Is This the Last of Jack Taylor?

By Peter Handel
When reading a Jack Taylor novel by Ken Bruen, one has two options: A) devour it in its entirely—scarf that story in one fell swoop—or B) take it in small bite-size pieces—chunklets, if you will. Either way, the end result is the same, a crime-fiction reading experience to savor. In Galway Confidential, the previous Taylor novel, the story ended with a teaser about the rise of a local, mysterious group called “Edge” and an appearance by Jack’s potential new lover, Rachel Worthington, during which we learned her backstory and why she came to know about Edge.

Galway’s Edge (Mysterious Press) is Bruen’s new, 18th excursion through an only-in-Ireland mélange that includes a slightly devious Mother Superior, über-wealthy, sadistic upper-class cretins, and Rachel, who is now a “conduit” to Edge as well as Jack’s potential, if conflicted female companion. And then there’s Jack, once again uncomfortably helping certain members of The Church … this time to formally investigate Edge, which is described in the opening pages as

a cabal who effectively ruled [Galway], stepping in when normal issues needed to be resolved. They discovered early that secrecy and subterfuge were powerful tools. ... Rumours were their stock in trade. Gathering information, collecting sordid acts, wielding power from a city that didn’t know they were. By stealth and money, they managed to exist as a rumour masquerading as a fact.

Guard-turned-gumshoe Taylor is visited one afternoon by a very large man, Father Richard, who describes himself as “Special envoy to the Archdiocese of Galway ... The powers that be decreed I should contact you as you have been of considerable assistance to Mother Church, not to mention, somewhat controversial.”

Father Richard, after a bit of liquid lubrication, goes on to say, “We have become aware of a group named Edge who are anti-Catholic ... Among this group it is rumoured they have a priest ... we need you to locate this individual [a Father Whelan] and dissuade him of his activities.”

Soon, Jack has a list of the five members of Edge, all part of the Galway elite, including Father Whelan, a literary agent, a real estate “mogul,” a billionaire, and a high-profile author. In the end, a group of keep-your-hands-clean vigilantes—the upper-class team. (Which is typically Bruen, ironic: Jack is a vigilante himself, if anything, but not remotely upper class; in fact, one with no class.)

He visits Father Whelan, but leaves unsatisfied. It’s the same result with all of the others on the list he contacts. But: the next day, the (not) good Father is found hanging from a tree, an “E” written in the dirt below him.

Additional vigilante killings occur, Father Whelan’s fate setting the tone. Father Richard soon sends Jack to see a man named Benson, who reputedly wanted to join Edge. The encounter doesn’t go well, and Jack is thrown out of Benson’s house by his private security minder.

It’s then on to the pub, where the detective runs into a former priest, Ciaran. “He was probably around fifty,” Bruen explains, “but looked eighty, dressed in black, but no white collar.” Jack asks him, “Are you familiar with Edge?” A long pause, followed by Ciaran’s reply: “Stay away from them, they are darkness in action.” He goes on to say, when asked if he knows of Benson, that “Benson is demonic.” He adds: “Edge is a group of people who claim to step in and right injustice, but they use that as a cover for all kinds of malignancy and to enrich themselves. Benson wanted to become part of their crew, but they rejected him. So he vowed to erase them, I’m sure some of them have already met violent ends.” As Jack is about to leave, Ciaran “reached into his jacket, produced a small crucifix, handed it to me.” Jack starts to refuse it, but Ciaran smiles and says to him, “Jack Taylor, you need all the protection you can get, both corporal and metaphysical.”

Indeed.

Numerous subplots also play out as this tale moves forward, including: increasing conflict with Rachel (can she be trusted?), and an incident involving a Guard member whose much-abused wife has asked Jack to intercede with her husband—a man who takes umbrage at Jack even talking to him, and who lands a blow to his face that puts our man in the hospital. These are among many tangential yet relevant aspects of Bruen’s brilliantly woven storyline.

As is the case with all the Jack Taylor novels, Bruen’s dialogue, his often hilarious, biting asides, and his protagonist’s big heart concealed beneath a façade of drinking and drugging (and the not-so-heartful use of his “hurley” to mete out his own unique brand of justice) all combine for a reading experience to relish. (A “hurley,” by the way, is broad-bladed, netless stick used in “an Irish game resembling lacrosse.”)

The back-and-forth banter between the ubiquitous Father Richard and Jack as they sit down to eat in a nice restaurant owned by a woman friend of Jack’s, Ger, is perfectly evocative of Bruen’s approach to dialogue and his wicked, devilish sense of humor. They are meeting to discuss how Jack might proceed in dealing with Edge. After parking, they enter the restaurant. Jack narrates the scene:

“Inside, Ger gave me a warm hug, she looked at Richard who said,

“I can do a hug.”

She did.

She didn’t comment on his girth but did provide us with a family table.

Discretion.

A waitress came, greeted us effusively, and gave us menus. Richard ordered a ton of food and I said,

“Whoa, I’ll never eat all that.”

He snarled.

“That’s for me, you order your own.”

I said to the waitress,

“He’s eating for two; one of them is Orson Welles.”

Richard fumed.

“You have a very nasty side.”

True.

I ordered a steak and a pint.

The jibes continue; it’s as though Jack—already a classic self-sabotager—has to stick the knife in during any conversation, casual or not. Bruen excels at crafting these exchanges. His books are riddled with argumentative, practically theatrical asides no matter who he’s talking to—from the Mother Superior, to the dangerous fat cats who employ sadistic bodyguards, to the abusers of women, be they members of the Guard or simply rank men with bad attitudes.

(Right) Author Ken Bruen.

His conversation with Father Richard turns from wisecracks to matters more serious:

My steak arrived and a fresh pint of Guinness, joy to the world.

I asked,

“So how did you become so big?”

I paused then.

“Sorry about big, I meant major player in such shark-infested water?”

He had finished one of his main courses, and was now on the second, and seemed to relish every bite. He wiped his mouth, said,

“I was a lowly curate in the Italian countryside and a chance encounter with a cardinal led me to being transferred to the Vatican. I learnt fast that doing favours for the elite was the fast track to high office.”

I considered this and he added,

“Primarily, I play dirty.”

My steak was good, and I focused on that as he said,

“I like you, Jack; you amuse me but we both know you’re basically a dipso.”

Who needed this shite, I stood up.

“Something for you to remember, I play dirty my own self.”

He didn’t stop eating, said,

“You’re a small-time private dick with notions way beyond your abilities; now sit down, I have instructions to issue.”

Jack leaves him sitting at that.

Bruen keeps the plot turning. A diamond-encrusted gold crucifix is stolen from the Mother Superior, and she wants Jack to take it back—from Mr. Benson. Even more characters become involved, including a thief acquaintance of Jack’s named Jordan. A young tech whiz, Jessie, is enlisted by Jack to hack (“disable”) bad man Benson’s computers. A hand is severed, child porn is planted, guns are fired, Jack ends up in the hospital with a broken nose. Members of Edge die in a variety of brutal ways. Bruenian violence percolates throughout this story.

In an interview with Bruen that yours truly conducted of behalf of CrimeReads, back when Galway Confidential was first published, the author said that 2024 release was the “penultimate Jack Taylor novel,” and that Jack’s final appearance would be in Galway DNA, which he’d already written. But things change ... Galway DNA became Galway’s Edge, and it doesn’t quite feel like that’s the end of the series. Is it?

Asked in an e-mail message to clarify matters, Bruen says, “Galway DNA became Galway’s Edge as I wrote the book and it mutated its own self. For now, there is no jack taylor on the horizon but I’m open to Jack talking to me.”

Well, at least Jack doesn’t die to conclude this remarkable series! Undoubtedly, Bruen has something further and exciting up his sleeve—which will include Jack Taylor or not.

A Fitting Literary Tribute

Britain’s time-honored crime-fiction convention, CrimeFest, may be ending its run this May, but it isn’t going out quietly. In addition to an expected lineup of prominent guest authors, and the selection of John le Carré as its “Ghost of Honor,” the 2025 event will be followed by the release of a new anthology of stories from authors “who have had a close relationship with CrimeFest over the years.”

According to a press statement, CrimeFest: Leaving the Scene will be widely distributed by No Exit Press beginning in late August, but “an early copy [will be] exclusively gifted to each of the first 450 registered Full Pass Holders at the final CrimeFest.” In addition to a foreword penned by thriller writer Lee Child, the book’s contents will include short yarns by Jeffery Deaver, Lindsey Davis, Martin Edwards, Cathy Ace, Vaseem Khan, Maxim Jakubowski, and CrimeFest co-host Donna Moore. Adrian Muller, this convention’s other co-host, is contributing an Afterword to the book.

Proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to the Royal National Institute of Blind People’s free library.

Amazon Names New Bond Flick Execs

Following swiftly on news that multinational technology company Amazon has acquired creative control of fictional superspy James Bond comes word that it has selected American Amy Pascal and British filmmaker David Heyman as the producers of any future Bond movies.

Bill Koenig explains in his blog, The Spy Command, that “Pascal has produced recent Spider-Man movies with Tom Holland. … She is also a former chief at Sony Pictures. During her tenure there, Sony distributed four Bond films: Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre. Heyman has produced Harry Potter movies as well as such films as Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”

Koenig wonders, in a separate post, how long this pair might realistically helm the 007 franchise. “Both are busy with many film projects,” he observes. “Pascal is 67. ... Heyman will turn 64 in June. “Now, you can be a movie producer for a long time past normal retirement age. Still, Bond fans are used to continuity. I wouldn’t go banco that the new Bond producer duo has a super-long run. The movie business is a lot different than in 1961 when Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, already in middle age, struck their 007 deal with United Artists. Broccoli would be associated with the series until his death in 1996.” Saltzman passed away two years earlier.

Brighter Days Bring Bounteous Diversions

That woman shown above, reading in a sunny lavender field, looks so relaxed—I wish I felt the same way. But the political horror show unfolding in Washington, D.C., is undermining my faith in the future, and is having a deleterious effect on my concentration. On top of that, I feel quite overwhelmed by books right now, both those I received last year and failed to address in anything approaching a timely fashion, and all of the 2025 releases destined to appear erelong.

Updating and extending the register of coming attractions I posted in January, I came up with more than 380 intriguing-looking crime, mystery, and thriller titles due out—on one side of the Atlantic or the other—between March 1 and May 31. Among the authors of those novels are a wealth of familiar names: Abigail Dean, Gerald Seymour, Lynda La Plante, David Baldacci, Anne Hillerman, Denzil Meyrick, Catherine Ryan Howard, Michael Connelly, Catriona McPherson, John Connolly, Nita Prose, Andrey Kurkov, Christa Faust, Carl Hiaasen, Harlan Coben, Sarah Pinborough, Linwood Barclay, and Stuart MacBride.

Well-timed in the wake of Los Angeles’ devastating fires comes Lee Goldberg’s Hidden in Smoke, which finds his arson investigators, Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker, on the hunt for a serial torcher of apartment buildings. S.J. Rozan and John Shen Yen Nee are back with The Railway Conspiracy (the first sequel to last year’s The Murder of Mr. Ma), in which Judge Dee Ren Jie—an updated version of the fictional Tang Dynasty Judge Dee—and his Watson-like sidekick, self-effacing academic Lao She, seek to foil a nefarious stratagem connecting Imperial Russia, Japan, and China. And the discovery, in Jo Callaghan’s forthcoming Human Remains, of a headless and handless corpse on a farm in Warwickshire, England, kicks off a yarn that sees Detective Chief Superintendent Kat Frank accused of misidentifying a multiple murderer from years ago, and her partner, AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, having to stretch beyond the limits of his determined logic to make sense of it all.

In Marble Hall Murders, Anthony Horowitz returns to the trouble-fraught world of Susan Ryeland (Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders), who has ditched her Greek island existence (and her Greek inamorato) in favor of a return to London, and is now editing an Atticus Pünd continuation novel that may hold clues to the alleged poisoning death of a fabled children’s author. Catherine Ryan Howard spins the tale of a ghostwriter, in Burn After Reading, who becomes increasingly doubtful about the innocence of her subject, a world-class cyclist suspected of offing his spouse and setting their house afire in order to cover it up. The funeral of Velda Sterling, Mike Hammer’s secretary turned partner turned wife, leaves the now-aged New York City gumshoe reminiscing about his efforts in the 1970s to save her kid sister from drugs and other bad choices in Baby, It’s Murder, the gritty final collaboration between Max Allan Collins and the late Mickey Spillane. Finally, I must mention Simon Scarrow’s A Death in Berlin, the third outing for his World War II-era cop, Inspector Horst Schenke, who is tasked this time with probing a high-profile underworld slaying that may expose links between Berlin’s criminal class and the upper echelons of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party.

When it comes to classic reprints, watch for works by the likes of Dolores Hitchens, Carter Brown, Christianna Brand, and C. Daly King. Additionally, there’s a trio of standouts this spring in the field of crime non-fiction: Steve Aldous and Gary Gillies’ scrupulous history of David Janssen’s 1970s private series, Harry O; Hallie Rubenhold’s The Story of a Murder, about early 20th-century wife murderer Hawley Harvey Crippen; and the American edition of Kate Summerscale’s grim account of postwar London strangler Reg Christie, who concealed his victims inside the walls of his Notting Hill rowhouse.

The inventory below of new or still-awaited books covers a wide range of stories and storytelling styles available within this genre. As is my custom, I’ve marked non-fiction releases with asterisks (*); the remainder are novels or collections of short fiction.

MARCH (U.S.):
• Accidents Happen, by F.H. Batacan (Soho Crime)
• Allegro, by Ariel Dorfman (Other Press)
• All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman (Putnam)
• Ambush, by Colleen Coble (Thomas Nelson)
• The Angel Deception, by David Leadbeater (Avon)
• April Fools, by Jess Lourey (Thomas & Mercer)
• Baby, It’s Murder, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins (Titan)
• Backfire / Never Kill a Cop! & Other True Crime Stories, by Charles L. Burgess
(Stark House Press)
• The Banker, by Peter Colt (Severn House)
• The Beijing Betrayal, by Joel C.
Rosenberg (Tyndale)
• The Big Fix, by Holly James (Kensington)
• Black Tunnel White Magic: A Murder, a Detective’s Obsession, and ’90s Los Angeles at the Brink, by Rick Jackson and Matthew McGough (Mulholland)*
• Blood Moon, by Sandra Brown
(Grand Central)
• The Boxcar Librarian, by Brianna Labuskes (Morrow)
• Broken Fields, by Marcie Rendon (Soho Crime)
• The Butterfly Trap, by Clea Simon (Severn House)
• The Case of the Elusive Bombay Duck, by Tarquin Hall (Severn House)
• The Case of the Lonely Accountant, by Simon Mason (Quercus)
• Cat’s Claw, by Dolores Hitchens (Penzler/American Mystery Classics)
• City of Destruction, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Claire, Darling, by Callie Kazumi (Bantam)
• Command Performance, by Jean Echenoz (NYRB Classics)
• Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava (Gallery/Scout Press)
• Dead Man’s List, by Karen Rose (Berkley)
• Death at the Playhouses, by Stuart Douglas (Titan)
• Don’t Tell Me How to Die, by Marshall Karp (Blackstone)
• The Evening Shades, by Lee Martin (Melville House)
• Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim, edited by Josh Pachter (Level Short)
• Everyone Is Lying, by D.E. White (Storm)
• Fear Stalks the Village, by Ethel Lina White (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave, by Elle Cosimano (Minotaur)
• The Four Queens of Crime, by Rosanne Limoncelli (Crooked Lane)
• Friends Helping Friends, by Patrick Hoffman (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Galway’s Edge, by Ken Bruen (Mysterious Press)
• The Get-Off, by Christa Faust (Hard Case Crime)
• The Gift, by Sebastian Fitzek (Head of Zeus/Aries)
• Girl Anonymous, by Christina Dodd (Canary Street Press)
• Girl Falling, by Hayley Scrivenor (Flatiron)
• The Girl from Greenwich Street, by Lauren Willig (Morrow)
• Glory Daze, by Danielle Arceneaux (Pegasus Crime)
• The Golden State Killer Case, by William Thorp (Crime Ink)*
• Hang On St. Christopher, by Adrian McKinty (Blackstone)
• The Harry O Viewing Companion: History and Episodes of the Classic Detective Series, by Steve Aldous and Gary Gillies (McFarland)*
• The Hellcat / The Lady is Transparent / The Dumdum Murder, by Carter Brown (Stark House Press)
• Homicide in the Indian Hills, by Erica Ruth Neubauer (Kensington)
• Human Scale, by Lawrence Wright (Knopf)
• If It Isn’t One Thing …, by Steven F. Havill (Severn House)
• I Would Die for You, by Sandie Jones (Minotaur)
• Killer Potential, by Hannah Deitch (Morrow)
• Kills Well With Others, by Deanna Raybourn (Berkley)
• The Last Days of Kira Mullen, by Nicci French (Morrow)
• The Last One to See Him, by Kathryn Croft (Bookouture)
• The Last Visitor, by Martin Griffin (Pegasus Crime)
• Lethal Prey, by John Sandford (Putnam)
• The Library Game, by Gigi Pandian (Minotaur)
• Living Is a Problem, by Doug Johnstone (Orenda)
• The Man Who Swore He’d Never Go Home Again, by David Handler (Mysterious Press)
• The Memory Ward, by Jon Bassoff (Blackstone)
• Midnight Streets, by Phil Lecomber (Titan)
• A Mother’s Love, by Sara Blaedel (Dutton)
• Mr. Whisper, by Andrew Mayne (Thomas & Mercer)
• Murder of a Recluse, by Jeanne M. Dams (Severn House)
• A Murder in Zion, by Nicole Maggi (Oceanview)
• My Sister’s Shadow, by January Gilchrist (Crooked Lane)
• No. 10 Doyers Street, by Radha Vatsal (Level Best/Historia)
• Nobody’s Fool, by Harlan Coben (Grand Central)
• Nothing But Murders and Bloodshed and Hanging, by Mary Fortune, edited by Lucy Sussex and Megan Brown (Verse Chorus Press)
• One Bullet Away, by Dale M. Nelson (Severn River)
• The Other People, by C.B. Everett (Atria)
• Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club, edited by Martin Edwards (Severn House)
• Play with Fire, by T.M. Payne
(Thomas & Mercer)
• Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder, by Bellamy Rose (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America, by Clay Risen (Scribner)*
• The Reluctant Sheriff, by Chris Offutt (Grove Press)
• Retreat, by Krysten Ritter (Harper)
• Sacramento Noir, edited by John
Freeman (Atria)
• Saltwater, by Katy Hays (Ballantine)
• The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne, by Ron Currie (Putnam)
• A Scandalous Affair, by Leonard Goldberg (Pegasus Crime)
• Serial Killer Support Group, by Saratoga Schaefer (Crooked Lane)
• Silent as the Grave, by Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles (Minotaur)
• The Socialite’s Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets, by S.K. Golden (Crooked Lane)
• The Summer Guests, by Tess Gerritsen (Thomas & Mercer)
• Switcheroo, by Emmett McDowell (Stark House Press/Black Gat)
• The Ten Worst People in New York, by Matt Plass (Crooked Lane)
• This Book Will Bury Me, by Ashley Winstead (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco, by Gary Krist (Crown)*
• The Trouble Up North, by Travis Mulhauser (Grand Central)
• Tunnel Vision, by Wendy Church (Severn House)
• Twice as Dead, by Harry Turtledove (CAEZIK SF & Fantasy)
• The Undoing of Violet Claybourne, by Emily Critchley
(Sourcebooks Landmark)
• The Unlucky Ones, by Hannah Morrissey (Minotaur)
• Vanishing Daughters, by Cynthia Pelayo (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Vanishing Kind, by Alice Henderson (Morrow)
• Victim, by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger (Orenda)
• What She’s Hiding, by Art Bell (Ulysses Press)
• Where the Bones Lie, by Nick Kolakowski (Datura)
• White King, by Juan Gómez-Jurado (Minotaur)
• Witness 8, by Steve Cavanagh (Atria)
• The Writer, by James Patterson and J.D. Barker (Little, Brown)
• You Deserve to Know, by Aggie Blum Thompson (Forge)
• You Killed Me First, by John Marrs (Thomas & Mercer)

MARCH (UK):
• Acts of Malice, by Alex Gray (Sphere)
• Bad Blood, by Sarah Hornsley (Hodder & Stoughton)
• A Brush with Death, by J.M. Hall (Avon)
• The Bureau, by Eoin McNamee (Riverrun)
• The Burial Place, by Stig Abell (Hemlock Press)
• The Cambridge Siren, by Jim Kelly (Allison & Busby)
• The Collaborators, by Michael Idov (Simon & Schuster UK)
• A Convenient Traitor, by Adrian Magson (Independently published)
• The Corpse Played Dead, by Georgina Clarke (Verve)
• The Crime Writer, by Diane Jeffrey (HQ Digital)
• Date With Destiny, by Julia Chapman (Pan)
• Death and the Harlot, by Georgina Clarke (Verve)
• Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph)
• A Death in Berlin, by Simon Scarrow (Headline)
• Death on the Adriatic, by Georgina Stewart (Constable)
• Everyone in the Group Chat Dies, by L.M. Chilton
(Head of Zeus/Aries)
• A Fortune Most Fatal, by Jessica Bull (Michael Joseph)
• The Friday Girl, by R.D. McLean (Black & White)
• The Grapevine, by Kate Kemp (Phoenix)
• Her Sister’s Killer, by Mari Hannah (Orion)
• His Truth, Her Truth, by Noelle Holten (One More Chapter)
• Hollow Grave, by Kate Webb (Quercus)
• Hunkeler’s Secret, by Hansjoerg Schneider (Bitter Lemon Press)
• Lost Man’s Lane, by Scott Carson (Free Press)
• Miss Burnham and the Loose Thread, by Lynn Knight (Bantam)
• The Mouthless Dead, by Anthony Quinn (Abacus)
• Murder at the Palace, by N.R. Daws (Orion)
• My Husband’s Mistress, by Willow Rose (Bookouture)
• No. 2 Whitehall Court, by Alan Judd (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Not to Be Taken, by Anthony Berkeley (British Library Crime Classics)
• Paperboy, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Vertigo)
• The Rest Is Death, by James Oswald (Wildfire)
• The Secret Detective Agency, by Helena Dixon (Bookouture)
• The Shadow, by Ajay Chowdhury (Harvill Secker)
• Sick to Death, by Chris Bridges (Avon)
• Smoke and Silk, by Fiona Keating (Mountain Leopard Press)
• Someone Is Lying, by Heidi Perks (Penguin)
• Son, by Johana Gustawsson and
Thomas Enger (Orenda)
• A Spy at War, by Charles Beaumont
(Canelo Action)
• Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Doctor Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday)*
• 10 Marchfield Square, by Nicola
Whyte (Raven)
• There Came A-Tapping, by Andrea
Carter (Constable)
• A Trial in Three Acts, by Guy Morpuss (Viper)
• A Troubled Tide, by Lynne McEwan (Canelo Crime)
• Ward D, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Wedding Vow, by Dandy Smith (Embla)
• When Sally Killed Harry, by Lucy Roth (Avon)
• When Shadows Fall, by Neil Lancaster (HQ Digital)
• The Whitechapel Widow, by Emily Organ (Storm)

APRIL (U.S.):
• Bitterfrost, by Bryan Gruley (Severn House)
• Booked for Revenge, by Karen Rose Smith (Kensington Cozies)
• Chow Maniac, by Vivien Chien (Minotaur)
• The Cleveland John Doe Case, by Thibault Raisse (Crime Ink)
• Cold Burn, by A.J. Landau (Minotaur)
• Come Home to Death, by John Creasey (Open Road Media)
• Coram House, by Bailey Seybolt (Atria)
• Dark Rising, by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson (Blackstone)
• Death in the Dressing Room, by Simon Brett (Severn House)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Viking)
• Desperate Deadly Widows, by Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, and Vanessa Lillie (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• The Determined Spy: The Turbulent Life and Times of CIA Pioneer Frank Wisner, by Douglas Waller (Dutton)*
• A Drop of Corruption, by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey)
• Easeful Death, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (Severn House)
• Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty (Harper)
• Fall to Pieces, by Douglas Corleone (Thomas & Mercer)
• A Fashionably French Murder, by Colleen Cambridge (Kensington)
• Follow Me, by Elizabeth Rose Quinn (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Fourth Girl, by Wendy Corsi Staub (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Gatsby Gambit, by Claire Anderson-Wheeler (Viking)
• Hard Town, by Adam Plantinga (Grand Central)
• Heartwood, by Amity Gaige (Simon & Schuster)
• Hello, Juliet, by Samantha M. Bailey (Thomas & Mercer)
• Hidden in Smoke, by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer)
• How to Seal Your Own Fate, by Kristen Perrin (Dutton)
• Hunkeler’s Secret, by Hansjörg Schneider (Bitter Lemon Press)
• If Two Are Dead, by Rick Mofina (Mira)
• Impact of Evidence, by Carol Carnac (Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• The Influencers, by Anna-Marie McLemore (Dial Press)
• Karma Never Sleeps, by R. John Dingle (Tule)
• The Last Session, by Julia Bartz (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• The Mademoiselle Alliance, by Natasha Lester (Ballantine)
• The Maid’s Secret, by Nita Prose (Ballantine)
• The Matchmaker, by Aisha Saeed (Bantam)
• Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd (Atria)
• Murder by Cheesecake, by Rachel Ekstrom Courage (Hyperion Avenue)
• Murder Runs in the Family, by Tamara Berry (Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Murder Show, by Matt
Goldman (Forge)
• The Museum Detective, by Maha
Khan Phillips (Soho Crime)
• No Precious Truth, by Chris Nickson
(Severn House)
• Not Dead Yet, by Jeffrey Siger (Severn House)
• Novel Threat, by Traci Hunter Abramson (Shadow Mountain)
• Obelists en Route, by C. Daly King (Penzler/American
Mystery Classics)
• One Death at a Time, by Abbi Waxman (Berkley)
• OverKill, by J.A. Jance (Gallery)
• The People Next Door, by Kate Braithwaite (Lume)
• The Perfect Divorce, by Jeneva Rose (Blackstone)
• Perspective(s), by Laurent Binet (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Proof of My Innocence, by Jonathan Coe (Europa Editions)
• A Proposal to Die For, by Molly Harper (Berkley)
• The Railway Conspiracy, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J.
Rozan (Soho Crime)
• Remote: The Six, by Eric Rickstad (Blackstone)
• Ruth Run, by Elizabeth Kaufman (Penguin Press)
• Season of Death, by Will Thomas (Minotaur)
• Shadow of the Solstice, by Anne Hillerman (Harper)
• Smoke and Murders, by J.L. Blackhurst (HQ)
• A Song for Katy Shayne, by Jim Fusilli (Level Best)
• Splintered Justice, by Kim Hays (Seventh Street)
• Splintered Reeds, by Jodie Cain Smith (Aethon)
• Strangers in Time, by David Baldacci (Grand Central)
• This Is Not a Game, by Kelly Mullen (Dutton)
• To Catch a Thief, by David Dodge (Poisoned Pen Press)
• To Catch a Spy, by Mark O’Neill (Poisoned Pen Press)
• 2 Sisters Murder Investigations, by James Patterson and Candice
Fox (Little, Brown)
• The Vinyl Detective: Underscore, by Andrew Cartmel (Titan)
• An Unquiet Peace, by Shaina Steinberg (Kensington)
• Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), by Jesse Q.
Sutanto (Berkley)
• Vice and Virtue, by Libby Klein (Kensington)
• Waters of Destruction, by Leslie Karst (Severn House)
• When She Was Gone, by Sara Foster (Blackstone)
• Who Will Remember, by C.S. Harris (Berkley)
• Written in Stone, by Paige Shelton (Minotaur)
• Your Steps on the Stairs, by Antonio Muñoz Molina (Other Press)

​APRIL (UK):
• All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman (Fourth Estate)
• Black Water Rising, by Sean Watkin (Canelo Crime)
• Bone of Contention, by Blake Mara (Simon & Schuster UK)
• A Boy Called Saul, by Fiona Cummins (Pan)
• The Boyfriend, by John Nicholl (Boldwood)
• Burn After Reading, by Catherine Ryan Howard (Bantam)
• Burying Jericho, by William Hussey (Zaffre)
• Carved in Blood, by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster UK)
• The Castle, by John Sutherland (Orion)
• Crossfire, by Wilbur Smith with David Churchill (Zaffre)
• Crucified, by Lynda La Plante (Zaffre)
• The Dark Edge, by Nick Louth (Canelo Crime)
• The Dead City, by Michael Russell (Constable)
• Death of an Englishman, by Anna
Beer (Book Guild)
• Death on Dartmoor Edge, by Stephanie Austin (Allison & Busby)
• The Devil’s Code, by Michael Wood
(One More Chapter)
• Don’t Believe a Word, by Susan
Lewis (HarperCollins)
• Don’t Trust Him, by Karen
King (Bookouture)
• A Duty of Care, by Gerald Seymour (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Earth to Earth: Lives and Violent Deaths of a Devon Farming Family: A True Crime Classic Revisited, by John Cornwell (Riverrun)*
• The Edinburgh Murders, by Catriona McPherson (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Final Wife, by Jenny Blackhurst (Canelo Suspense)
• Fortress of Evil, by Javier Cercas (MacLehose Press)
• How to Read a Killer’s Mind, by Tam Barnett (Boldwood)
• Human Remains, by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK)
• I Found a Body, by Becky C. Brynolf (Black & White)
• In Service of Death, by J.D. Kirk (Canelo Crime)
• Isolation Ward, by Martine Bailey (Allison & Busby)
• The Lake House, by Helen Phifer (HQ Digital)
• Landfall, by James Bradley (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Liar, by Louise Jensen (HQ)
• Major Bricket and the Circus Corpse, by Simon Brett (Constable)
• The Margaret Code, by Richard Hooton (Sphere)
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• Mirage, by Camilla Läckberg and Henrik Fexeus (Hemlock Press)
• Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective, by Kelly Gardiner and Sharmini Kaur (HQ)
• The Missing Hour, by Robert Rutherford (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Mistake, by M.J. Arlidge and Lisa Hall (Orion)
• The Moon’s More Feeble Fire, by Allan Gaw (Polygon)
• Murder at St. Paul’s Cathedral, by Jim Eldridge (Allison & Busby)
• Murder on Bluebell Hill, by Jane Bettany (HQ Digital)
• Murder on Line One, by Jeremy Vine (HarperCollins)
• My Loving Husband, by Sheryl Browne (Bookouture)
• Nine Hidden Lives, by Robert Gold (Sphere)
• One Dark Summer, by Saskia Sarginson (Boldwood)
• One Less Snake, by Rhys Dylan (Wyrmwood)
• The Penthouse, by Catherine Cooper (HarperCollins)
• Scandalize My Name, by Fiona Sinclair (British Library Crime Classics)
• The Second Wife, by Alex Kane (Canelo Hera)
• The Secret Room, by Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)
• Sleeper Beach, by Nick Harkaway (Corsair)
• Suspicion, by Seichō Matsumoto (Penguin Classics)
• Sweet Fury, by Sash Bischoff (Bantam)
• There Will Be Bodies, by Lindsey Davis (Hodder & Stoughton)
• This Is Not a Game, by Kelly Mullen (Century)
• To Read a Killer’s Mind, by Tam Barnett (Boldwood)
• The Venetian Heretic, by Christian Cameron (Orion)
• Viper in the Nest, by Georgina
Clarke (Verve)

​MAY (U.S.):
• After Pearl, by Stephen G. Eoannou
(Santa Fe Writer’s Project)
• Big Bad Wool, by Leonie Swann
(Soho Crime)
• The Birthday Party, by Shalini Boland (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Boomerang, by Robert Bailey
(Thomas & Mercer)
• The Busybody Book Club, by Freya Sampson (Berkley)
• The Butcher’s Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett, by David Demchuk and Corinne Leigh Clark (Hell’s Hundred)
• The Children of Eve, by John Connolly (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• The Dark Maestro, by Brendan Slocumb (Doubleday)
• A Dead Draw, by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer)
• Death at a Highland Wedding, by Kelley Armstrong (Minotaur)
• Death on the Caldera, by Emily Paxman (Titan)
• The Doorman, by Chris Pavone (MCD)
• An Ethical Guide to Murder, by Jenny Morris (Mira)
• FDR Drive, by James Comey (Mysterious Press)
• Fever Beach, by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf)
• Girls with Long Shadows, by Tennessee Hill (Harper)
• Going Home in the Dark, by Dean Koontz (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Gravedigger’s Almanac, by Oliver Pötzsch (HarperVia)
• Her Final Battle, by Mary Slinkard (Keylight)
• Julia Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Raven)
• Kaua‘i Storm, by Tori Eldridge (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Labyrinth House Murders, by Yukito Ayatsuji (Pushkin Vertigo)
• The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin, by Alison Goodman (Berkley)
• The Language of the Birds, by K.A. Merson (Ballantine)
• The Lizard, by Domenic Stansberry (Molotov Editions)
• Making a Killing, by Cara Hunter (Morrow Paperbacks)
• The Man Made of Smoke, by Alex North (Celadon)
• Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
• Marguerite by the Lake, by Mary Dixie Carter (Minotaur)
• Midnight in Soap Lake, by Matthew Sullivan (Hanover Square Press)
• The Missing Half, by Ashley Flowers with Alex Kiester (Bantam)
• The Mystery of the Cape Cod Tavern, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (Penzler/American Mystery Classics)
• Never Flinch, by Stephen King (Scribner)
• Nightshade, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding, by Catherine
Mack (Minotaur)
• One in Four, by Lucinda Berry (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Ones We Love, by Anna Snoekstra (Dutton)
• Our Last Wild Days, by Anna Bailey (Atria)
• Parents Weekend, by Alex Finlay (Minotaur)
• The Peepshow: The Murders at Rillington Place, by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Press)*
• The Poet’s Game, by Paul Vidich (Pegasus Crime)
• Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business, by Arvind Ethan David, Ilias Kyriazis, and Cris Peter (Pantheon)
• The Retirement Plan, by Sue
Hincenbergs (Morrow)
• Return to Sender, by Craig Johnson (Viking)
• Rockets’ Red Glare, by William Webster and Dick Lochte (Blackstone)
• The Safari, by Jaclyn Goldis (Atria/
Emily Bestler)
• The Silversmith’s Puzzle, by Nev
March (Minotaur)
• Skin and Bones, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur)
• Slaying You, by Michelle Gagnon (Putnam)
• Smoke and Embers, by John Lawton (Atlantic Monthly Press)
• Smokebirds, by Daniel Breyer (Rare Bird)
• The Soho Murder, by Mike Hollow (Allison & Busby)
• Something I Keep Upstairs, by J.D. Barker (Hampton Creek Press)
• South of Nowhere, by Jeffery Deaver (Putnam)
• The Stalker, by Paula Bomer (Soho Press)
• The Stolen Heart, by Andrey Kurkov (HarperVia)
• Talk of the Devil: The Collected Writings of Ian Fleming, by Ian Fleming (Morrow)*
• The Tenant, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• A Thousand Natural Shocks, by Omar Hussain (Blackstone)
• We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Flatiron)
• Whistle, by Linwood Barclay (Morrow)

​MAY (UK):
• Bad Influence, by C.J. Wrap (Orion)
• Capital Christie, by Agatha Christie (HarperCollins)
• Cat and Mouse, by Christianna Brand (British Library Crime Classics)
• The Chemist, by A.A. Dhand (HQ)
• The Cliffhanger, by Emily Freud (Quercus)
• Cold Justice, by Leigh Russell (No Exit Press)
• Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava (Century)
• Dead Water, by Simon Toyne (Hemlock Press)
• The Devil’s Playbook, by Markus Heitz (Arcadia)
• Exit Wounds, by Neil Broadfoot (Constable)
• The Girl in Cell A, by Vaseem Khan (‎Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Golden Age of Murder, by Martin Edwards (Collins Crime Club)
• Innocent Guilt, by Remi Kone (Quercus)
• It Should Have Been You, by Andrea Mara (Bantam)
• Last Orders, by Denzil Meyrick (Bantam)
• A Lethal Cocktail, by Ciar Byrne (Headline Accent)
• The Marriage Rule, by Helen Monks Takhar (Random House)
• Murder at the Ponte Vecchio, by T.A. Williams (Boldwood)
• Murder in the House of Omari, by Taku Ashibe (Pushkin Vertigo)
• The One You Least Suspect, by Brian McGilloway (Constable)
• Private Dublin, by James Patterson and Adam Hamdy (Century)
• Red Water, by Jurica Pavičić (Bitter Lemon Press)
• Secrets in St. Ives, by Deborah Fowler (Allison & Busby)
• A Sharp Scratch, by Heather Darwent (Viking)
• The Spy and the Devil: The Untold Story of the MI6 Agent Who Penetrated Hitler’s Inner Circle, by Tim Willasey-Wilsey (Blink)*
• Such Quiet Girls, by Noelle Ihli (Pan)
• The Sunshine Man, by Emma Stonex (Picador)
• This House of Burning Bones, by Stuart MacBride (Macmillan)
• The Tradwife’s Secret, by Liane Child (HQ Digital)
• Traitor’s Legacy, by S.J. Parris (Hemlock Press)
• The Wood, by Rachel McLean and John Hames (Ackroyd)

While those are certainly not all of the crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense books slated for publication this spring, they’re all I have for the time being. I’ll continue adding to these selections as time goes on and I learn more. If you already believe I have missed something, please let me know in the Comments section below.

Finest of the Forties

Wow, if you’re looking to fill in any gaps in your reading of crime and mystery fiction from the 1940s, seek aid from Kate Jackson. In her Cross Examining Crime blog, she’s posted a four-part series highlighting her favorite whodunits published during that decade. Works by Manning Coles, Craig Rice, John Dickson Carr, Elizabeth Ferrars, Cornell Woolrich, Nancy Rutledge, Fredric Brown, and Christianna Brand have all made the cut. See her entries here, here, here, and here.

In a final installment yesterday, Jackson named her choices of the top-10 novels from that whole collection. Her number-one pick: Five Little Pigs (1942), by Agatha Christie, which she calls “a strong refutation of the still lingering idea that all traditional classic crime novels had cardboard thin characters.”

Geherin Seizes the Dove

My first association with David Geherin, a professor emeritus of English at Eastern Michigan University who has penned numerous studies of modern crime fiction and its contributors, came as a result of my picking up a hardcover copy of his 1980 book, Sons of Sam Spade: The Private Eye Novel in the ’70s, which still graces one of the shelves near my desk. Over the years, Geherin has received Edgar Award nominations from Mystery Writers of America, and he’s currently vying for another of those with his 2024 release, Organized Crime on Page and Screen: Portrayals in Hit Novels, Films, and Television Shows.

What brought him to my attention recently, if belatedly, was news that he has been given the Dove Award by the Detective/Mystery Caucus of the Popular Culture Association. That prize, explains editor-blogger Elizabeth Foxwell, is named for mystery-fiction scholar George N. Dove and is given to “individuals who have contributed to the serious study of mystery, detective, and crime fiction.” Previous Dove honorees include Martin Edwards, Barry Forshaw, Douglas G. Greene, P.D. James, Janet Rudolph, H.R.F. Keating, Margaret Kinsman, and the aforementioned Ms. Foxwell.

If there’s a downside to learning of this development, it’s realizing just how far behind I am in reading Geherin’s work. Studies of humor and small-town settings in crime fiction, analyses of novels by Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, and Michael Connelly—I’ve somehow allowed them all to slip past my radar. That must be corrected, and soon!

Revue of Reviewers: 3-16-25

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

Decisions in Denver

Last evening, during the 35th annual Left Coast Crime convention in Denver, Colorado, this year’s Lefty Award winners were announced.

Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel:
Cirque du Slay, by Rob Osler (Crooked Lane)

Also nominated: A Very Woodsy Murder, by Ellen Byron (Kensington); Ill-Fated Fortune, by Jennifer J. Chow (St. Martin’s Paperbacks); Bronco Buster, by A.J. Devlin (NeWest Press); Scotzilla, by Catriona McPherson (Severn House); and We Solve Murders, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)

The Bill Gottfried Memorial Lefty for Best Historical Mystery Novel (for books set prior to 1970): Hall of Mirrors, by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Crime)

Also nominated: A Killing on the Hill, by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer); An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington); The Lantern’s Dance, by Laurie R. King (Bantam); and Death of a Flying Nightingale, by Laura Jensen Walker (Level Best/Historia)

Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel:
Ghosts of Waikiki, by Jennifer K. Morita (Crooked Lane)

Also nominated: Blue Ridge, by Peter Malone Elliott (Level Best); Obey All Laws, by Cindy Goyette (Level Best); The Mechanics of Memory, by Audrey Lee (CamCat); and You Know What You Did, by K.T. Nguyen (Dutton)

Lefty for Best Mystery Novel (not in other categories):
Served Cold, by James L’Etoile (Level Best)

Also nominated: Home Fires, by Claire Booth (Severn House); Blessed Water, by Margot Douaihy (Zando/Gillian Flynn); Assassins Anonymous, by Rob Hart (Putnam); Molten Death, by Leslie Karst (Severn House); and California Bear, by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)

Congratulations to all of the nominees!

Mending the Master’s Machine

Author Mark Coggins recently explained on this page how he had acquired Raymond Chandler’s last typewriter, a very elegant Olivetti. More recently, on his own Web site, he posted more information about that machine, including these two interesting tidbits:

Raymond Chandler, one of the progenitors of American hard-boiled detective novel, wrote on an Olivetti Studio 44 typewriter from cerca 1955 until his death in 1959, a period that included composition of his last published novel, Playback (1958), the last Philip Marlowe short story, titled variously, “Marlowe Takes On the Syndicate”, “Wrong Pigeon”, “Philip Marlowe’s Last Case” or “The Pencil” (1959), and the first few pages of an unfinished novel with the working title The Poodle Springs Story, later completed by Robert B. Parker as Poodle Springs at the request of the Chandler estate in 1989. …

The machine owned by Chandler—a Series I—was most likely purchased in the UK, most likely in 1955. I base my conclusion for the year and country of purchase on the fact that Chandler made a trip there in 1955 after his wife Cissy passed, and the fact that there is a key on the machine for the UK pound symbol. There is also a key for the dollar sign, but it is not in the usual place above the number 4. In any case, the machine could not have been purchased earlier than 1953 because its serial number, 788236, is in the range of machines that were manufactured that year.

You can enjoy Mark’s entire post here.

Five Finds

• The book review magazine Foreword has publicized its lists of finalists for the 2024 Indies Book of the Year prizes. Those include a dozen Mystery and Thriller/Suspense titles, among them Mark Coggins’ Geisha Confidential, Corey Lynn Fayman’s The Esmeralda Goodbye, Elena Taylor’s A Cold Cold World, and Sam Wiebe’s Ocean Drive. The winners in these and many other genres, plus the mag’s Editor’s Choice Prize winners and an Indie Publisher of the Year pick, are to be announced sometime this coming June.

• Do you remember the short-lived 1971 NBC-TV series The D.A., which starred Robert Conrad as Paul Ryan, a “a tough-minded, hard-hitting prosecutor in Los Angeles County”? Then you might be interested to know that Confessions of the D.A. Man, a 90-minute film combining three installments of that half-hour, Jack Webb-produced crime drama, as well as a crossover episode of Adam-12 featuring Ryan, has all of a sudden popped up on YouTube. As always with YouTube offerings, I caution that this one may not be available forever, so it’s best to watch it sooner than later. More about The D.A. is here.

• CrimeReads writer Olivia Rutigliano revisits a “legendary,” crime-related Far Side cartoon from way back in 1993.

• Congratulations to Craig Johnson! From In Reference to Murder:

Wyoming’s Craig Johnson, author of the “Longmire” series, is the 2025 winner of the Owen Wister Award, the highest honor given by Western Writers of America in recognition of lifetime contributions to the genre. Originally given for “best book of the year,” it was expanded in 1967 to include anyone advancing Western literature. Previous winners include Tony Hillerman, Elmore Leonard, and Loren D. Estleman.

• And you still have a chance to enter this year’s contest for the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, “an annual grant of $2,000 for an emerging writer of color.” The submissions process won’t close until March 31.