Itβs 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 youβre 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 havenβt been able to stop recommending to others and thinking about myselfβbooks 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 Iβll 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, letβs dig into this rundown of my favorite crime books of 2021 so far!
Read MoreCBTB's Top 10 Crime Books of 2021 (So Far)
CBTBβs Recommended Locked Room Mysteries
Itβs one of crime fictionβs oldest tropes, and one of its most perennially-appealing, too: a group of individuals find themselves locked in a hotel (or on an island, or in a houseβ¦ you get the idea!), a murderer in their midst. Who among them is the killer? The locked room mystery is an unfailingly entertaining crime fiction subgenre. Clever plots, impossible solutions, red herrings a plentyβthere is so much to love about books that fall into this category, and theyβve been a longtime favorite for me ever since I began reading Agatha Christie novels back in the day! With the recent popularity of locked room-style mysteries including THE GUEST LIST by Lucy Foley and THE SANATORIUM by Sarah Pearse, Iβve been receiving more requests than ever for a blog post dedicated to my personal favorite locked room mystery recommendations. Well, the day is finally here! Iβm thrilled to share my list of Recommended Locked Room Mysteries with CBTB readers today. From Nordic mysteries to modern-day twists on the genre to classics and more, I hope that every reader will find a little something to catch their eye in todayβs blog post.
Read MoreBook Review: THE SANATORIUM by Sarah Pearse
As I write this review, Iβm in a bit of a reading slump, and I blame it entirely on how much I loved Sarah Pearseβs atmospheric, sinister mystery THE SANATORIUM. This debut novel blends elements of Gothic suspense with a locked room mystery set in the Swiss Alps, and the result is an irresistible, just-one-more-page thriller perfect for your next wintry read. Selected as Reese Witherspoonβs February book club pick, Pearseβs debut novel delivers all the atmosphere, chilling intrigue, and hair-raising suspense that I hoped for and more. Following a woman who has recently taken a leave of absence from her work as a detective, THE SANATORIUM pits an unwitting group of individuals against a shadowy killer who appears to be at work in a high-end, minimalist hotel nestled in the Swiss Alps. When a snowstorm cuts off access to and from the hotel, itβs up to protagonist Elin to investigate a series of disturbing occurrences within the hotel, and get to the bottom of the case before anyone else gets hurt. What begins as a slow-burning suspense story gradually builds to a thriller that will have you up all night turning its pages. Sarah Pearseβs atmospheric, detail-oriented writing brings this sinister story to life, immersing readers in the beautiful-yet-unsettling world of sanatorium-turned-hotel Le Sommetβand all the deadly secrets hidden within its walls. Enter the world of THE SANATORIUM: you wonβt want to leave, which is lucky, because you just might not be able to. THE SANATORIUM is a superb debut mystery novel, and Iβm already looking forward to seeing what this author writes next.
Read MoreCBTB's Most-Anticipated Early 2021 Crime Books
A new year is upon us, and itβs bringing with it some very exciting new crime, mystery, and thriller releases to devour! In todayβs blog post, Iβm rounding up my most-anticipated crime fiction releases publishing between January and March 2021. A few of these books Iβve already been fortunate enough to read, and the others are all on my TBR list as we head into the new year! From new psychological thrillers to suspense novels with horror movie-worthy plots to Nordic Noir and more, the first few months of 2021 have so many thrilling reads in store for us, and I hope this list will help you find a new book (or two, or three!) to look forward to in the coming months!
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