Most-Anticipated Spring & Summer 2021 Crime Books
Must-Read Crime Books Publishing April - August 2021
Is it a little bit early to be talking about summer crime fiction releases? Maybe… though I don’t know about you, but I for one am already eagerly anticipating summer and all that it will bring with it! It’s been a long year since the pandemic began, and I will take any and every excuse to look forward to the future - including looking forward to future crime fiction releases. In that spirit, rather than doing separate Spring 2021 and Summer 2021 Most-Anticipated lists, I decided to combine them both into one massive rundown of the upcoming crime fiction releases that I’m most looking forward to in the coming months! Some of these books I have been fortunate enough to read already, others are waiting for me on my TBR pile, and others I’ve got on pre-order - but all of these books are on my wishlist as we look towards the months ahead. Whether you’re in the mood for light psychological suspense, gritty noir, creepy thrills, or anything in between, there’s a little something on this list for everyone! Grab a cup of coffee and dig into my picks for Most-Anticipated Spring & Summer 2021 Crime Books. For ease of reference, and to help you plan your own summer TBR list, this list is organized by publication month and date.
This blog post contains affiliate links. Crime by the Book may earn a small commission for items ordered through these links.
CBTB’s Most-Anticipated Spring & Summer 2021 Crime Books
APRIL
HER THREE LIVES by Cate Holahan
Available April 20, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Cate Holahan is a hidden gem in the thriller world, and her new suspense novel HER THREE LIVES delivers all the entertainment value and clever plotting I’ve come to rely on in her books. I was lucky enough to read an early copy of this book last month, and I loved it! This is a “popcorn thriller” through and through, and it’s a story that will have you checking over your shoulder while you read. HER THREE LIVES is one of those psychological suspense novels where you truly become suspicious of everyone over the course of the story; it’s twisty, page-turning, and deliciously sinister.
About the Book:
Gaslight goes high-tech in USA Today bestselling author Cate Holahan's new standalone thriller in which a family must determine who the real enemy is after a brutal home invasion breaks their trust in each other.
Her public life
Jade Thompson has it all. She’s an up-and-coming social media influencer, and she has a beautiful new home and a successful architect for a fiancé. But there’s trouble behind the scenes. To Greg’s children, his divorce from their mother and his new life can only mean a big mid-life crisis. To Jade, his suburban Connecticut upbringing isn’t an easy match with her Caribbean roots.
Her private life
A savage home invasion leaves Greg house-bound with a traumatic brain injury and glued to the live feeds from his ubiquitous security cameras. As the police investigate the crime and Greg’s frustration and rage grows, Jade begins to wonder what he may know about their attackers. And whether they are coming back.
Her secret life
As Greg watches Jade’s comings and goings, he becomes convinced that her behavior is suspicious and that she’s hiding a big secret. The more he sees, the more he wonders whether the break-in was really a random burglary. And whether he’s worth more to Jade if he were dead than alive.
MAY
THE GIRL WHO DIED by Ragnar Jonasson
Available May 4, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Ragnar Jonasson is one of my longtime favorite Nordic crime writers, and this spring, his first-ever standalone novel will be published in the US! This chilling, atmospheric novel is quite a departure from Ragnar’s previous detective novels; in this creepy suspense story, Ragnar explores the dark secrets of a tiny town where something spooky might be going on. THE GIRL WHO DIED blends some of the best qualities of Ragnar’s previous books with a story that stakes new ground for this talented crime writer, and it’s a must-read for fans of both Scandinavian suspense and fans of suspense that blurs the line between supernatural thrills and earthly scares.
About the Book:
From Ragnar Jónasson, the award-winning author of the international bestselling Ari Thór series, The Girl Who Died is a standalone thriller about a young woman seeking a new start in a secluded village where a small community is desperate to protect its secrets.
Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the World
Una wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. Her savings are depleted, her love life is nonexistent, and she cannot face another winter staring at the four walls of her shabby apartment. Celebrating Christmas and ringing in 1986 in the remote fishing hamlet of Skálar seems like a small price to pay for a chance to earn some teaching credentials and get her life back on track.
But Skálar isn’t just one of Iceland’s most isolated villages, it is home to just ten people. Una’s only students are two girls aged seven and nine. Teaching them only occupies so many hours in a day and the few adults she interacts with are civil but distant. She only seems to connect with Thór, a man she shares an attraction with but who is determined to keep her at arm’s length.
As darkness descends throughout the bleak winter, Una finds herself more often than not in her rented attic space—the site of a local legendary haunting—drinking her loneliness away. She is plagued by nightmares of a little girl in a white dress singing a lullaby. And when a sudden tragedy echoes an event long buried in Skálar’s past, the villagers become even more guarded, leaving a suspicious Una seeking to uncover a shocking truth that’s been kept secret for generations.
THE PLOT by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Available May 11, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
I absolutely love crime books that deal with authors and the literary world, and if that sounds like your cup of tea as well, Jean Hanff Korelitz’s THE PLOT will be well worth checking out this summer! Jean Hanff Korelitz is also the author of YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, which was recently adapted into the hit limited series The Undoing, which makes me extra excited to see what THE PLOT is like.
About the Book:
Hailed as "breathtakingly suspenseful," Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot is a propulsive read about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it.
Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written―let alone published―anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.
Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that―a story that absolutely needs to be told.
In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.
As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing” of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?
THE HUNTING WIVES by May Cobb
Available May 18, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
I’ve been saving my advance copy of THE HUNTING WIVES for a rainy day when I need a purely fun suspense novel to dig into - I can’t wait to give this one a try! I’ve heard it compared to Desperate Housewives (yes please!), and can’t wait to get into this juicy, dramatic thriller. This book has “popcorn thriller” written all over it, and looks perfect for a poolside read as the weather warms up.
About the Book:
The Hunting Wives share more than target practice, martinis, and bad behavior in this novel of obsession, seduction, and murder.
Sophie O'Neill left behind an envy-inspiring career and the stressful, competitive life of big-city Chicago to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. It seems like the perfect life with a beautiful home in an idyllic rural community. But Sophie soon realizes that life is now too quiet, and she's feeling bored and restless.
Then she meets Margot Banks, an alluring socialite who is part of an elite clique secretly known as the Hunting Wives. Sophie finds herself completely drawn to Margot and swept into her mysterious world of late-night target practice and dangerous partying. As Sophie's curiosity gives way to full-blown obsession, she slips farther away from the safety of her family and deeper into this nest of vipers.
When the body of a teenage girl is discovered in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet, Sophie finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and her life spiraling out of control.
JUNE
THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides
Available June 15, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Alex Michaelides’ massively bestselling debut novel THE SILENT PATIENT was a personal favorite of mine when I read it a couple of years ago, and I have been eagerly anticipating his sophomore novel ever since! I’m happy to report that THE MAIDENS is just as compelling a thriller as was THE SILENT PATIENT - if anything, this book is better. What begins as a slow-burning story turns into an increasingly sinister and immersive tale of murder, mythology, and secret societies at a university. Pick this one up if you love dark academia and sophisticated suspense.
About the Book:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient comes a spellbinding tale of psychological suspense, weaving together Greek mythology, murder, and obsession, that further cements “Michaelides as a major player in the field” (Publishers Weekly).
Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike―particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.
Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?
When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything―including her own life.
BATH HAUS by P.J. Vernon
Available June 15, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Love twisty, tense psychological thrillers? P.J. Vernon’s BATH HAUS is poised to deliver one of the most shocking, thrilling suspense stories of the summer! I’ve been eagerly anticipating this book ever since a reader whose opinion I really trust told me that he felt this book comes as close to delivering GONE GIRL-level thrills as any book he’s read in years. On a superficial level, I also love this book’s cover - I know we’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, but I can’t help it when the cover is this good! BATH HAUS is already garnering lots of buzz, and I can’t wait to read it.
About the Book:
Oliver Park, a recovering addict from Indiana, finally has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent DC trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they've made a perfect life together. With everything to lose, Oliver shouldn't be visiting Haus, a gay bathhouse. But through the entrance he goes, and it's a line crossed. Inside, he follows a man into a private room, and it's the final line. Whatever happens next, Nathan can never know. But then, everything goes wrong, terribly wrong, and Oliver barely escapes with his life.
He races home in full-blown terror as the hand-shaped bruise grows dark on his neck. The truth will destroy Nathan and everything they have together, so Oliver does the thing he used to do so well: he lies.
What follows is a classic runaway-train narrative, full of the exquisite escalations, edge-of-your-seat thrills, and oh-my-god twists. P. J. Vernon's Bath Haus is a scintillating thriller with an emotional punch, perfect for readers curious for their next must-read novel.
HOSTAGE by Clare Mackintosh
Available June 22, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Clare Mackintosh has been a CBTB staple practically since this blog’s inception! An advance copy of Clare’s debut novel I LET YOU GO was included in the first-ever package of “bookmail” that I received from a publisher, and I’ve been a huge fan of hers ever since. Clare recently took a break from thriller writing, but she is back this summer with a seriously inventive-looking new thriller: a story that takes a “locked room”-style premise and sets it inside an airplane. HOSTAGE looks thrilling, tense, and totally page-turning; I was honored to reveal the cover for this book a few months ago, and so look forward to seeing what Clare Mackintosh does in her newest thriller release.
About the Book:
A claustrophobic thriller set over twenty hours on one airplane flight, with the heart-stopping tension of The Last Flight and the wrenching emotional intensity of Room, Hostage takes us on board the inaugural nonstop flight from London to Sydney.
Mina is trying to focus on her job as a flight attendant, not the problems of her five-year-old daughter back home, or the fissures in her marriage. But the plane has barely taken off when Mina receives a chilling note from an anonymous passenger, someone intent on ensuring the plane never reaches its destination. Someone who needs Mina's assistance and who knows exactly how to make her comply. It's twenty hours to landing. A lot can happen in twenty hours.
SURVIVE THE NIGHT by Riley Sager
Available June 29, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Let’s be honest, I’m going to be excited for any new Riley Sager book - he is one of my favorite authors, after all! But his 2021 release SURVIVE THE NIGHT is my favorite Sager book yet; I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of this one a couple months ago, and it absolutely blew me away. This book pits a classic Sager heroine against a man who might just be a serial killer. It’s got relentless tension, impeccable movie references that will delight film buffs, and a wildly clever plot that left me stunned by the book’s end.
About the Book:
It’s November 1991. George H. W. Bush is in the White House, Nirvana's in the tape deck, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer.
Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it’s guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it’s to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she’s named after, Charlie has her doubts. There’s something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn’t seem to want Charlie to see inside the car’s trunk. As they travel an empty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly worried Charlie begins to think she’s sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie’s suspicion merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?
What follows is a game of cat and mouse played out on night-shrouded roads and in neon-lit parking lots, during an age when the only call for help can be made on a pay phone and in a place where there's nowhere to run. In order to win, Charlie must do one thing—survive the night.
JULY
SILVER TEARS by Camilla Lackberg
Available July 6, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Long before I began CBTB, I became completely obsessed with Camilla Lackberg’s Swedish mysteries. Fast forward a number of years, and, in an amazing twist of fate, the publishing company I now work for acquired Camilla’s psychological thriller novels THE GOLDEN CAGE and its follow-up, SILVER TEARS. These books are not your typical Scandinavian crime fiction. They are sexy, thrilling revenge stories, brimming with glitz, glamour, and murder. I’m so excited for SILVER TEARS to be out in the world this summer - it’s tons of wicked fun.
About the Book:
In this bold, mesmerizing story of seduction, deceit, and female power, a woman’s secret cannot stay buried forever.
Faye Adelheim is living a delicious lie. She is wealthy beyond imagination, she is the Chairman of her self-made global cosmetics brand, and her ex-husband, the monster who killed her beloved daughter Julienne, is living out the remainder of his days behind bars. But unbeknownst to journalists, police officers, and investors, and even the lovers she occasionally invites to her bed, Faye has a secret: her daughter is, in fact, alive and well and so is her mother, the woman Faye’s father was sentenced for allegedly killing years ago. Together, three generations of women have survived in hiding from the men who sought to destroy them. But unfortunately for Faye, cages are meant to be opened, pillow talk can lead to betrayal, and secrets always end in tears.
RAZORBLADE TEARS by S.A. Cosby
Available July 6, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
S.A. Cosby, author of the acclaimed novel BLACKTOP WASTELAND, returns this summer with his newest gritty noir thriller RAZORBLADE TEARS. This book looks poised to deliver a perfect blend of action, thrills, and emotional insight, exploring topics including fatherhood, masculinity, racism, redemption, and much more, all wrapped up in a gripping thriller package. This one is sure to be one of summer’s biggest crime novels - pre-order your copy today of one of the books everyone will be talking about this July!
About the Book:
A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.
Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.
The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.
Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.
Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.
Provocative and fast-paced, S. A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change - and maybe even redemption.
PEOPLE LIKE THEM by Samira Sedira
Available July 6, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
For readers who love literary fiction and want a literary/crime crossover novel, Samira Sedira’s PEOPLE LIKE THEM might just be your perfect summer read. This work of literary suspense explores social and racial tensions in a tiny, insular French village. It is the author’s first novel to be translated into English, and has already been earning comparisons to Leila Slimani’s acclaimed literary suspense novel THE PERFECT NANNY. PEOPLE LIKE THEM looks poised to deliver an impactful, chilling reading experience this summer.
About the Book:
The Perfect Nanny meets Little Fires Everywhere in this intense psychological suspense novel inspired by a true story about a couple in an insular French village whose lives are upended when a family of outsiders moves in.
“Everything started one Saturday in July of 2015…”
Anna and Constant Guillot live with their two daughters in the peaceful, remote mountain village of Carmac, largely deaf to the upheavals of the outside world. Everyone in Carmac knows each other, and most of its residents look alike–until Bakary and Sylvia Langlois arrive with their three children.
Wealthy and flashy, the family of five are outsiders in the small town, their impressive chalet and three expensive cars a stark contrast to the modesty of those of their neighbors. Despite their differences, the Langlois and the Guillots form an uneasy, ambiguous friendship. But when both families begin experiencing financial troubles, the underlying class and racial tensions of their relationship come to a breaking point, and the unthinkable happens.
With piercing psychological insight and gripping storytelling, People Like Them asks: How could a seemingly “normal” person commit an atrocious crime? How could that person’s loved ones ever come to terms with it afterward? And how well can you really know your own spouse?
THE LORDS OF TIME by Eva García Sáenz
Available July 6, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Eva García Sáenz’s outstanding white City Trilogy is one of my favorite new-to-me crime fiction discoveries. I fell head over heels in love with this trilogy’s outstanding first installment, THE SILENCE OF THE WHITE CITY, when I read it last summer; though I haven’t read the trilogy’s second installment yet (I just purchased it this past Friday, in fact!), I already know that this entire trilogy will be a must-read for me. If you love intricate crime plots, chilling serial killer stories, and crime books that incorporate elements of local history and lore, Eva García Sáenz’s trilogy is a must-read for you.
About the Book:
The third novel in the internationally bestselling White City Trilogy sees Kraken on the hunt for a murderer whose macabre crimes are lifted straight from history.
Kraken is enjoying life as a family man, content to spend his days with Alba and their young daughter Deba. But there’s no rest for the weary, especially when you’re the most famous investigator in Vitoria. Kraken and Esti are charged with investigating the mysterious disappearance of two sisters and finding it hard to make any headway when a wealthy businessman’s murder appears to shine a light on the case. The man was poisoned with a medieval aphrodisiac–a crime that has eerie similarities to one detailed in the novel everyone in Vitoria is buzzing about. When the two sisters are discovered trapped behind a wall–bricked up alive–the parallels to the novel are undeniable. With the author’s identity a closely held secret, will Kraken be able to track down the killer before they can strike again? Or will Vitoria’s sordid underworld finally break Kraken, and his family, apart.
FOR YOUR OWN GOOD by Samantha Downing
Available July 20, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
As a rule, Samantha Downing’s books are tons of wicked fun, and her 2021 release FOR YOUR OWN GOOD is my favorite book of hers yet! I was lucky enough to read an early copy of this one, and I went into it planning to just dip in and sample it… and before I knew it, I had read half the book in one sitting. FOR YOUR OWN GOOD has so many qualities to it that I absolutely loved: an academic setting, a wildly unlikeable narrator who you’ll love to hate, and a plot that delivers a gripping “whydunnit.” This book is simply so much diabolical fun.
About the Book:
USA Today bestselling author Samantha Downing is back with her latest sneaky thriller set at a prestigious private school—complete with interfering parents, overeager students, and one teacher who just wants to teach them all a lesson…
Teddy Crutcher has won Teacher of the Year at the prestigious Belmont Academy, home to the best and brightest.
He says his wife couldn’t be more proud—though no one has seen her in a while.
Teddy really can’t be bothered with a few mysterious deaths on campus that’re looking more and more like murder or the student digging a little too deep into Teddy’s personal life. His main focus is pushing these kids to their full academic potential.
All he wants is for his colleagues—and the endlessly meddlesome parents—to stay out of his way. If not, well, they’ll get what they deserve.
It’s really too bad that sometimes excellence can come at such a high cost.
THE OTHER PASSENGER by Louise Candlish
Available July 20, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
It’s been a little while since author Louise Candlish had a new book published in the US, and I am so excited to dig into her 2021 release! Louise Candlish, author of OUR HOME, returns this July with a new twisty psychological suspense novel about a commuter whose friend disappears under mysterious circumstances. Candlish’s novels are perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell, and I’m betting this one will be a deliciously entertaining summer “popcorn thriller”!
About the Book:
The “queen of the sucker-punch twist” (Ruth Ware, #1 New York Times bestselling author) and author of Our House weaves “a stunning masterwork of style and suspense” (Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author) about a commuter who becomes a suspect in his friend’s mysterious disappearance. Perfect for fans of the unputdownable page-turners by Christina McDonald and Lisa Jewell.
It all happens so quickly. One day you’re living the dream, commuting to work by ferry with your charismatic neighbor Kit in the seat beside you. The next, Kit hasn’t turned up for the boat and his wife, Melia, has reported him missing.
When you get off at your stop, the police are waiting. Another passenger saw you and Kit arguing on the boat home the night before and the police say that you had a reason to want him dead. You protest. You and Kit are friends—ask Melia, she’ll vouch for you. And who exactly is this other passenger pointing the finger? What do they know about your lives?
No, whatever danger followed you home last night, you are innocent, totally innocent
Aren’t you?
AUGUST
THE TURNOUT by Megan Abbott
Available August 3, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
If I’m being totally honest, I’ve been a little bit obsessed with stories involving ballet ever since I watched the recent Netflix adaptation of TINY PRETTY THINGS by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton. That acclaimed crime writer Megan Abbott happens to be publishing a psychological thriller set in the world of ballet this summer is absolutely perfect timing to feed my newfound obsession. Award-winning author Abbott delves into the tense, competitive world of a family-run ballet studio in THE TURNOUT - this one looks like it will be riveting.
About the Book:
Bestselling and award-winning author Megan Abbott's revelatory and mesmerizing new novel set against the hothouse of a family-run ballet studio.
With their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since birth. Growing up, they were homeschooled and trained by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents' death in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters began running the school together, along with Charlie, Dara's husband and once their mother's prized student. Marie, warm and soft, teaches the younger students; Dara, with her precision, trains the older ones; and Charlie, back broken after years of injuries, rules over the back office. Circling around one another, the three have perfected a dance, six days a week, that keeps the studio thriving. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school's annual performance of The Nutcracker—a season of competition, anxiety, and exhilaration—an interloper arrives and threatens the sisters' delicate balance.
Taut and unnerving, The Turnout is Megan Abbott at the height of her game. With uncanny insight and hypnotic writing, it is a sharp and strange dissection of family ties and sexuality, femininity and power, and a tale that is both alarming and irresistible.
IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE by Ashley Winstead
Available August 3, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
Give me a psychological thriller set against an academic backdrop any day of the week. Ashley Winstead’s IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE first caught my eye because of its amazing title - I was instantly intrigued, and had to learn more! Then I saw that this book has been praised by Riley Sager, and that it involves a group of friends, a long-buried secret, and a university setting, and I was sold. This one is giving me some Pretty Little Liars vibes, and I can’t wait to read it.
About the Book:
Six friends.
One college reunion.
One unsolved murder.
Ten years after graduation, Jessica Miller has planned her triumphant return to her southern, elite Duquette University, down to the envious whispers that are sure to follow in her wake. Everyone is going to see the girl she wants them to see—confident, beautiful, indifferent. Not the girl she was when she left campus, back when Heather Shelby's murder fractured everything, including the tight bond linking the six friends she'd been closest to since freshman year.
But not everyone is ready to move on. Not everyone left Duquette ten years ago, and not everyone can let Heather's murder go unsolved. Someone is determined to trap the real killer, to make the guilty pay. When the six friends are reunited, they will be forced to confront what happened that night—and the years' worth of secrets each of them would do anything to keep hidden.
Told in racing dual timelines, with a dark campus setting and a darker look at friendship, love, obsession, and ambition, In My Dreams I Hold A Knife is an addictive, propulsive read you won't be able to put down.
56 DAYS by Catherine Ryan Howard
Available August 17, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
One of the best things to happen to my reading life over the past year-ish has been my discovery of Irish crime writer Catherine Ryan Howard’s work. The author of THE NOTHING MAN and REWIND returns this summer with her newest work of psychological suspense, and I am not-so-patiently waiting to get my hands on a copy of this one! Catherine Ryan Howard’s books are always defined by truly unique and creative premises and storytelling structures, and I can’t wait to see what she does with this psychological suspense novel set against the backdrop of Covid and lockdowns. I’m betting this will be one of my favorite books of 2021!
About the Book:
No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead.
56 DAYS AGO
Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the same week COVID-19 reaches Irish shores.
35 DAYS AGO
When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who—and what—he really is.
TODAY
Detectives arrive at Oliver’s apartment to discover a decomposing body inside.
Can they determine what really happened, or has lockdown created an opportunity for someone to commit the perfect crime?
THE GUILT TRIP by Sandie Jones
Available August 17, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
If you love lighter suspense and “popcorn thrillers,” Sandie Jones is a must-read for you! Sandie’s books fall within the domestic suspense space, and her new book THE GUILT TRIP looks deliciously twisty and lots of fun. There have been a number of psychological suspense books recently involving weddings and honeymoons, and I’m absolutely loving this trend - and I can’t wait to see what kind of unique spin Sandie puts on this in her newest release! THE GUILT TRIP takes place against the backdrop of a gorgeous destination wedding in Portugal, and looks like a great choice for a beach read this summer.
About the Book:
In the vein of The Other Woman, Sandie Jones’s explosive new novel The Guilt Trip will have readers gripped to the very last page.
Six friends.
Rachel and Noah have been friends since they met at university. While they once thought that they might be something more, now, twenty years later, they are each happily married to other people, Jack and Paige respectively. Jack’s brother Will is getting married, to the dazzling, impulsive Ali, and the group of six travel to Portugal for their destination weekend.
Three couples.
As they arrive at a gorgeous villa perched on a cliff-edge, overlooking towering waves that crash on the famous surfing beaches below at Nazaré, they try to settle into a weekend of fun. While Rachel is looking forward to getting to know her future sister-in-law Ali better, Ali can’t help but rub many of the group up the wrong way: Rachel’s best friend Paige thinks Ali is attention-seeking and childish, and while Jack is trying to support his brother Will’s choice of wife, he is also finding plenty to disagree with Noah about.
One fatal misunderstanding . . .
But when Rachel discovers something about Ali that she can hardly believe, everything changes. As the wedding weekend unfolds, the secrets each of them hold begin to spill, and friendships and marriages threaten to unravel. Soon, jumping to conclusions becomes the difference between life and death.
A SLOW FIRE BURNING by Paula Hawkins
Available August 31, 2021
Why I’m Excited:
This one needs almost no explanation! Paula Hawkins, author of the sensational thriller THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, is back this summer with a book that looks twisty, gripping, and razor-sharp. I was so honored to participate in the cover reveal for this book, and I’ve been counting down the days to its release ever since. A SLOW FIRE BURNING will without a doubt be one of the suspense novels that everyone is talking about this summer.
About the Book:
With the same propulsion that captivated millions of readers worldwide in The Girl on the Train and Into the Water, Paula Hawkins unfurls a gripping, twisting story of deceit, murder, and revenge.
When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the victim’s home. Carla is his grief-stricken aunt, already mourning the recent death of yet another family member. And Miriam is the nosy neighbor clearly keeping secrets from the police. Three women with separate connections to the victim. Three women who are – for different reasons – simmering with resentment. Who are, whether they know it or not, burning to right the wrongs done to them. When it comes to revenge, even good people might be capable of terrible deeds. How far might any one of them go to find peace? How long can secrets smolder before they explode into flame?
Look what you started.
Home ownership feel like a distant dream? Zillow listings have you convinced you’ll be renting for the rest of your life? The woman at the heart of Carissa Orlando’s debut The September House feels your pain—and she’s prepared to put up with a lot if it means she and her husband can finally have a place to call their own. In this case, that might just mean living in a house that’s haunted. Playful and irreverent, spine-tingling and spooky, The September House puts a fresh spin on the classic haunted house story, delivering an immersive tale about the secrets lurking within one building’s walls, and within the lives of its inhabitants.