It’s hard to believe we are already more than halfway through 2021! This year has already delivered truly outstanding crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense books for us to devour, and today I wanted to round up a list of my favorite crime books published in the first half of the year! Whether you’re in the market for a chilling suspense story, a clever locked room mystery, or an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller, this list has a little something for you. From new releases by returning favorites (Riley Sager, C.J. Tudor, Ragnar Jonasson, and more!) to thrilling debuts and new-to-me authors, 2021 has given me some absolutely incredible crime books to sink my teeth into - and I hope that this list will help you find a new favorite crime book or two for yourself, too! As you can imagine it was very difficult to narrow this list down. When making my selections here, I focused on books that I haven’t been able to stop recommending to others and thinking about myself—books that have had the kind of staying power for me that we all look for in favorite reads. The books included on this list were published from January 1, 2021 through July 6, 2021; stay tuned, because I’ll be rounding up a list of my favorite crime books from the second half of 2021 - plus a definitive list of my favorite crime books of the whole year - when 2021 comes to a close. Without further ado, let’s dig into this rundown of my favorite crime books of 2021 so far!
Read MoreCBTB's Top 10 Crime Books of 2021 (So Far)
New Release Tuesday: THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides & BATH HAUS by P.J. Vernon
It’s the best day of the week: new release Tuesday! This week, crime fiction readers will want to clear their TBR lists and their calendars to devour the newest elegant suspense novel by The Silent Patient author Alex Michaelides, and to dive into a twisty, paranoia-inducing thriller by breakout star P.J. Vernon. It’s a huge week for new crime fiction, and to celebrate, I wanted to mix up my review coverage a bit and give you a joint review of my picks for this week’s buzziest new crime fiction: THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides and BATH HAUS by P.J. Vernon. Because when the new releases are this good, why limit yourself to just one?! Without further ado, let’s dive on in to today’s two-for-one book review.
Read MoreJune 2021 Most-Anticipated Crime Books
Summer is almost here, and it’s bringing with it some incredible new crime fiction releases for us to devour! The coming months are jam-packed with amazing crime books, some of which I’ve been lucky enough to read already and others that are still on my personal TBR list. To help you plan your own reading lists, over the next few months I’ll be sharing monthly lists of my personal most-anticipated new crime fiction releases for that respective month. I can’t wait to share these books with you, and I hope they will catch your eye as much as they’ve caught mine! June 2021 kicks off the summer with new releases from bestselling and beloved crime writers Riley Sager and Alex Michaelides, and it also delivers chilling debuts, gripping psychological thrillers, and lots more—everything you need to build a perfect start-of-summer reading list. Read on for my picks for most-anticipated June 2021 crime fiction!
Read MoreCBTB's Most-Anticipated Spring & Summer 2021 Crime Books
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.
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