There are so many talented crime writers at work today, but there’s no one quite like Ruth Ware. Ruth Ware has been a staple of Crime by the Book since I first began my Instagram and blog—her debut novel was published just a few weeks after I launched my Instagram account, and it was one of the first I photographed for my Instagram, too! (Spot the very early CBTB-Instagram photo above!) Her books will always hold a special place in my heart, but nostalgia isn’t the only reason I’m such a die-hard Ruth Ware fan. Ruth Ware is one of those authors whose writing just consistently works for me. Picking up a new Ruth Ware book is, for me, the ultimate pleasure: it’s an instant-escape, and a return to a writing style that never fails to captivate me and sweep me up in a thrilling, page-turning mystery. Ware has been called “the Agatha Christie of our generation” (by David Baldacci, no less!), and that very high praise is so well-deserved. Ware’s books feature an irresistible blend of the old and the new, crafting clever crime stories that would make the Queen of Crime proud. In today’s blog post, I’ll be walking you through Ruth Ware’s books—including a general overview of why I love her crime stories, what kind of reader I think will best appreciate each of her books, and a little glimpse into her 2020 release, too! Ruth Ware is one of my absolute favorite authors, and I hope this blog post will encourage you to give her work a try. Read on for my guide to Ruth Ware’s thrillers!
Read More
Best Psychological Thrillers of 2018
Twisty plots, unreliable characters, binge-worthy pacing—there’s so much to love about a really good psychological thriller, and 2018 gifted us crime readers with tons of excellent options to add to our reading lists. Over the course of the year, we saw fantastic new releases from longstanding authors to debut authors and everyone in between; we immersed ourselves in psychological thrillers laced with gothic suspense, creepy summer camps, murderous family members, and, yes, even beetle collecting. There truly was a fantastic variety of psychological suspense released in 2018—and today on the blog I’m rounding up my very favorite psychological thrillers of the year! Read on for my picks for twisty, addictive, page-turning 2018 suspense.
Read More
CBTB's Weekend Checklist - 5/25/18
Happy Friday, reader!! I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for this long weekend. I have a nice big TBR set to keep me company, and I’m so excited to dig into it! Today’s blog post is my second Weekend Checklist; I was thrilled by your response to my first-ever Checklist last week, and hope you’ll love this post, too! Read on for the crime fiction binge-reads and other crime-y entertainment I’m recommending for this Memorial Day weekend.
Read More
Recommended May 2018 Releases
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.
Read More
February 2018 Wrap-Up
Another bookish month down! I can’t believe how quickly this February has flown by. It was a great month in books for me! I managed to read 5 full-length novels and one novella this February… and I genuinely enjoyed all of them. This month was heavy on psychological suspense for me, and included a chilling boarding school mystery, a twisted serial killer story, and, perhaps most exciting of all, the new Ruth Ware book!
Read More