A Taylor Swift–esque pop star is blindsided by the discovery of her high school best friend’s corpse in this powerhouse sophomore effort from Layden (All Girls). Dylan Read is a chart-topping, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter famous for her diaristic lyrics. The only major life event she hasn’t written about is the disappearance of her friend Kelsey Copestenke, who taught Dylan songwriting and seemed destined for greatness. Kelsey was known to be somewhat reckless, so when she vanished during the girls’ junior year of high school in Upstate New York, the search was perfunctory; many people assumed she’d simply decamped to Nashville. Fifteen years later, tourists discover Kelsey’s remains in a lake near her hometown. When she hears the news, Dylan thinks she knows when and why Kelsey died, and blames herself—but after she attends the memorial service, she starts to suspect there’s more to the story. Leyden skillfully intercuts Dylan’s search for answers with sections chronicling her friendship with Kelsey and the evolution of her career. Authentic characters and Dylan’s lyrical first-person narration bestow the proceedings with dimension, drama, and drive. Megan Abbott fans will devour this. Agent: Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Co. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Penzler follows up 2023’s Golden Age Bibliomysteries with another stellar anthology that places stories from the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Stephen Vincent Bénet beside works from the biggest names in 1920s and ’30s detective fiction. Bénet impresses with “The Amateur of Crime,” an ingenious closed-circle puzzle about a college student who uses his obsession with crime stories to help solve a murder. Impossible crime master Clayton Rawson makes a major impression in just four pages with “The Clue of the Tattooed Man,” in which the Great Merlini solves one of his trickiest cases. “The Dance”—one of only two mystery stories Fitzgerald wrote—is another highlight, blending his gift for social satire (the protagonist fears small towns because “there was a whole series of secret implications, significances and terrors, just below the surface, of which I knew nothing”) with a frisky crime plot. Other entries, from genre fiction maestros including Fredric Brown and Ellery Queen, are up to par; there’s not a weak link in the bunch. For classic mystery fans, this is a must. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

The murder of a teenage girl shakes up the sleepy town of Fairhill, Vt., in bestseller Lapena’s captivating latest (after Everyone Here Is Lying). After farmer Roy Ressler notices vultures circling his crops one morning, he discovers the naked corpse of 17-year-old Diana Brewer. Bright, pretty, and popular, Diana had no known enemies, leaving a glaring question at the center of the tragedy: who could possibly want Fairhill’s golden girl dead? Cycling through a laundry list of viewpoints—including multiple suspects, Diana’s family members, and the ghost of Diana herself—Lapena illustrates how the murder causes parents to cast suspicion on their children, teachers to come under fire, and decades-long relationships to fracture. Gym teacher Brad Turner fears Diana’s death will dredge up his own secrets; when construction worker Joe Prior gets called in for questioning, he worries his past might be catching up to him. What begins as a straightforward mystery gradually blooms into a portrait of a community coming apart at the seams. While the secrets-of-a-small-town themes aren’t exactly novel, Lapena’s richly drawn characters and gift for suspense give them new life. It’s gripping stuff. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Podolski debuts with a tense crime drama centered on Rick Carter, a recruiter of expert criminals who must save his family after a job goes sideways. Rick’s troubles begin when a Belgian mob boss named Trish threatens to kill him if he refuses to oversee hits on six law enforcement officers across the globe. Reluctantly, Rick gets to work, but he’s jolted when he realizes that one of the targets—a Philadelphia police detective—is his ex-wife’s new husband. Refusing to help kill his children’s stepfather, Rick tries to back out, and Trish makes good on her promise, unleashing two assassins to hunt him down. That sends Rick on a mad dash to protect the family he abandoned in New Jersey 10 years earlier, and he draws on his network of nefarious associates to throw his pursuers off the trail. Though some of Rick’s hand-wringing grows maudlin, for the most part Podolski nails it on his first go-round, delivering a page-turner with sharp dialogue and a memorable protagonist. Here’s hoping readers hear more from Rick soon. Agent: Daniel Milaschewski, UTA. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Two swindling besties get in over their heads in this effervescent caper from Amy, who writes the Marion Lane historical mysteries as T.A. Willberg. After an ugly breakup, shy Emma Oxley reunites with her brash childhood best friend, Nellie Yarrow, who convinces her to cut a champagne-drenched swath through the grand hotels and exclusive clubs of Europe, stealing luxury goods from bad men along the way. They swear only to rob from those they believe deserve much worse, and soon develop a reputation as some of the most squeaky-clean purveyors of stolen goods on the dark web. But when a mysterious man kidnaps Nellie, then blackmails Emma into stealing a priceless bracelet from a museum exhibit, she might have to break her own rules of conduct. As Emma attempts to appease, then track down, Nellie’s kidnappers, she gets tangled in a dangerous web of criminal activity, and must turn to some of the men she’s swindled for help extricating herself. With plenty of gleaming locales to satisfy armchair travelers and an engrossing crime plot to boot, this has the makings of a series. Fans of Janet Evanovich and Elle Cosimano will be pleased. Agent: Hayley Steed, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Young (the Vernetta Henderson series) and Smith (The Unkind Hours) team up for a breezy if forgettable series launch starring Los Angeles PIs Mackenzie Cunningham and Jackson Jones. Princeton grad Mackenzie runs her operation out of an Inglewood strip mall, while Jackson’s swanky Century City office has sweeping views of Beverly Hills. Both young, Black, and talented, Mackenzie and Jackson consider each other friendly rivals. After shady lawyer Raymond Patterson independently hires each of them to track down Ashley Cross, the 24-year-old daughter of one of his clients, they cross paths during their respective investigations and reluctantly join forces, though Jackson’s smug superiority threatens to derail their alliance. Soon, they learn that Patterson has hired a third PI to find Ashley. After that investigator turns up dead, Mackenzie and Jackson are set up to take the fall, and they realize they have something far more sinister than a missing-person case on their hands. Young and Smith have fun writing Mackenzie and Jackson’s dueling voices, but the plot provides precious few surprises. Readers are unlikely to clamor for a sequel. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

A family of Laguna Beach surfers prepare for the high-stakes competition that killed their patriarch in Edgar winner Parker’s outstanding latest (after The Rescue). Twenty-five years ago, John Stonebreaker died during the Monsters of the Mavericks surfing contest off the coast of Northern California. Now, his widow, Jen, and their twin sons, Brock and Casey—all world-class surfers in their own right—are getting ready to enter the same event. In the weeks leading up to the competition, all three face down individual conflicts: restaurateur Jen struggles to let go of John’s death, seafood supplier Casey seeks to untangle himself from an illegal fish-smuggling operation, and progressive church minister Brock deals with increasingly violent threats from a local white supremacist group. Each subplot comes to a crescendo at the surf competition, which Parker brings to vivid life. Though there’s plenty of suspense, danger, and illicit activity on offer, the novel’s focus is squarely on the Stonebreaker clan, whose bonds and fractures prove utterly riveting in Parker’s hands. This ranks among the author’s best. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Kirsanow’s static second contribution to Griffin’s Men at War series (after The Devil’s Weapons) sees U.S. Army major Richard Canidy and lieutenant Eric Fulmar heading off a pair of assassination plots. In 1943, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin travel to Tehran to discuss war plans. As the heads of state prepare to convene, the U.S. gets word that a German SS officer and a Russian NKVD major have separately been tasked with killing the leaders. “Wild Bill” Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services, taps Canidy and Fulmar to intervene. Predictably, their mission proves treacherous, though a series of failed attempts on Canidy’s and Fulmar’s lives doesn’t lead to the climactic showdown readers might expect. Fortunately, two memorable supporting characters from the previous entry, the Thorisdottir sisters, who help transport OSS contacts to secure locations around the world, get even more to do this time around. Though series fans may enjoy this entry’s familiar rhythms, they’ll wish it had more consequential action. This lacks the tension of top-tier Griffin. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

A teenager stands accused of killing a Hurricane Katrina aid worker in former New Orleans public defender Perry’s promising debut. Ben Alder, a rabbinical seminary student turned defense attorney, is assigned the case of 16-year-old Robert Johnson, who has confessed to shooting 36-year-old restaurateur Lillie Scott in early 2008. Scott had become well-known for leading post-hurricane recovery efforts in the Seventh Ward, and her killing has shaken the city. As Ben learns more about Robert and his father, who’s serving life in prison for a series of minor offenses, he comes to believe that, though the teenager was discovered with the weapon that killed Scott, he may have been set up to take the fall. Determined to prove Robert innocent and enhance his own reputation, Ben plunges into the city’s underbelly, and faces a crisis of faith in the process. Perry’s focus is less on the murder mystery than on the rhythms of post-Katrina New Orleans and Ben’s shifting psychology, which he explores with often-breathtaking prose (“There’s a terror of seeing, the vacancy that isn’t and the emptiness that is,” Ben muses, comparing himself to the Seraphim, six-winged angels that shield their eyes from God). Crime fiction fans will be eager to see what Perry does next. Agent: Janet Oshiro, Robbins Office. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Retired CIA assassin Helen Warwick tracks down an old foe in Dees’s entertaining if far-fetched sequel to Second Shot. When a sniper nearly takes out her politician son at a campaign event, Helen recognizes the assassination attempt as the work of Scorpius, a Russian mole embedded in the CIA whom Helen thought she’d killed decades earlier. Her former bosses entice her to take over the agency’s “Scorpius-hunting team,” but warn her that Scorpius may have infiltrated the squad. Meanwhile, a string of young women across D.C. are being kidnapped, tortured, and murdered, and Helen tries to determine whether the crimes have anything to do with Scorpius. As in the previous installment, Dees keeps things brisk, with the middle-aged Helen ably stabbing, shooting, and outsmarting her foes at every turn. Certain plot developments strain credibility, but most readers will be having too much fun to care. This will hold special appeal for thriller fans of a certain age. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (June)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink