe how quickly this year is flying by. May has been a busy, busy month for me (as per usual), but it’s also been a fantastic month in books for me as well! I devoured the third installment in a trilogy I love (The Collector Trilogy by Dot Hutchison), I read a superb Nordic police procedural, and a whole lot more. I’m also about to wrap up a fantastic summer psychological suspense novel - OUR HOUSE by Louise Candlish - but I’ll save that one for my June Wrap-Up, since I still have a few pages of it left! Before we dive into my wrap-up, let’s take a look at a few quick stats from my month in books:

Recommended May 2018 Releases

May 22, 2018

Spring is officially here, folks, and this is great news for us crime readers—because it means a number of really fantastic new releases are upon us, too! This May saw the release of one of my most-anticipated reads of the year (hint: the new Ruth Ware!!), a fantastic serial killer thriller, the paperback reprint of a 2017 release I loved, and more. We’re definitely in the swing of “beach reading” now - even if the weather here hasn’t exactly been beach-friendly just yet! I’m so excited about the books in today’s Recommended Releases post, so let’s dive right in.

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