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.
Read MoreCBTB’s Favorite Crime Fiction Series
My Quarantine Reading List (So Far)
I’ve officially been in lockdown for a full month now, and I thought I’d mark this very odd milestone with a different kind of blog post: a roundup of the crime books I’ve read so far in my time staying home! I’m very fortunate to be able to work from home, which has been keeping me quite busy over the past few weeks—but when I’m not busy working, I’m busy reading. In these crazy times, I’m more thankful than ever before for a great crime book to escape into when I need to clear my head, and the books I’ve been devouring in lockdown have been doing an excellent job of that! My lockdown reading list includes a mixture of upcoming releases and older titles I’m finally making time to read. For any book on this list that hasn’t yet been published, I’ve included two suggestions for books you can dip into right away, just in case you’re in the market for a new quarantine read yourself. As always, happy reading!
Read More8 Recommended Bookish Mysteries & Suspense Novels
What could be better than a crime novel about books? For so many of us bookworms (myself included!), there’s something especially fun about reading a book about books or authors. In today’s blog post, I’m rounding up 8 mystery and suspense novels that deal with exactly that! The books discussed here all relate to the world of books in one way or another. Some of them feature protagonists who are authors or aspiring writers, some have “book within a book” style plots, and all of them will satisfy your desire to dig into some good old bookish intrigue. This is a category of crime novel I personally never tire of, and I hope this list will help you find a book or two that catches your eye, too! Happy reading!
Read MoreCBTB’s Best Psychological Thrillers of 2019
What a year it has been for new crime fiction!! At the end of the year, there’s nothing quite as fun as reflecting on all the incredible books we’ve been able to read thanks to the hard work of so many talented authors. Today I want to kick off a series of “Best of 2019” posts with a roundup of the best psychological thrillers and psychological suspense of the year! This year saw the release of so many exciting new debut novels and the return of tons of CBTB-favorite psychological thriller authors, and I am so excited to share this list with you all. It’s always so challenging to narrow down lists like this, but I had to cut this list off at 11 titles - otherwise I would have kept adding to it forever. Read on for my picks for best psychological thrillers of 2019!
Read MoreBest Scandinavian Crime Novels of 2018
Dark atmospheres, richly developed characters, vivid sense of place, complex plots—these are just a few of the qualities that the Scandinavian crime fiction genre boasts, and they are all qualities that shine in the books I’ve selected for my Best Scandinavian Crime Novels of 2018. As CBTB readers well know, there’s nothing I love more than a really great Nordic crime read, and the Scandinavian books I read in 2018 absolutely blew me away. From new series launches to the return of old favorite characters and everything in between, I loved every moment spent in these books’ pages - and I’m so excited to share them with you today, too! Read on for my favorite Scandinavian crime fiction releases of the year—and make sure you’re all caught up on the best Nordic Noir of 2018 before 2019 arrives!
Read More