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5 Recommended Christmas Mysteries

December 11, 2022

Christmas is around the corner, and if you’re a reader who likes to theme your reads to the season, today’s 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 season… and I absolutely loved it. Today I wanted to round up 5 mysteries I personally love that all involve Christmas—but this blog post has a little twist! Today’s recommendations are organized by how much Christmas actually factors into the book’s 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!

Iceland Noir 2022 Festival Journal

November 29, 2022

I can’t believe that this year’s Iceland Noir has already come and gone. If you’ve been around Crime by the Book for a little bit, you already know how much I absolutely love Iceland Noir: a crime fiction festival that takes place in Reykjavik, Iceland in November. Iceland Noir brings together crime fiction readers and writers from Scandinavia and around the world for a long weekend of crime fiction programming, including everything from author panels to spotlight interviews to special events and more. It is an incredible festival, and truly the perfect environment for us crime fiction readers: basically imagine a bunch of likeminded bookworms gathering to celebrate crime fiction in one of the most special cities in the world. Sound amazing? It really is. If you’ve been looking for an excuse to visit Iceland, or if you’re curious about attending a crime fiction festival in the future, I highly recommend adding Iceland Noir to your bucket list. I can’t say enough good things about it! In today’s blog post, I’m recapping my experience at Iceland Noir 2022, including a day-by-day recap of the festival, lots of photos, a rundown of the books I took home from the festival, and more!

Book Review: THE FAMILY GAME by Catherine Steadman

November 7, 2022

Sometimes you just need to read a really fun psychological thriller—and that’s the boat I found myself in last week. After devoting my entire October to-read list to supernatural thrillers for spooky season, I was ready to get back to my psychological suspense roots this month—and ideally, I wanted something that was a little bit more lighthearted and “popcorn-y” for a change of pace. Luckily for me, I had the perfect book for the job waiting on my to-read pile: Catherine Steadman’s brand-new release, THE FAMILY GAME. THE FAMILY GAME is a page-turning suspense story about a writer, her fiancé, and her fiancé's dark family secrets. It was my first time reading a Catherine Steadman novel, and (spoiler alert!) it won’ t be my last. If you loved the movie Ready or Not or Jessica Knoll’s psychological thriller Luckiest Girl Alive, you’ll love Catherine Steadman’s THE FAMILY GAME. Page-turning, fresh, and just the right amount of weird, THE FAMILY GAME is a perfect choice for your winter to-read list. (Bonus: if you celebrate Christmas, this book takes place in the lead-up to the holiday! Plan accordingly.)

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CBTB's Most-Anticipated November 2022 Crime Fiction

November 2, 2022

I honestly can’t believe it’s already November—but I’m not complaining! I (obviously) believe that thrillers and mystery novels can (and should!) be read year-round, but there’s something undeniably perfect about cozying up with a great crime novel as the weather gets colder. This month has an amazing lineup of new crime novels in store for us, and today I’m rounding up my picks for most-anticipated new crime, mystery, and suspense novels publishing in November 2022! This month sees the return of a couple of my longtime favorite authors, plus new installments in Nordic crime series I’m loving, a chilling isolated location thriller, and more. Whether you’re hoping to keep the spooky season Halloween vibes going a little bit longer or are ready to dive into a wintry, chilling crime story, this month’s selection of new releases has you covered. A few of the books on this list I’ve already been lucky enough to read, and the rest of them are all on my personal to-read pile for the weeks ahead—but I’m excited about all of them. Read on for my picks for November most-anticipated crime fiction!

Book Review: CURSE OF THE REAPER by Brian McAuley

October 15, 2022

There’s no better time to watch a slasher movie—or read a slasher book—than October, and if your idea of perfect Halloween entertainment involves villains like Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger, the book I’m recommending today is the Halloween read for you. Brian McAuley’s CURSE OF THE REAPER is a thriller tailor-made for, as his dedication so aptly puts it, the “Halloween people.” Bloody, meta, occasionally self-deprecating, and always wickedly entertaining, CURSE OF THE REAPER draws inspiration from the world of slasher films to tell a delightfully devious tale of an actor, the silver screen villain to which he devoted his entire career, and the grip that villain might just have on him in the real world. This book is all kinds of bloody fun, a perfect Halloween reading choice for anyone who has ever contemplated which Ghostface killer(s) they would be most likely to survive, attended a genre convention, or, yes, set a timer to buy tickets for Halloween Ends the moment they went on sale (guilty on all counts).

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