The Great Pretender, by Susannah Cahalan, is one of the most extraordinary, best written works […]
The Accomplice, by Joseph Kanon
Joseph Kanon’s The Accomplice stirs up a hell of a historical hornet’s nest. It begins […]
Lady in the Lake, by Laura Lippman
Mystery fiction is full of amateur detectives. They’re a great vehicle for cozy mysteries, or […]
The Queen, by Josh Levin
The phrase “welfare queen” has been around all my life, but I never knew where […]
Miss Buncle’s Book, by D.E. Stevenson
I started listening to Backlisted this week, a British podcast featuring authors and scholars talking […]
Celestial Bodies, by Jokha Alharthi
The title of Johka Alharthi’s novel, Celestial Bodies, put me in mind of an armillary […]
The Cheffe, by Marie NDiaye
Marie NDiaye’s The Cheffe (translated beautifully by Jordan Stump) is billed as “a chef’s novel” […]
Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber
Beware of false prophets. Especially ones who are obsessed with melancholy. And are kind of […]
The Crooked Hinge, by John Dickson Carr
John Dickson Carr’s novel, The Crooked Hinge, begins with a complicated situation. A man has […]
The Shadow King, by Maaza Mengiste
Trigger warning for rape and torture. In 1974, Hirut is a middle-aged woman shading into […]