Christmas is around the corner, and if youβre a reader who likes to theme your reads to the season, todayβs blog post is for you! I honestly never used to read crime novels specifically themed to particular holidays, but last year (for I think the first time in my reading life?!) I intentionally read a couple of Christmas mysteries during the Christmas seasonβ¦ and I absolutely loved it. Today I wanted to round up 5 mysteries I personally love that all involve Christmasβbut this blog post has a little twist! Todayβs recommendations are organized by how much Christmas actually factors into the bookβs plot. Ranked from Christmas level 1 - 5 (with Level 1 being Christmas in the background of the story, and Level 5 being a full-on, 100% Christmas-y plot!), this list will help you find your perfect Christmas season mystery read!
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RECOMMENDED READING: HALLOWEEN 2022
Itβs the most wonderful time of the year: Halloween season is upon us! I firmly believe that you can read thrillers any time of year, but thereβs something undeniably perfect about digging into a dark, creepy crime novel in the lead-up to Halloween. Honestly, every year I have a little bit of a hard time coming up with a list of Halloween reading recommendations, not because I donβt have enough books to recommendβquite the opposite! Just about every single book Iβve ever talked about here on Crime by the Book could be a great Halloween read, and that can make narrowing down my lists of Halloween reading recommendations really tricky. But Iβm up for the challengeβand Iβm thrilled with how this yearβs reading list turned out! For this yearβs Halloween reading list, Iβm focusing on new (or new-ish!) releasesβprimarily books that have been published in 2022, with a few slightly older releases in the mix, too. Happy reading, and happy haunting!
Read MoreCBTB'S MUST-READ SUMMER 2022 CRIME BOOKS
I have a confession to make: this blog post was originally supposed to be my βMost-Anticipatedβ summer books listβ¦but then life got really busy! Before I knew it, I looked up and it was July, and not only had a bunch of the books on the list already been published, but I realized that I had actually already read all of the books I wanted to include in this list anyway. So instead of making this a βmost-anticipatedβ list, Iβve culled my initial list a little bit and converted it into a βmust-readβ list, highlighting my picks for the best new crime fiction that Summer 2022 has to offer. In a way, I hope that this new format might actually be even more helpful for you; these arenβt just books Iβm anticipating, theyβre all books Iβve read and loved and highly recommend! From returning favorites to new-to-me voices, from twisty psychological thrillers to βbook within a bookβ-style stories and more, Summer 2022 has some absolutely incredible new crime fiction releases in store for us. Whether your idea of a perfect βbeach readβ is a page-turning domestic suspense novel or a dark, visceral horror story, Iβm betting (and hoping!) youβll be able to find it on this list. Without further ado, letβs dive on in to my picks for Summer 2022βs Must-Read Crime Books!
Read MoreCBTB's Favorite Lisa Unger Thrillers
You know that feeling when you start reading a new-to-you author and suddenly canβt believe you never made time to read their work sooner? That was me just a few short years ago when I first began exploring the work of New York Times bestselling thriller writer Lisa Unger. Fast forward a few years, and Lisa has become a go-to psychological suspense author for meβI always know that I can count on her books to deliver major entertainment value, twisty and original plotting, and psychologically-complex characters. If youβre not reading Lisa Unger yet, consider this your official reminder that itβs time to do so! Today happens to be Lisaβs birthday (Happy Birthday, Lisa!!!), and itβs also officially Lisa Unger Day on CBTB! Over on Instagram today, Iβm so honored to be revealing the cover for Lisaβs 2022 release SECLUDED CABIN SLEEPS SIXβa locked-room mystery that centers around a group of friends who rent a luxury cabin the woods for a weekend getawayβ¦and soon discover that a killer might be in their midst. (Yes, this does in fact sound like my perfect thriller, and I simply cannot wait to read it.) Pop on over to Instagram for the inside scoop on the book, and then come back to todayβs blog post for an overview of my personal favorite Lisa Unger thrillers thus far!
Read MoreCBTB'S RECOMMENDED "POPCORN THRILLERS"
We all know how much I love a dark, disturbing crime novelβbut sometimes, even I need something lighter and more escapist. Enter what I like to call βpopcorn thrillers.β Binge-worthy as a bowl of popcorn and brimming with as much entertainment value as your favorite movie, a βpopcorn thrillerβ is one of those irresistible, lighter suspense novels that make for the perfect escapist, one-sitting read. This is an entirely arbitrary category of thriller, but itβs one that youβve probably heard me refer to a lot here on CBTBβand itβs a category that (based on conversations Iβve had with folks in this community!) so many of you seem to really enjoy. Todayβs blog post is exactly what its title says: a place for me to collect my recommendations for βpopcorn thrillers,β and a resource for you to return to when youβre looking for your next read in this category! Iβm keeping this blog post simple: there arenβt any bells & whistles here, simply a running list of βpopcorn thrillersβ that I personally love. Under each bookβs listing, youβll find the publisher-provided descriptive copy for the book, and a buy link so you can check it out for yourself.
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