book review mystery

Book Reviews

Reviews of new and upcoming books in the mystery, thriller, horror, crime, and suspense genres. Our editorial staff and reviewers choose which titles to review. All reviews meet standards of notability.

Four-Alarm Homicide

A Forgotten Kill

Coconut Drop Dead

The Infiltrator

Crime Novels of the 1960s

The President's Lawyer

Ill-fated fortune.

One customer’s ill-fated fortune results in his murder

Public Anchovy #1

She will have to top all of her previous crime-solving accomplishments

The Intruder

Everything is called into question, including who the real intruder is

Borgata: Rise of Empire

The social, economic, and political forces that powered the mafia’s rise

Heroine Withdrawal

A seminal collection of classic pulp and mystery comics

Cold to the Touch

When the body of another woman is found, a serial killer is suspected

He learns his son died following in his footsteps

Blessed Water

The Sister struggles to stay on the righteous path

A resident’s body is found brutally stabbed and his apartment ransacked

She discovers that he had been a police officer in Tokyo after the war

No matter how far she runs, her past is always just a few steps behind

Long Time Gone

A discovery leads her to a small town, the site of her disappearance

If Something Happens to Me

On a summer trip abroad to Italy he gets a call from his father

The teenager’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along a millionaire

The Hunter's Daughter

A serial killer emerges who is copying her father

Galway Confidential

He cannot stay away from the mystery surrounding these vicious attacks

Murder by Lamplight

Another body is found with links to the first

Those who don’t fit societal norms can be castigated and misunderstood

What Happened to Nina?

Facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation

Three-Inch Teeth

A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage

One Wrong Word

Sometimes one wrong word can kill

Nothing But the Bones

A local crime boss runs everything on the mountain

The Lock Box

She wakes up across the country, trapped in her own personal nightmare

The Deepest Kill

His pregnant daughter washed up dead on a nearby shore

The Unquiet Bones

The investigation takes a sharp turn when she discovers a second body

Three Kinds of Lucky

They seek out the one person who might be able to help

The Reckoners demand a ransom from their wealthy hostages

Nothing Without Me

A body is floating in her swimming pool, all signs pointing to suicide

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

A true crime author is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case

Murder Road

They soon learn that there is something supernatural at work

Missing Before Daylight

The more she digs, the longer her list of suspects becomes

A discovery in a storage shed raise the stakes even higher

Nowhere Like Home

When a newcomer arrives, her worst fears are confirmed

The glimpse they had of getting away scot free suddenly seems elusive

The Chaos Agent

Someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and AI

The Price You Pay

Someone has stolen notebooks full of incriminating secrets

A billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered

The Triumph of the Lions

Her golden existence is threatened by the blows of a cruel fate

The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye

There is a grander, darker scheme of treachery at play

At the River

He has no memories of what happened in the Oregon forest

This unlikely, tiny job quickly explodes into his biggest mission yet

The Boy Who Cried Bear

The ten-year-old swears the bear had human eyes

Village in the Dark

Shocking clues have emerged that foul play was involved

One of the Good Guys

Two young women vanish in a seaside town

Out of the Ashes

She might not be able to escape the town alive

The Phoenix Bride

There is no easy cure for melancholy

First Lie Wins

She must stay one step ahead of her past

The Tainted Cup

A detective whose reputation is matched by her eccentricities

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The Best Reviewed Mystery and Crime Books of 2022

Featuring fernanda melchor, robert harris, john darnielle, don winslow, and more.

We’ve come to the end of another bountiful literary year, and for all of us review rabbits here at Book Marks, that can mean only one thing: basic math, and lots of it.

Yes, using reviews drawn from more than 150 publications, over the next two weeks we’ll be calculating and revealing the most critically-acclaimed books of 2022, in the categories of (deep breath): Fiction ; Nonfiction ; Memoir and Biography ; Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror ; Short Story Collections ; Essay Collections; Poetry; Mystery and Crime; Graphic Literature ; and Literature in Translation .

Today’s installment: Mystery and Crime .

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”

1. Paradais by Fernanda Melchor, trans. by Sophie Hughes (New Directions)

18 Rave • 6 Positive

“ Paradais is both more compact and more cogent [than Hurricane Season ]. Rhythm and lexis work in tandem to produce a savage lyricism. The translator Sophie Hughes marvellously matches the author in her pursuit of a new cadence … From its first sentence, in fact, Paradais feels rhythmically propelled towards a violent climax. Full stops occur rarely enough to seem meaningful, Melchor using long lines of unbroken narrative to reel in her terrible ending … The author wants to understand the violence, not merely condemn it … The novel’s language, meanwhile, is both high-flown and street-smart, strewn with Veracruzian slang, the odd made-up word and many eye-watering expletives … Pressure builds remorselessly to a dreadful climax. It is an extraordinary feat of control, making Fernanda Melchor’s exceptional novel into a contemporary masterpiece.”

–Miranda France ( Times Literary Supplement )

2. Devil House by John Darnielle (MCD)

14 Rave • 8 Positive • 2 Mixed Listen to a conversation with John Darnielle here

“… terrific: confident, creepy, a powerful and soulful page-turner. I had no idea where it was going, in the best possible sense … The thing about Darnielle’s writing, in all its forms, is this: If you’re that dorky outcast kid drawing a pentagram on the back page of your three-ring binder in algebra class, not because you want to drink anyone’s blood but because you think it’s cool, he sees you. His novels are in close contact with the alternative cultural universes of fantasy and the occult and science fiction, yet they don’t resemble genre fiction. They’re earthy and fly low to the ground. They are plain-spoken and in no hurry … Devil House …[is] never quite the book you think it is. It’s better.”

–Dwight Garner ( The New York Times )

3. Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (Harper)

14 Rave • 5 Positive

“Gripping … A belter of a thriller. It will be compulsive reading for those who loved An Officer and a Spy , Harris’s book about the Dreyfus affair. Like that novel, the research is immaculate. A chewy, morally murky slice of history is made into a tale that twists and surprises. The characters are strong and we care about their predicament. The story stretches over continents and years, but the suspense feels as taut as if the three main characters were locked in a room with a gun.”

–Antonia Senior ( AirMail )

4. City on Fire by Don Winslow (William Morrow)

14 Rave • 4 Positive Read an interview with Don Winslow here

“Winslow…brings his sharp interpretive skills to Virgil’s Aeneid, and makes the events at Troy and the founding of Rome into a riveting gangster tale. He makes me wonder why I had never before seen the Trojan War as the obvious fight between rival criminal gangs … In City of Fire, he returns to his New England roots for this new classic he says took him decades to write … Winslow is a master of pacing. Action and erotic sequences fire the adrenaline, while tender scenes feel languid and warm. He shades the relationship between men and women in noir tones. Tough guys don’t always get their way. Noir women are wicked smart, and press their advantages against how men’s low assumptions of women make them weak … Winslow has been lauded for the ways that his previous crime novels confront social issues. He has interrogated the ways that borders work between us, that we’re weak at the border when we build insurmountable walls to shore them up. One that runs under the surface of Winslow’s novel is that it’s not just the faults of individuals that cause these men to fail. But here, rigid definitions of who gets to belong in ‘our thing’ create fatal weaknesses among them. The refusal to think outside their constricted notions of masculinity and honor hobbles them.”

–Lorraine Berry ( The Boston Globe )

5. Bad Actors by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

9 Rave • 4 Positive Listen to an excerpt from Bad Actors here

“Herron’s plots are masterpieces of convolution and elegant wrong-footing. Beyond that, his action scenes are fast-paced and thrilling—there are a couple of high-octane doozies in this installment. But the real draw of the series is its dark, dark humor. Much of it is interpersonal, but the most biting of all concerns the state of Britain, a country beset by Brexit, COVID and incompetent, if mercenary, leadership … If there is bad news, it is that you really should have read some of the previous Slough House novels in order to get a handle on this party of rejects, their histories and capabilities. Further, if you are a veteran of the series, you may have become a little weary of Jackson Lamb’s extravagant foulness and his habit of magicking cigarettes and even himself out of nowhere. That said, this is still one of the most enjoyable series I have ever read.”

–Katherine A. Powers ( The Star Tribune )

6. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman Books)

9 Rave • 5 Positive • 1 Pan

“Osman concocts a satisfyingly complex whodunit full of neat twists and wrong turns. But unlike most crime novelists, he ensures his book’s strength and momentum stem not from its plot or its thrills but rather its perfectly formed characters. Once again, the quartet of friends makes for delightful company … If there is fault to be found it is a recurring one throughout the series—namely that Osman’s two men have less to do than his two women, and as a result feel like extras around the main double-act. But what a double-act … What could have been twee and uninvolving is in fact heartwarming and enthralling. ‘They carried a kind of magic, the four of them,’ a policeman muses. That magic is still there in abundance.”

–Malcolm Forbes ( The Washington Post )

7. Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan (Pegasus)

9 Rave • 2 Positive • 1 Mixed • 1 Pan

“. deliciously weird … Fagan once again examines the way people are affected by unhealthy spaces … she writes about placement and displacement with an arresting mix of insight and passion … Fagan tests each floor of No. 10 Luckenbooth as though she’s playing a literary version of Jenga, drawing out one block after another from this unstable structure … a muffled scream—with a feral melody and a thundering bass line. Her prose has never been more cinematic. This story’s inexorable acceleration and its crafty use of suggestion and elision demonstrate the special effects that the best writers can brew up without a single line of Hollywood software—just paper, ink and ghosts.”

–Ron Charles ( The Washington Post )

8. The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (St. Martin’s Press)

7 Rave • 2 Positive • 3 Mixed

“An ingenious new psychological suspense novel that concocts an elaborate backstory behind Christie’s disappearance … Here’s the neatest narrative trick of all: As Christie characteristically did, de Gramont hides the solution to the mystery of The Christie Affair in plain sight … The Christie Affair is richly imagined; inventive and, occasionally, poignant; and about as true-to-life as Christie’s own tales of quaint villages with their staggering murder rates. But when fabrications are this marvelous, why demand realism?”

–Maureen Corrigan ( The Washington Post )

9. Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner (William Morrow)

7 Rave • 2 Positive • 2 Mixed

“It’s a pulpy, expansive crime novel that feels of a piece with Mann’s filmography, from its hypercompetent, ambitious characters to the richly detailed underworlds they operate in … At times, Mann and Gardiner use the prequel portion of the book to directly explain the origins of iconic moments from the film, but even those instances tend to feel motivated by the story rather than like cheap ploys to get readers to do the Leo pointing meme … part of the fun of Heat 2 lies in watching its authors pull ideas and tiny details from across Mann’s entire filmography … Heat 2 , though, paints complete enough portraits of its characters to allow you to imagine them separately from the stars who played them, making a film adaptation with new actors easier to imagine.”

–Chris Stanton ( Vulture )

10. An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy (Viking)

6 Rave • 3 Positive • 2 Mixed Listen to an interview with Dwyer Murphy here

“Like the best noir practitioners, Murphy uses the mystery as scaffolding to assemble a world of fallen dreams and doom-bitten characters … Murphy’s hard-boiled rendering of the city is nothing short of exquisite. It’s a landscape of reeking garbage, of salty rain sweeping off the ocean, of Midtown towers that look ‘ghostly like a mountain range,’ … For anyone who wants a portrait of this New York, few recent books have conjured it so vividly. For those who demand a straightforward mystery without any humor, romance and ambience, well, forget it, Jake, it’s literature.”

–Christopher Bollen ( The New York Times Book Review )

Our System:

RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points

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Book Reviews

A theater critic and a hotel maid are on the case in 2 captivating mystery novels.

Maureen Corrigan

How could I resist a suspense novel in which a critic becomes an amateur detective in order to avoid becoming a murder suspect or even a victim? I inhaled Alexis Soloski's debut thriller, Here in the Dark ; but, even readers who don't feel a professional kinship with Soloski's main character should be drawn to this moody and erudite mystery. Soloski, who herself is a theater critic for The New York Times , nods to other stories like the classic noir, Laura , and even the screwball comedy, The Man Who Came to Dinner , where a critic takes center stage.

Our troubled 30-something year old heroine, Vivian Parry, has been the junior theater critic at a New York magazine for years. After a serious breakdown in college, Vivian feels OK about the "small life" she created for herself consisting of a walk-up apartment in the East Village; and lots of casual sex, drinking and theater. Here's how Vivian explains herself:

Warmth is not my forte. As far as the rich palette of human experience goes, I live on a gray scale. Aristotle said that drama was an imitation of an action. I am, of necessity, an imitation of myself — a sharp smile, an acid joke, an abyss where a woman should be. ... Except when I'm seeing theater, good theater. When I'm in the dark, at that safe remove from daily life, I feel it all — rage, joy, surprise. Until the houselights come on and break it all apart again, I am alive.

Vivian's notorious prickliness, however, may be her undoing. The position of chief critic at the magazine has become vacant and Vivian is competing for it against a likeable colleague whom she describes as having "a retina-scarring smile, and the aesthetic discernment of a wedge salad."

Here are the Books We Love: 380+ great 2023 reads recommended by NPR

When a graduate student requests an interview with Vivian and her participation on a panel on criticism, Vivian thinks this outside validation may just tip the odds for promotion in her favor. Instead, she becomes a person of interest to the police after that grad student vanishes and she discovers the corpse of a stranger in a nearby park.

Is this just a series of unfortunate events or is something more sinister going on? Vivian starts investigating on her own, which puts her in the sights of Russian mobsters and a sexually vicious police detective who could have been cast in Marat/Sade . Maybe Vivian should have played it safe and contented herself with writing snarky reviews of the Rockettes holiday shows.

Soloski, too, might have played it safe, but, fortunately for us readers she didn't. Instead of writing a coy send-up of a theatrical thriller, she's written a genuinely disturbing suspense tale that explores the theater of cruelty life can sometimes be.

Critics should be aware of their biases. For instance I know that given a choice, I'll pass up a cozy mystery and reach for the hard stuff. That's why I missed Nita Prose's mega bestselling cozy debut called, The Maid , when it came out nearly two years ago. A mystery featuring a hotel maid named Molly seemed to promise a lot of heartwarming fluff.

Heartwarming, yes; but the only fluff in The Maid — and in its new sequel, The Mystery Guest — is the kind stuffed into the pillows of the Regency Grand Hotel.

At the center of both novels is our narrator, Molly Gray, a sensitive young woman who processes the world differently. She's hyper-attentive to details: a tiny smudge on a TV remote, say, but not so sharp when it comes to reading people. That's why the meaner employees at the Regency Grand mockingly call her names like "Roomba the Robot."

In 'The Maid,' a devoted hotel cleaning lady is a prime murder suspect

In The Mystery Guest , Molly, who's now "head maid," has to clean up a real mess: A famous mystery writer who's signing books at the Regency, keels over dead, the victim of foul play.

It turns out Molly knew this writer because her beloved late grandmother was his maid. Of course, he failed to recognize Molly because he's one of those people who just looks through the help and their kin.

The Mystery Guest takes readers into Molly's childhood and fills in the backstory — some of it painful — of her grandmother's life. Like Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, who's rendered invisible because she's an old woman, Molly and her grandmother are not seen because of the kind of work they do. In this affecting and socially-pointed mystery series, however, invisibility becomes the superpower of the pink-collar proletariat.

‘The Maid’ was a surprise hit. Its sequel lives up to the hype.

‘the mystery guest,’ the second installment in nita prose’s maid novels series, is both a delightful whodunit and a pointed social commentary.

Molly Gray, the heroine of “ The Mystery Guest ,” has inherited a trove of chipper maxims from her late grandmother, known as Gran, but the one she repeats most often is this gem about making hasty assumptions: “When you assume, you make an A-S-S out of U and ME.”

I thought of that wisdom after I read “The Mystery Guest” and, then, went back and read its predecessor, “ The Maid ,” the best-selling 2022 novel by Nita Prose in which Molly made her debut. (Florence Pugh is to produce and star in the screen adaptation .) As someone whose tastes in mysteries skew toward the hard-boiled, I initially passed on “The Maid” because I assumed that a story featuring a hotel maid as an amateur detective was going to be stuffed with heartwarming fluff. Heartwarming, yes; but the only fluff in the Maid Novels, as this series is now called, is the deluxe filler in the pillows of the five-star Regency Grand Hotel where Molly works.

Charming as the world of these mysteries can be, they’re also informed by tough truths about the routine humiliations of service employees like Molly and Gran. In their acute class-conscious commentary, Prose’s Maid Novels are worthy successors to Barbara Neely’s four award-winning Blanche White mysteries, featuring a middle-aged Black domestic worker rendered invisible to her mostly White employers, not only by her profession but by her race. Neely, who died in 2020 , was recognized as a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America that same year.

As Prose’s many fans already know, Molly is a sensitive young woman who processes the world differently. She’s hyper-attentive to details like, say, a tiny smudge on a TV remote. This single-minded focus makes Molly an excellent maid, but she’s not so sharp when it comes to reading people or catching the undertones of conversations. Amused by her diligence and demeanor, Molly’s meaner fellow employees at the Regency Grand mock her with names like “Roomba the Robot.”

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“The Mystery Guest,” however, finds Molly in a better position, professionally and personally, than she was a few years earlier. She’s been promoted to head maid and she’s happily living with Juan Manuel, the sweet kitchen worker who had fallen into the grip of a predatory co-worker in the earlier novel. Juan is visiting his family in Mexico, so he’s not on hand to help in this outing, which finds Molly confronting a real mess: the death of a famous mystery writer, J.D. Grimthorpe, who keeled over while he was signing books at a reception at the Regency Grand. Foul play is involved.

To make matters even more muddled, Molly spent a fair bit of time with Grimthorpe when she was a child, because Gran worked as a housemaid for him and his wife. In alternating flashback chapters, we learn that Gran was forced to take Molly along with her to the Grimthorpe mansion after bullying by Molly’s classmates — and even some of her teachers — became intolerable. The scene where Gran, with young Molly in tow, must bow and scrape before the censorious Mrs. Grimthorpe will resonate with anyone who’s ever had to bring their child into a less-than-welcoming workplace.

Although young Molly and Grimthorpe became unlikely friends, he fails to recognize her at that fatal reception at the Regency Grand, even when she steps in front of him to have her copy of his latest book signed. (“How was it possible that I remembered everything about him but he did not remember me?”) Because of their proximity to the victim and the murder weapon, Molly and her protégé — a nervous young woman named Lily Finch — become the prime suspects of the police investigation. Molly is also troubled by the strange behavior of her good friend Mr. Preston, the doorman at the Regency. As she digs deeper into the past to ferret out the truth about Grimthorpe and his murder, Molly also despairs of her own limitations. “I was afraid of myself, of my infinite capacity for understanding things too late.”

Throughout this novel and its predecessor, Prose vividly depicts working people stuck in tight places with no easy exits. As Gran told Molly when she was a little girl, her eyes filling with tears, “You deserve better, but I don’t know what else to do.” The fact that our narrator Molly, even as an adult, can’t quite give voice to the emotions she’s recalling or witnessing adds poignancy to these moments.

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“The Mystery Guest” isn’t as intricately plotted as its superb predecessor, but Prose scatters enough revelations throughout this tale to keep tension on a moderate setting. Besides, the characters of Molly and her beloved Gran, women who are overlooked because of the kind of work they do, are the overwhelming draw of the Maid Novels. In this affecting and socially pointed mystery series, invisibility becomes the superpower of the pink-collared proletariat.

Maureen Corrigan, who is the book critic for the NPR program “Fresh Air,” teaches literature at Georgetown University.

The Mystery Guest

A Maid Novel

By Nita Prose

Ballantine. 304 pp. $29

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Literary Quicksand

https://literaryquicksand.com/

We’re a book blog based out of Minneapolis, MN. We feature a group of women writers from multiple countries who all come together over one thing: our love of books!

Blogger : Jolissa Skow

Genres : Mystery/Thriller

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⭐️ Accepts indie books? Yes

Books and Beyond Reviews

https://booksandbeyondreviews.com/

For the most part, I am avid book reader. I will try a wide range of books, with one exception ‰ÛÒ romance. I have never been able to engage with books of this genre, so please keep this in mind when requesting a review.

Blogger : The BB Team

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Best Thrillers

https://bestthrillers.com/

Featuring trusted thriller book reviews, awards and author lists, BestThrillers.com helps mystery and thriller fans discover the best new books and writers.

Blogger : Bella

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Mystery Suspense

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I receive no monetary compensation for any reviews I post and I give my honest opinion of the book. Remember - please only submit mystery/suspense fiction. I will not even reply to other book genres. NO ROMANCES, which includes romantic suspense. Please look at what I have already reviewed and liked, to gauge if your work is similar.

Blogger : MS Team

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I've Read This

https://ivereadthis.com/

I worked in the Canadian publishing industry for 7 years, and loved every minute of it. Now I write book reviews for various publications, and I'm the books columnist for CBC Calgary's Homestretch. I'm the Past President of the Writers' Guild of Alberta Board of Directors and I host various literary events around the city. The majority of the books I review on this blog have been sent to me from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, and all opinions are my own.

Blogger : Anne Logan

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⭐️ Accepts indie books? No

The Bookish Elf

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The Bookish Elf is a site you can rely on for book reviews, author interviews, book recommendations, and all things books.

Blogger : Mitul Patel

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https://barbtaub.com/

As a writer myself, I welcome the work of others. If you're interested in having me review a book, please see the submission guidelines below the Contact Form.

Blogger : Barb

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https://booksirl.com/

books irl is committed to highlighting and celebrating various diverse characters, stories, and authors.

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Murder, Mayhem & More

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We'll consider all kinds of crime fiction for review; if we don't have time to fit your book into our schedule then we'll happily help pass the word through our new-book round-up and social media feeds. We also feature interviews, extracts and giveaways.

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I cannot guarantee a favorable review, but I will be honest, respectful and fair. My reviews generally take seven days from start to finish. I read books in order of release date, and try to accommodate your requests.

Blogger : Kimberly

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Lisa's Reading

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Family-Friendly Book Reviews

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Book Briefs

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I read all YA and New Adult books for the most part, but do read some Adult Paranormal and contemporary Romance as well as some adult Chicklit, Romance and Mystery/Suspense. My favorite genres of YA/NA books.

Blogger : Michelle

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A book review site with a difference, providing in-depth book reviews, while focusing on character analyses and exposure to different cultures and countries.

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Beyond the Bookends

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Welcome to Beyond the Bookends, a blog for modern Moms who love to read and wish to inspire a love of reading in their children.

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Chick Lit Cafe

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We do professional engaging book reviews and effective book promotion. We connect readers with authors. Readers and authors love our award winning website. Visit our website for more information and to read our great reviews.

Blogger : Jewel

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So you want to find a book blog?

If you’re a voracious reader, you might think of a book blog as an oasis in the middle of the desert: a place on the Internet that brims with talk about books, books, and more books.

Well, good news — we built this directory of the 200 of the best book blogs  to satiate your thirst. Take a walk around, use the filters to narrow down your search to blogs in your preferred genre, and feel free to bookmark this page and come back, as we do update it regularly with more of the best book blogs out there. 

If you’re an aspiring author, you might see a book blog more as a book review blog: a place where you can get your yet-to-be published book reviewed. In that case, you’ll be glad to know that most of the book blogs in our directory are open to review requests and accept indie books! We expressly designed this page (and our book marketing platform, Reedsy Discovery ) to be useful to indie book authors who need book reviews. If you’re wondering how to approach a book blog for a review request, please read on. 

You’ve found a book blog. Now what? 

Let’s say that you’re an author, and you’ve found a couple of book blogs that would be perfect fits to review your book. What now? Here are some tips as you go about getting your book reviews:

• Be sure to read the review policy. First, check that the book blog you’re querying is open to review requests. If that’s the fortunate case, carefully read the blog’s review policy and make sure that you follow the directions to a T.  
• Individualize your pitches. Book bloggers will be able to immediately tell apart the bulk pitches, which simply come across as thoughtless and indifferent. If you didn’t take the time to craft a good pitch, why should the blogger take the time to read your book? Personalize each pitch to up your chances of getting a response. 
• Format your book in a professional manner before sending it out. Ensure that your manuscript isn’t presented sloppily. If the book blogger asks for a digital ARC, you might want to check out apps such as Instafreebie or Bookfunnel. 
• Create a spreadsheet to track your progress. Wading through so many book blogs can be troublesome — not to mention trying to remember which ones you’ve already contacted. To save yourself the time and trouble, use a simple Excel spreadsheet to keep track of your progress (and results). 

Looking to learn even more about the process? Awesome 👍 For a detailed guide, check out this post that’s all about getting book reviews . 

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Crime & Mystery

New Novels Brimming With Murder, Jazz and Sumptuous Sweets

Our crime columnist recommends four September books.

Credit... Pablo Amargo

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By Sarah Weinman

• Sept. 3, 2023

Ragnar Jonasson has long been one of Iceland’s commercial successes, selling more than 3 million copies of his crime novels there. REYKJAVIK (Minotaur, 367 pp., $28) his first collaboration with Katrin Jakobsdottir — the country’s current prime minister, by the way — qualifies as a breakout: seamlessly plotted, with terrific characters and plenty of surprising, earned twists.

The central crime, the 1956 disappearance of a girl named Lara, who worked for a rich couple on an island near off the coast near Reykjavik, is still unsolved as the city approaches its 200th anniversary three decades later. The journalist Valur Robertsson knows a fresh investigation will sell newspapers (and make his impatient editor ecstatic). He finds himself battling internal frustration and external impatience, all of which he expresses to his sister, Sunna, a slightly adrift graduate student.

Despite secretive sources, legal threats and reminders that past and present are forever intertwined, Valur pushes hard to center Lara and her family in his stories. Sunna, too, will find herself drawn into the investigation, sometimes at her own peril. Jonasson and Jakobsdottir, beautifully translated by Victoria Cribb, demonstrate with understated brilliance how the truth rises to the surface, no matter how ugly it is or how powerful the players are.

Nina Simon’s MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT (Morrow, 357 pp., $30) filled me with equal parts excitement and hesitation. I loved the concept — three generations of the Rubicon family, all women, team up to solve a murder in their Northern California coastal town. But a novel can’t succeed on concept alone, and I’m pleased to say that Simon crafted an endearing trio of fully-fleshed out characters.

There’s Lana, a real-estate baron who’d rather be in Los Angeles but is convalescing from cancer treatment at her daughter Beth’s home. The two of them been in conflict ever since Beth gave birth to Jack when she was a teenager. Their problems only get worse when Jack, now 16, finds a body on the beach — and promptly gets tagged as a suspect. Lana, naturally, decides to focus on finding the murderer, because she’s spent her whole life and career problem-solving.

Simon grants equal spotlight to Beth, content in her life but learning to understand her willful mother, and Jack, a resourceful adolescent with plenty of agency. Though “Mother-Daughter Murder Night” functions better as a character study than a mystery, I foresee more crime-solving in the Rubicons’ future.

Most dreams are doomed to die, and for Clyde Morton, whose journey is at the center of Jake Lamar’s moody noir VIPER’S DREAM (Crooked Lane, 194 pp., paperback $19.99) the heartbreak of realizing he can’t cut it as a jazz musician in 1930s Harlem informs all of his subsequent decisions. By 1961, it’s impossible to tell that Morton — nicknamed “the Viper” — is doing anything but living his dream: After all, “he now owned two Cadillacs, one silver, one black,” along with a fifth-floor apartment in Harlem’s Sugar Hill with stunning views of northern Manhattan.

Ah, but the price of such riches turn out to be ruinously expensive. Morton earned his lucre as an enforcer in the drug trade, committing a murder here and there. They were necessary, he explains, except for the one that was pure revenge. There’s another great cost: the ebb and flow of his relationship with Yolanda, a talented singer he couldn’t keep because she didn’t know how to keep herself.

Lamar’s primary strength is his sense of place, especially the “crowded, hot and rollicking” Harlem jazz clubs that Morton so loves.

Sometimes, after reviewing a debut series mystery I like, I don’t return until a few more installments have been published. I’m glad I did with MURDER AND MAMON (Berkley Prime Crime, 270 pp., paperback $17) , the fourth in Mia P. Manansala’s series featuring the Midwestern small-town coffee shop owner and baker Lila Macapagal. Though the effervescent delights of Manansala’s opening salvo, “Arsenic and Adobo,” are still very much in evidence, now Lila’s world feels richer and more fully imagined. Manasala has become truly enmeshed in her characters’ lives, and it shows.

Lila has helped establish the Brew-ha Cafe as a staple in Shady Palms, Illinois. Her love life is stable and she feels more rooted in her community and her family, both biological and chosen. The arrival of her cousin Divina from the Philippines and the opening of a new laundromat by Lila’s godmothers — the “calendar crew” of April, Mae, and June — point to more good news. But then someone vandalizes the laundromat and murders Divina, leaving a spray-painted message next to her body: “MIND YOUR BUSINESS.” Is this directive referring to the gossipy godmothers, who love to stick their noses in everyone’s affairs? When the local police fail to make much headway Lila decides she must unearth whatever secrets proved so deadly for her cousin, even as she’s warned, “Be prepared to find out stuff about Divina and maybe even your mom that you’d rather not know.”

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We All Sleuth: 11 New Mystery Thriller Books For April 2024

Jamie Canaves

Jamie Canavés is the Tailored Book Recommendations coordinator and Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter writer–in case you’re wondering what you do with a Liberal Arts degree. She’s never met a beach she didn’t like, always says yes to dessert, loves ‘80s nostalgia, all forms of entertainment, and can hold a conversation using only gifs. You can definitely talk books with her on Litsy and Goodreads . Depending on social media’s stability maybe also Twitter and Bluesky .

View All posts by Jamie Canaves

What does April have for mystery and thriller readers? There is a domestic thriller with a social media influencer obsessed with a true crime, a chef sleuth, an English detective agency, a middle grade school set mystery, a fictional serial killer procedural, and a novel for fans of Only Murders in the Building . There are two historical mysteries: a YA set in L.A. with the murder of a film star and an adult mystery set in London with a Holmes-inspired duo. We have a return-home mystery, a multiple POV domestic thriller, a slow-burn remote mystery, and the latest in a long-running cozy mystery series where the animals help solve the cases. Hope you’re ready to solve some mysteries!

Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett

For fans of domestic thrillers, missing person cases, murder mysteries, and social media influencers!

Bree is staying in a luxury New Jersey home with her new boyfriend, Ty, but it turns into a nightmare rather than a love nest when Bree wakes up to Ty missing and a dead white woman in the home. Not only is Bree concerned for Ty, but the past she distanced herself from when she was arrested in college comes flooding back. She’s forced to call a friend from her previous life—who is now a lawyer—because the dead woman is a missing person the internet is obsessed with finding, helmed by a beauty influencer using the case to boost her engagement.

For backlist readers, pick up Garrett’s cozy series starter Hollywood Homicide and murder mystery standalone Like a Sister .

The Last Word (Harbinder Kaur #4) by Elly Griffiths

For fans of English mysteries, detective agencies, delightful characters, and murder mysteries!

Edwin is in his 80s and partnered with Natalka, 50 years his junior, in a detective agency they’ve opened up. They are bored with minor cases in the likes of fraud until they get a murder mystery: Melody Chambers, a local writer, is dead, and her daughters believe she was murdered. Enter Edwin and Natalka taking on the case and going undercover!

This is a loosely tied-together series where the books can be read as standalones, but all are delightful and wonderful. If you want to start at the beginning, pick up The Stranger Diaries . Griffiths also has the popular Ruth Galloway series, starring an archaeologist, that starts with The Crossing Places .

Murder on Demand (The Morning Show Murders Book 4) by Al Roker, Matt Costello

For fans of celebrity-written series, and amateur sleuth chefs!

Billy Blessing is starting life over a decade after leaving Chicago, with a chef job in Long Island. But it isn’t long before a mystery finds him: a boat washed up with no one on it and the police are going with a “there must have been an accident” theory. But the daughter of the boat’s owner wants to know where her father is or what happened to him. So Billy will look into it…

If you want to start at the beginning, pick up The Morning Show Murders .

Drew Leclair Crushes the Case ( Drew Leclair #2) by Katryn Bury

For fans of LGBTQ+ middle grade mysteries, kid detectives, and school settings!

Drew has asthma and anxiety and loves solving a mystery: something that recently got her in trouble at school. So she knows better but also, she was born to solve mysteries. So she is absolutely looking into who is breaking into PE lockers and leaving ransom notes, something she’d rather focus on instead of her mom having run off with her school counselor.

If you’re looking for a delightful mystery series, be sure to pick up the first, Drew Leclair Gets a Clue .

The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee, SJ Rozan

For fans of Holmes-inspired duos, historical mysteries, and murder mysteries!

In London, 1924, academic Lao She ultimately ends up partnered with Judge Dee Ren Jie after a series of events. Now they have a murder to solve: who killed Ma Za Ren with one of his own store’s weapons? Come for the mystery, and stay for the humor and action!

Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson

For fans of Only Murders in the Building !

Dorothy Darling, in her 70s, and Kat Bennett, in her 20s, are new neighbors at Shelley House, with Darling being the longest resident and Bennett the newest. They are not getting along. But that will have to be put aside when they have to come together with the residents to save the building from their landlord and also figure out who attacked one of the tenants…

Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee

For fans of historical YA mysteries!

Sisters May, Gemma, and Peony Chow find the body of Lulu Wong, a 1930s movie star. The LAPD isn’t motivated to investigate, and they’re known to be corrupt, so the Chow sisters—once classmates and neighbors of Wong’s—decide to solve the murder mystery themselves.

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

For fans of returning to a small town and mysteries involving inheritances!

Detective Perry Holt has died in his North Carolina hometown, and Hazel Sharp returns home for the funeral. Hazel was raised by Holt, along with his two sons, when Hazel’s mom walked out on Holt after cleaning him out. It’s as much of a surprise to Hazel as everyone else that Holt’s home was left to her in his will, and soon she’ll find out that it comes with the cost of past secrets…

Feline Fatale (Mrs. Murphy #32) by Rita Mae Brown

For fans of cozy mysteries with cat and dog sidekicks!

You can find our sleuth Harry in Crozet, Virginia, caught up once again in a mystery: a mysterious death! There’s currently a bill to improve road clearing, which Harry’s friend is advocating for. A delegate opponent of the bill, with plenty of enemies, has one of her young pages die under mysterious circumstances. Enter Harry—with help from cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and dogs Tucker and Pirate—to solve the case!

If you want to start at the beginning, pick up Wish You Were Here !

While We Were Burning by Sara Koffi

For fans of domestic thrillers, “Is it a murder” mysteries, and dual POV!

Elizabeth and David have recently moved to a wealthy Memphis neighborhood, and the closest thing to a friend Elizabeth has is their neighbor Patricia. On the morning she’s meant to go for a run with Patricia, Elizabeth instead finds her dead. Her death is ruled a suicide, but Elizabeth refuses to believe it is, and her husband David tries to help her spiraling mental health by getting her an assistant. But the assistant doesn’t distract Elizabeth as she’s meant to; instead she also has questions about Patricia’s death.

One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole

For fans of slow burn remote mysteries with thriller endings!

Ken Nash has dissociative disorder and has not been the one in charge of herself since punching a boyfriend’s father. She comes to find that her alters have gone through a pandemic, have been evicted, and took a job in a castle on a remote island that technically doesn’t start until she’s spent a full night there. As she tries to establish herself back in the world and learn what her alters have been doing and are currently doing, she’s trapped on an island with a caretaker who isn’t thrilled to have Ken there.

Always looking for a great mystery to curl up with? We got you covered !

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10 Captivating Cozy Mystery Books to Snuggle Up With!

I f you're looking for a book packed with lighthearted suspense, a compelling trail of clues, quaint settings and relatable characters, you'll find all that and more in one particular literary genre: cozy mystery. This immensely popular genre has remained a mainstay in reading culture for decades, but what exactly sets a cozy mystery apart from a traditional mystery? And what are some great cozy mysteries to crack open for those interested in the genre? Keep reading to find out the answers.

What defines a cozy mystery?

Cozy mystery is a subgenre of Mystery and Crime Fiction featuring similar plot devices such as an unsolved crime, a culprit at-large and the signature twists and turns that lead the main character to solving the case - but violence and gore happen off-page. Cozy mysteries, sometimes referred to as "cozies," were designed to deliver all the classic detective tropes in a lighter, more wholesome and comfortable way.

In cozies, the main character is often a relatable woman with a quirky job - like cupcake baker, quilter, librarian and bookstore owner - who just so happens to be an amateur sleuth. Another key ingredient in the cozy recipe? A picturesque small-town setting. These sleuths often reside in charming tight-knit seaside villages, snowy mountain towns and other locales that foster a heartwarming sense of community and allow the main character to effortlessly gather her clues.

Related: Stephen King, Lisa Jewell, Ruth Ware And More Best-Selling Mystery Authors Reveal The Stories They Can't Get Enough of

Why are cozy mysteries so popular?

This genre provides a fun and riveting - yet comforting - escape for readers. According to Abby Collette, bestselling author of A Killer Sundae and A Game of Cones , cozies are beloved because they allow you to experience something new or exciting through the comfort of a book: "From amateur sleuths to private eyes and everything in between, I find mysteries captivating and fulfilling. It is utterly appealing to be compelled to turn each page of a book as concealed secrets unfold, making its way to the reveal of a final twist that makes me say, ‘oh wow.'  Lost in the tangled web of a mystery book, I get to go along on a wave of intrigue that I'd never experience in real life."

Here, we've rounded up some of the best cozy mystery books that are guaranteed to entertain. Happy sleuthing!

Fateful Words by Paige Shelton

Adventure, danger and intrigue combine in this Edinburgh-set whodunit following Delaney Nichols, an antiques expert at the Cracked Spine bookstore. Delaney is called on to guide her boss Edwin's yearly literary tour. But on the first night, the manager of the inn where they are staying is pushed off the roof and killed. Next, one of the tour members disappears. Delaney vows to figure out who's really behind it all - before it's too late!

What mystery lovers are saying: "I loved this book, just as I have loved all the books in this series! The main character, Delaney, the girl from Kansas, is a delightful character, who is sometimes a bit too curious for her own good. A person died, another person had his identity stolen, people disappearing and reappearing and everyone was in a tizzy trying to figure out what was happening. The plot is easily followed and the ‘family' of the Cracked Spine bookstore was split up momentarily trying to make things right. I most certainly recommend this book and the rest of the series, all set in the lovely Scottish city Edinburgh, where my mother's family originated from."

Soul of a Killer by Abby Collette

This deliciously fun whodunit penned by bestselling author Abby Collette delights! Fraternal twins Keaton and Koby are opening their soul food café and bookstore, Books & Biscuits. Business is booming in the small town of Timber Lake, until Mama Zola, Koby's foster mom, and Pete, a bookstore employee, take a peach cobbler to the church's potluck. When the person who sampled it is found dead, Koby and Keaton must find the killer and clear all their names quickly!

What mystery lovers are saying: " Soul of a Kille r was an excellent read! Abby Collette is absolutely gifted! Her characters, the setting, the possible motives, and related information keeps the reader guessing."

Honey Drop Dead by Laura Childs

A charming, witty mystery - written by New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs - kicks off during Theodosia Browning's Honey Bee Tea in Charleston's new Petigru Park. But the tea party is suddenly interrupted when a beekeeper shows up and sprays toxic smoke at the guests. In the midst of all the chaos, Osgood Claxton III, a candidate for state legislature, is shot. Now, Theodosia must question everyone who had a bone to pick with Claxton in order to find the killer.

What mystery lovers are saying: "This is the perfect cozy for food and tea lovers! I continue to read and enjoy this series. Theo and Drayton are the leads. She owns the Charleston tea shop and Drayton brews a huge assortment of teas. Of course, there's always a murder to solve. The next installment is already on me Kindle. First, I will make a couple of the recipes (from the end of the story), and brew a cup of tea while the scones bake."

A Fatal Groove by Olivia Blacke

Olivia Blacke is known for her charming and lighthearted tales, and her latest cozy is part of her Record Shop series. Juni Jessup and her sisters, Tansy and Maggie, open Sip & Spin Records: part record shop, part coffee shop. It's all brewing up perfectly until the mayor drops dead after drinking their coffee. Now, the sisters both spring into action to find the real killer on the loose and clear Sip & Spin's reputation!

What mystery lovers are saying: "To say that I love this series is an understatement. If you love cozy mysteries that are comical and keep you on your toes, you are in the right place."

Murder and Mamon by Mia P. Manansala

Bestselling author Mia P. Manansala mixes humor and high-stakes danger in her whodunits, and this new installment in Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery series follows suit. Lila Macapagal's godmothers­ - April, Mae and June - are celebrating the opening of their laundromat, but the happy occasion turns sinister when a dead body is found in the building. Now, Lila will dig for clues to find the culprit! 

What mystery lovers are saying: "A mouth-watering culinary cozy mystery! Set in the town of Shady Palms, this series follows Lila Macapagal and is full of food, friends and family drama. I have vibed with every book in this series so far and have really enjoyed getting to know Lila, her family and friends."

Fur Love or Money by Sofie Ryan

Quirky, cute and chaotic…Sofie Ryan's whodunits are always exciting - and her latest is the 11th installment in her Second Chance Cat Mystery series. Sarah Grayson is taking a break from her busy secondhand shop in small-town Maine to spend time with a friend and their dog. But their visit goes awry when the dog leads them to a nearby cellar, where they discover a dead body. Now, Sarah and her rescue cat, Elvis, must put all paws on deck to suss out the culprit fast!

What mystery lovers are saying: "A great mystery that can easily be read as a standalone book (though I recommend checking out the whole Second Chance Cat Mystery series)!"

The Sign of Four Spirits by Vicki Delany

A kooky, spirited story begins in the latest installment of the Sherlock Homes Bookshop Mystery series. When a psychic fair arrives in town, bookshop owner Gemma Doyle wants nothing to do with it. Then she's talked into attending a séance - only to be banned upon arrival! As she's leaving, she hears a scream. She bursts back in to find a dead body…someone in the room is a killer. Now, Gemma has no choice but to track the clues to find the murderer.

What mystery lovers are saying: "I'm a fan of Vicki Delany's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries, and her amateur sleuth, Gemma Doyle - who is modeled after Sherlock Holmes. Although Gemma is on the periphery of the scene when the murder occurs in The Sign of Four Spirits, she works her unofficial investigation, using her knowledge of the people on the scene. A terrific amateur sleuth!"

Ill -Fated Fortune by Jennifer J. Chow

A spellbinding whodunit unfolds in the first installment of Jennifer J. Chow's Magical Fortune Cookie series. When Felicity Jin begins crafting handmade fortune cookies, they become so popular that she runs out of generic fortunes and starts making her own personalized predictions. But then, when one customer's fortune leads to his murder, police point fingers at Felicity. Now, she needs to find a way to clear her name - or else . A compelling blend of mystery and magical realism!

What mystery lovers are saying: "I highly enjoyed this book. I am invested in Felicity and her mom. In her friendship with Kelvin possibly blooming into something more. And I want more of Alma, her Godmother! Alma seems so interesting. I need more of her. Yes, I recommend giving this book a try!"

Public Anchovy #1 by Mindy Quigley

In the hilariously delicious third installment of the Deep Dish Mystery series, a riveting, fun whodunit transpires. As pizza chef Delilah O'Leary's restaurant is struggling through the slow winter season, her love life is heating up with hunky police detective Calvin Capone. But when a dead body is found at the town's fundraiser party, Capone and Delilah are off to catch the killer - or else their lives could be on the line next! 

What mystery lovers are saying: "This might be my favorite installment of this series, with a nod to Agatha Christie having all the suspects confined together in one setting. What an entertaining cozy mystery!"

Moonlight, Marshmallows, & Manslaughter by Tonya Kappes  

Filled with twists, turns and fun recipes, best-selling author Tonya Kappes enchants readers in the newest installment of her A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery series. Mae West and the Laundry Club ladies are back! In this tale, a renowned botanist known for her groundbreaking research is found dead during Normal, Kentucky's National Wildflower Week. Now Mae and the Laundry Club are following a trail of clues. Can they piece together the puzzle before the killer strikes again?

What mystery lovers are saying: "Whenever I pick up a book written by Tonya I am excited and know that I am visiting friends. Tonya is such a good storyteller who describes the people and the scenes so completely that I feel like I am there with them and know these people like my own friends and family. I feel like I am there with them and can almost see, feel and smell the people and the surroundings. I love all of Tonya's books and enjoy reading them. I can almost guess what is going to happen, or who is going to be where, but of course Tonya then throws a curve ball and I can always be heard saying, "I didn't see that coming."

For more of our favorite books, click through the links below!

14 Unputdownable Thrillers Guaranteed to Keep You on The Edge of Your Seat!

11 Enchanting Books That Will Transport You to Ireland Without Ever Leaving Home

12 Must-Read Romantasy Books That Guarantee a Swoon-Worthy Escape

And for all of our book roundups, click  here!

This article may contain affiliate links that Microsoft and/or the publisher may receive a commission from if you buy a product or service through those links.

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Book review: Drawn-out and overly academic feel to sleepwalking murder mystery Anna O

By Matthew Blake

Mystery/HarperCollins/Paperback/448 pages/$26.19/Amazon SG ( amzn.to/43Lgxx7 ) 3 stars

Four years ago, Anna Ogilvy murdered her two best friends and then fell into a deep sleep from which she has never woken.

The media dubs her Anna O, the Sleeping Beauty who committed one of the worst crimes of the decade. Obsessed fanatics argue over her guilt. Internet sleuths hypothesise about a motive for the gruesome deaths.

None of that matters, only that Dr Ben Prince has been tasked with waking her so the legal system can finally decide if Anna was awake or sleepwalking when she stabbed two people to death.

While observing Anna from outside her patient room, Ben thinks: “I am within touching distance of a murderer. The thought is disturbing in every possible sense. Evil, in some people’s eyes, is literally sleeping in the next room.”

Formerly a researcher and speechwriter at the Palace of Westminster, British debut author Matthew Blake ventured into the world of fiction writing after learning that the average person spends 33 years of their life asleep – the same fact he opens the novel with. He is now a full-time writer based in London.

Blake’s detailed research into sleep-related crimes and resignation syndrome – a hypothesised condition induced by a state of minimal consciousness after trauma – is evident. However, a tendency to info-dump leaves chunks of the book feeling like an academic work rather than a murder mystery.

Instances where Anna describes her confusion and fear after waking from bouts of sleepwalking are the most human moments, breaking free of the textbook-like feel that the rest of the novel has when talking about other sleep-related illnesses.

Anna journals: “I am scared about who I become at night and what I might do. I am scared by the dark thoughts that sleep inside me.”

More interesting than the primary mystery are the journal entries in which Anna details her life in the months leading up to the murders. Writings of family drama, her desire for fame as a writer and a frenzied attempt to understand her sleepwalking are reminders Anna was once a young woman searching for her place in the world.

Much of the novel takes place through the eyes of Ben, with occasional chapters from other perspectives like those of his estranged wife Clara, Anna’s journal in 2019 and a mysterious woman named Lola.

As is often the nature of a male writer attempting the female voice, none of the women’s perspectives feels particularly convincing. The saving grace is that Blake avoids the women talking about themselves in a sexual manner or turning them into some ideal fantasy woman.

The drawn-out pacing sets the novel up to feel like a television show. Aptly enough, the adaptation rights have recently been acquired by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, according to a Deadline article.

Where certain chapters feel dull in written form, they are likely to fare better where the visual format can build the visual and auditory tension that the text lacks.

Boldly, Blake offers an ending to the story with over 100 pages left, allowing readers and the characters to wonder if the mystery has truly been solved. The final reveal, while clever, lacks the intended impact after chapter upon chapter of lengthy mulling with little tension.

A drawn-out 448 pages in need of editing, Anna O reads like a one-hit-wonder too eagerly snapped up by television studios.

If you like this, read: Conviction by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster UK, 2023, $7.90, Amazon SG, go to amzn.to/3xjNnt9 ). Criminal lawyer Neve Harper is tasked with proving the innocence of a man accused of murdering his entire family. Blackmailed to ensure his jail sentence, she is torn between her legal duties and a guilty secret she has carried for years.

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Levitation for Beginners by Suzannah Dunn review – the dark side of a 70s childhood

The village life of a 10-year-old girl is disrupted by a newcomer in a tale of youthful mystery and shifting emotions

F or the past 20 years, Suzannah Dunn has been known for historical novels focusing on the Tudors, such as 2004’s The Queen of Subtleties and 2010’s The Confession of Katherine Howard. Yet for many readers it is her earlier books that retain a unique hold: critically acclaimed contemporary novels and a volume of short stories mostly featuring young women at a crisis point in their lives (a theme that can, of course, be equally applied to her court dramas of Anne Boleyn or Lady Jane Grey). Brilliantly articulated and often piercingly sad, Dunn’s characters find themselves caught up in what may today be termed quarter-life crises – they are unsettled, dissatisfied; prone to despair, to jealousy, to falling unsuitably in love, to deep, unnavigable loss. There is Elizabeth, an exhausted junior hospital doctor in Quite Contrary (1991), and Sadie in Commencing Our Descent (2000), a newly married woman who unexpectedly enters a chaste, doomed affair with a fusty older academic. Venus Flaring’s Veronica sees her friendship with schoolmate Ornella hit the rocks once the pair move into adulthood – a masterly study in rejection, in the intensity and fury of a relationship that has become dismally one-sided.

Dunn’s new novel, Levitation for Beginners, returns to the extreme psychological landscapes of these early works. At its centre is a group of girls in their last year at a village primary school in the home counties, on the brink of adolescence, not exactly close-knit but safe in their loose companionship. Their precarious stability is threatened by a catalyst from outside, an interloper at court – a new girl, Sarah-Jayne, appearing in their final half term. It is 1972. “We had almost all the seventies yet to come,” explains Deborah, the book’s 10-year-old narrator, looking back as a 60-year-old. “We were a year shy of The Wombles and Man About the House … ” You can almost taste the butterscotch Angel Delight in these cultural references, which, while they firmly place the book in context, are a little overdone.

Fortunately, Dunn’s prose is generally attuned far beyond product placement to the darker, more covert side of childhood: “Our neighbours gardens glittered darkly with laburnum seeds, and in the alley behind the fence were abandoned fridges perfect for our games of hide-and-seek.” “Glittering” along with “gleaming” and “glinting” is much employed throughout, especially in relation to Sarah-Jayne, whose eyes resemble “a hall of mirrors”, the implication being that the real person remains hidden behind a superficial persona. For the main, the kids are unsupervised, and in Deborah’s case emotionally neglected – the only child of a young widow, she does not remember her father, and has no other relatives. Her Scottish mother is brusque, undemonstrative, something of a caricature, prone to darkly gnomic statements that leave Deborah, who is bright, reflective and fascinated by language, in confusion.

While her friends have posters of the Sweet or Donny Osmond on their bedroom walls, Deborah’s crush is Tutankhamun (an exhibition of treasures from the boy-king’s tomb took place in London throughout 1972). “I could detect him reaching back through the thousand years of his loneliness towards me.”Sarah-Jayne is sophisticated and disturbingly knowing beyond her years. Her perfect hair and smart red trouser suit stand out among the assorted bowl cuts and hand-me-downs. She has moved into the “big house” with her family – an older sister in her 20s, who smokes and whose nails are painted tangerine, and disturbingly old parents. The other children are fixated on the fact that the garden boasts a pool, even if it is filled in; it will play a chilling role in the novel’s denouement.

While her classmates flock to please the new girl, as she struts and sashays around the classroom, Deborah at first remains aloof, knowing her for a fake. Sarah-Jayne endlessly opines about boys and men, from the unattainable David Cassidy to Sonny, an 18-year-old apprentice builder who begins, to Deborah’s horror and embarrassment, hanging around her thirtysomething mother. Added to this roll call of masculine superiority is the sinister Max, who is engaged to Sarah-Jayne’s sister. Sarah-Jayne, in a red flag for the reader, refers to Max as if he is her own boyfriend.

This is a novel about everything and nothing, sour and melancholy, with elements of sheer comedy and almost unbearable beauty. These girls of the early 1970s appear to be very much the forerunners of Dunn’s adult characters: comically naive, gossipy, uncertain, bold. The novel’s title refers to Sarah-Jayne’s efforts to persuade the group to attempt levitation, but is also a metaphor for how they will soon be shedding their current selves and moving on. The older Deborah reflects that “I’m surprised any of us lived to tell the tale”, and if this subtle book has a message, it is how alien and yet how relatable the past remains.

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THE MYSTERY WRITER

by Sulari Gentill ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2024

A fizzy whodunit with pace, panache, and surprises galore.

The killing of a famous author turns a faithful protégé into a fanatic sleuth.

Australian college student Theodosia Benton has abruptly left her university in Sydney and moved to the United States with the intention of becoming a writer. When she shows up unannounced on the doorstep of her older brother, Gus, in Lawrence, Kansas, she interrupts a romantic moment he's having with a half-dressed woman named Pam, who beats a hasty retreat. Such rashness leads to the kind of sibling spats and banter that propel this story and make for a compellingly unpredictable protagonist. When she meets writer Dan Murdoch at a restaurant, Theo quickly manages to become his friend and avid writing student. Then Dan is murdered, and his agent, Veronica, hires Theo to find his killer, who also apparently snatched the manuscript of Dan’s latest novel. The tale presents two intertwined mysteries. First, who slew the renowned author? Second, who are all those people with quirky screen names who comment on the murder at the beginning of most chapters? This latter thread is introduced through Caleb, someone who vaguely touts the rise of something called The Shield and the revolutionary plans of its leader, Primus. Caleb’s quest to discover the identity of Primus proceeds in tandem with Theo’s. He comes to believe that Dan was Primus, but was he? Primus is just the tip of an identity iceberg that includes Space Monkey, Frodo 14, Patriot Warrior, and others. Fans will rejoice that the prolific Gentill, author of the Rowland Sinclair mysteries, maintains her record of packing stand-alone novels with devilish twists on genre conventions.

Pub Date: March 19, 2024

ISBN: 9781728285184

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Poisoned Pen

Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024

THRILLER | CRIME & LEGAL THRILLER | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | GENERAL FICTION

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New York Times Bestseller

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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BOOK TO SCREEN

by Percival Everett ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2024

One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him.

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as told from the perspective of a more resourceful and contemplative Jim than the one you remember.

This isn’t the first novel to reimagine Twain’s 1885 masterpiece, but the audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain’s epochal odyssey, shifting the central viewpoint from that of the unschooled, often credulous, but basically good-hearted Huck to the more enigmatic and heroic Jim, the Black slave with whom the boy escapes via raft on the Mississippi River. As in the original, the threat of Jim’s being sold “down the river” and separated from his wife and daughter compels him to run away while figuring out what to do next. He's soon joined by Huck, who has faked his own death to get away from an abusive father, ramping up Jim’s panic. “Huck was supposedly murdered and I’d just run away,” Jim thinks. “Who did I think they would suspect of the heinous crime?” That Jim can, as he puts it, “[do] the math” on his predicament suggests how different Everett’s version is from Twain’s. First and foremost, there's the matter of the Black dialect Twain used to depict the speech of Jim and other Black characters—which, for many contemporary readers, hinders their enjoyment of his novel. In Everett’s telling, the dialect is a put-on, a manner of concealment, and a tactic for survival. “White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them,” Jim explains. He also discloses that, in violation of custom and law, he learned to read the books in Judge Thatcher’s library, including Voltaire and John Locke, both of whom, in dreams and delirium, Jim finds himself debating about human rights and his own humanity. With and without Huck, Jim undergoes dangerous tribulations and hairbreadth escapes in an antebellum wilderness that’s much grimmer and bloodier than Twain’s. There’s also a revelation toward the end that, however stunning to devoted readers of the original, makes perfect sense.

ISBN: 9780385550369

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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by Percival Everett

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An Utterly Misleading Book About Rural America

White Rural Rage has become a best seller—and kindled an academic controversy.

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R age is the subject of a new book by the political scientist Tom Schaller and the journalist Paul Waldman. White Rural Rage , specifically. In 255 pages, the authors chart the racism, homophobia, xenophobia, violent predilections, and vulnerability to authoritarianism that they claim make white rural voters a unique “threat to American democracy.” White Rural Rage is a screed lobbed at a familiar target of elite liberal ire. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the authors appeared on Morning Joe , the book inspired an approving column from The New York Times ’ Paul Krugman , and its thesis has been a topic of discussion on podcasts from MSNBC’s Chuck Todd and the right-wing firebrand Charlie Kirk. The book has become a New York Times best seller.

It has also kindled an academic controversy. In the weeks since its publication, a trio of reviews by political scientists have accused Schaller and Waldman of committing what amounts to academic malpractice , alleging that the authors used shoddy methodologies, misinterpreted data, and distorted studies to substantiate their allegations about white rural Americans. I spoke with more than 20 scholars in the tight-knit rural-studies community, most of them cited in White Rural Rage or thanked in the acknowledgments, and they left me convinced that the book is poorly researched and intellectually dishonest.

White Rural Rage illustrates how willing many members of the U.S. media and the public are to believe, and ultimately launder, abusive accusations against an economically disadvantaged group of people that would provoke sympathy if its members had different skin color and voting habits. That this book was able to make it to print—and onto the best-seller list—before anyone noticed that it has significant errors is a testament to how little powerful people think of white rural Americans. As someone who is from the kind of place the authors demonize—a place that is “rural” in the pejorative, rather than literal, sense—I find White Rural Rage personally offensive. I was so frustrated by its indulgence of familiar stereotypes that I aired several intemperate critiques of the book and its authors on social media. But when I dug deeper, I found that the problems with White Rural Rage extend beyond its anti-rural prejudice. As an academic and a writer, I find Schaller and Waldman’s misuse of other scholars’ research indefensible.

After fact-checking many of the book’s claims and citations, I found a pattern: Most of the problems occur in sections of the book that try to prove that white rural Americans are especially likely to commit or express support for political violence. By bending the facts to fit their chosen scapegoat, Schaller and Waldman not only trade on long-standing stereotypes about dangerous rural people. They mislead the public about the all-too-real threats to our democracy today. As serious scholarship has shown—including some of the very scholarship Schaller and Waldman cite, only to contort it—the right-wing rage we need to worry about is not coming from deep-red rural areas. It is coming from cities and suburbs.

T he most obvious problem with White Rural Rage is its refusal to define rural . In a note in the back of the book, the authors write, “What constitutes ‘rural’ and who qualifies as a rural American … depends on who you ask.” Fair enough. The rural-studies scholars I spoke with agreed that there are a variety of competing definitions. But rather than tell us what definition they used, Schaller and Waldman confess that they settled on no definition at all : “We remained agnostic throughout our research and writing by merely reporting the categories and definitions that each pollster, scholar, or researcher used.” In other words, they relied on studies that used different definitions of rural , a decision that conveniently lets them pick and choose whatever research fits their narrative. This is what the scholars I interviewed objected to—they emphasized that the existence of multiple definitions of rural is not an excuse to decline to pick one. “This book amounts to a poor amalgamation of disparate literatures designed to fit a preordained narrative,” Cameron Wimpy, a political scientist at Arkansas State University, told me. It would be like undertaking a book-length study demonizing Irish people, refusing to define what you mean by Irish , and then drawing on studies of native Irish in Ireland, non-Irish immigrants to Ireland, Irish Americans, people who took a 23andMe DNA test that showed Irish ancestry, and Bostonians who get drunk on Saint Patrick’s Day to build your argument about the singular danger of “the Irish.” It’s preposterous.

Adam Harris: The education deserts of rural America

The authors write that they were “at the mercy of the choices made by the researchers who collected, sorted, classified, and tabulated their results.” But reading between the lines, the authors’ working definition of rural often seems to be “a not-so-nice place where white people live,” irrespective of whether that place is a tiny hamlet or a small city. Some of the most jaw-dropping instances of this come when the authors discuss what they would have you believe is rural America’s bigoted assault on local libraries. “The American Library Association tracked 1,269 efforts to ban books in libraries in 2022,” Schaller and Waldman note. “Many of these efforts occurred in rural areas, where libraries have become a target of controversy over books with LGBTQ+ themes or discussions of racism.” The authors detail attacks on a number of libraries: in Llano, Texas; Ashtabula County, Ohio; Craighead County, Arkansas; Maury County, Tennessee; Boundary County, Idaho; and Jamestown, Michigan.

But half of these locations—Craighead County, Maury County, and Jamestown—do not seem to qualify as rural. What the authors call “rural Jamestown, Michigan ,” scores a 1 out of 10 on one of the most popular metrics, the RUCA , used to measure rurality (1 being most urban), and is a quick commute away from the city of Grand Rapids.

That Schaller and Waldman so artfully dodged defining what they mean by rural is a shame for a host of reasons, not the least of which is that the question of who is rural is complex and fascinating. Scholars in rural studies make a distinction between subjective rural identity and objective rural residence—in other words, seeing yourself as rural versus living in a place that is geographically rural according to metrics like RUCA. The thing is, rural identity and rural residence are very, very different. Though Schaller and Waldman mention this distinction briefly in their authors’ note, they do not meaningfully explore it. One political scientist I spoke with, Utah Valley University’s Zoe Nemerever, recently co-authored a paper comparing rural self-identification to residence and found a stunning result: “A minority of respondents who described their neighborhood as rural actually live in an area considered rural.” Her study found that 72 percent of people—at minimum—who saw themselves as living in a rural place did not live in a rural place at all.

It turns out I am one of those people. I grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, an 88 percent white enclave in the southward center of the state. Eighteen minutes and nine miles to the east, you hit the capital city of Harrisburg, which has the best used bookstore in the tristate area. Nineteen minutes and 13 miles away to the west, you hit the game lands, where I spent my teenage years playing hooky and hunting in thick, hard-green mountains. Mechanicsburg feels urban, suburban, and rural all at once. There are strip malls and car dealerships. There are trailer parks and farms with beat-to-hell farmhouses. There are nice suburban neighborhoods with McMansions. My high school had a Future Farmers of America chapter and gave us the first day of deer season off. The final week of my senior year, a kid unballed his fist in the parking lot to show me a bag of heroin. Another wore bow ties and ended up at Harvard.

What do you call a place like that? It was both nice and not-nice. Somewhere and nowhere. Once in college, a professor made a wry joke: Describing a fictional town in a story, he quipped, “It’s the kind of place you see a sign for on the highway, but no one is actually from there.” He paused, racking his brain for an example. “Like Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.”

I tend to think of myself as having a comparatively “rural” identity for a variety of reasons: because Mechanicsburg was more rural when I was growing up. Because both sides of my family are from deeply rural places: Mathias, West Virginia (where 100 percent of the county population is rural), and Huntingdon, Pennsylvania (74 percent rural). Because, since the age of 10, I have spent nearly all my free time hunting or fishing, mostly in unambiguously rural areas that are a short drive from where I live. Because people like that professor tend to view my hometown as a place that is so irrelevant, it barely exists. So when Nemerever looked up data on Mechanicsburg and told me it had a RUCA score of 1 and was considered metropolitan—like Schaller and Waldman’s erroneous library examples—I was genuinely surprised. I’d made the same mistake about my own hometown that Schaller and Waldman had about Jamestown, Michigan.

Scholars who study rural identity say that common misperceptions like this are why defining rural is so important. “Researchers should be highly conscious of what ‘rural’ means when they want to measure relevant social, psychological, and political correlates,” a study of “non-rural rural identifiers” by Kristin Lunz Trujillo, a political-science professor at the University of South Carolina, warns. “Rurality can be a social identity that includes a broad group categorization, even including people who do not currently live in a rural area.”

Schaller and Waldman might have understood these nuances—and not repeatedly misidentified rural areas—if they’d meaningfully consulted members of the rural-studies community. In a portion of their acknowledgments section, the authors thank researchers and journalists in the field who “directed our attention to findings of relevance for our inquiry.” I contacted all 10 of these people, hoping to better understand what kind of input Schaller and Waldman sought from subject-matter experts. One said he was satisfied with the way his work had been acknowledged, and another did not respond to my message. Seven reported only a few cursory email exchanges with the authors about the subject of the book and were surprised to find that they had been thanked at all.

Although it is not unusual for authors to thank people they do not know or corresponded with only briefly, it is quite telling that not a single person I spoke with in rural studies—with the exception of the Wilmington College rural historian Keith Orejel, who said he was disappointed that his feedback did not seem to influence the book—said these men sought out their expertise in a serious way, circulated drafts of the book, or simply ran its controversial argument by them in detail.

T he more significant problem with White Rural Rage is its analysis of the threat of political violence. A core claim of the book is that rural Americans are disproportionately likely to support or potentially commit violence that threatens American democracy. “Violent or not, anti-democratic sentiments and behaviors come in many forms and emerge from all over the nation,” Schaller and Waldman claim. “But rural Whites pose a unique threat.” The sections where the authors attempt to defend this assertion, however, contain glaring mistakes.

Schaller and Waldman describe the supposed threat to democracy posed by “constitutional sheriffs”—members of a right-wing sheriffs organization —in rural counties. But the authors offer no proof that these sheriffs are more likely to work in rural places. They cite an article about “rogue sheriffs elected in rural counties” that is not about rural sheriffs. And, in what Nemerever described to me as “an egregious misrepresentation and professional malpractice,” Schaller and Waldman cite two articles about “constitutional sheriffs” that do not contain the words constitutional sheriff . Schaller and Waldman also share an anecdote about the antidemocratic adventures of “the sheriff of rural Johnson County, Kansas” as proof of the organization’s dangerous influence. They neglect to mention that Johnson County is thoroughly metropolitan and a short drive from Kansas City. Per the 2020 census, it is not simply Kansas’s most populous county; it is the least rural county in the entire state and one of the least rural in the entire country. It also flipped to Joe Biden in 2020 after Trump won it in 2016. (Schaller and Waldman acknowledged this mistake in an email to The Atlantic ; they said they had looked up the information for Johnson County, Arkansas, which is rural. They said they will correct the error in future editions of the book.)

Antonia Hitchens: Like Uber, but for militias

The authors cite an article titled “The Rise of Political Violence in the United States” to support their claim that the threat of political violence is particularly acute in rural America. However, that article directly contradicts that claim. “Political violence in the United States has been greatest in suburbs where Asian American and Hispanic American immigration has been growing fastest, particularly in heavily Democratic metropoles surrounded by Republican-dominated rural areas,” the author, Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, notes. “These areas, where white flight from the 1960s is meeting demographic change, are areas of social contestation. They are also politically contested swing districts.” Schaller and Waller claim, too, that “rural residents are more likely to favor violence over democratic deliberation to solve political disputes,” but the article they cite as evidence discusses neither political violence nor democratic deliberation.

This pattern continues when the authors rattle off a list of violent extremists—including the Pizzagate gunman and a pair of men who plotted to capture Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer—implying that these instances are proof of the unique dangers of “rural” people. But these men are not rural. They’re all from metropolitan areas with RUCA scores of 1 or 2, situated in counties that are also metropolitan. Time and time again, Schaller and Waldman warp the evidence to deflect blame away from metro areas, onto rural ones.

Nowhere is this shifting of blame more apparent than in Schaller and Waldman’s assertion that rural Americans “are overrepresented among those with insurrectionist tendencies.” As one review of the book notes, Schaller and Waldman marshal a report by the political scientist Robert Pape as evidence of this claim. But they completely misunderstand the point of Pape’s study. When I contacted Pape to ask whether he thought that his research had been misused, he was unequivocal.

He directed me to the slide in his report cited by Schaller and Waldman to back up their claims. Schaller and Waldman rely on the slide to point out, correctly, that 27 percent of Americans with insurrectionist views are rural and that these views are slightly overrepresented among rural people. However, they ignore what Pape explicitly described, in big bold letters, as the report’s “#1 key finding”: that there are approximately 21 million potential insurrectionists in the United States—people who believe both that the 2020 election was stolen and that restoring Trump to the presidency by force is justified—and they are “mainly urban.” The authors fail to explain why we should be more worried about the 5.67 million hypothetical rural insurrectionists than the 15.33 million who live in urban and suburban areas, have more resources, made up the bulk of January 6 participants, and are the primary danger, according to Pape’s report.

“They are giving the strong impression that our study is supporting their conclusion, when this is false,” Pape told me. He added that this isn’t a matter of subjective interpretation. The political scientist stretched his arms so that his right and left hands were in opposite corners of the Zoom screen: “Here is their argument. Here is their data. And there’s a gulf in between.”

Pape told me that he had been worried about this book from the moment he saw the authors discussing it on Morning Joe and describing what they call “the fourfold, interconnected threat that white rural voters pose to the country.” “This is a tragedy for the country,” Pape said, “because they’re grossly underestimating the threat to our democracy.” He went on to say that “the real tragedy would be if the DHS, the FBI, political leaders took this book seriously,” because law enforcement and government officials would be focusing their limited resources on the wrong areas. Even as Schaller and Waldman accuse the media of not paying enough attention to the antidemocratic dangers of the far right, the authors are the ones who are not taking this threat seriously. By shining a spotlight on a small part of the insurrectionist movement, White Rural Rage risks distracting the public from the bigger dangers.

A rlie Hochschild , a celebrated sociologist and the author of Strangers in Their Own Land and a forthcoming book on Appalachia, struck a plaintive note in an email to me about White Rural Rage : “When I think of those I’ve come to know in Pike County, Kentucky—part of the nation’s whitest and second poorest congressional district—I imagine that many would not see themselves in this portrait.” She added that these Kentuckians would no doubt “feel stereotyped by books that talk of ‘rural white rage,’ by people who otherwise claim to honor ‘diversity.’”

Kathy Cramer, author of The Politics of Resentment , a key work in the field that is cited by Schaller and Waldman, told me simply: “The question of our time is not who are the bad Americans, but what is wrong with our systems—our government, our economy, our modes of communication—that means that so many people feel unseen, unheard, and disrespected by the people in charge? And what can we do, constructively, about that?” It is a good question. The authors of White Rural Rage might have written a fine book had they taken it seriously.

“The scholars who have criticized us aren’t bothered by our methods; they’re disturbed by our message,” Schaller and Waldman wrote in a statement to The Atlantic . “One of our critics, Kristin Lunz Trujillo, said in response to our book, ‘we need to be careful as scholars to not stereotype or condescend to white rural America in a way that erodes trust and widens divisions.’ Though we would insist in the strongest possible terms that we engage in neither stereotyping nor condescension, we nevertheless find that a revealing comment: Rather than a statement about what the facts are or the scholarship reveals, it’s a declaration of a political and professional agenda.”

Schaller and Waldman also took issue with my criticism of the book on social media and in this article. “Like many of our critics,” they wrote, I “would apparently rather apologize for the revanchist attitudes among many white rural Americans than speak honestly about the serious threats facing our secular, pluralist, constitutional democracy.”

This book will only further erode American confidence in the media and academia at a moment when faith in these institutions is already at an all-time low . And it will likely pour gasoline on rural Americans’ smoldering resentment, a resentment that is in no small part driven by the conviction that liberal elites both misunderstand and despise them. White Rural Rage provides a rather substantial piece of evidence to that score, and shows that rural folks’ suspicions are anything but “fake news.” However, this is only part of the story. And it is not the most important part.

Schaller and Waldman are right: There are real threats to American democracy, and we should be worried about political violence. But by erroneously pinning the blame on white rural Americans, they’ve distracted the public from the real danger. The threat we must contend with today is not white rural rage, but white urban and suburban rage .

Instead of reckoning with the ugly fact that a threat to our democracy is emerging from right-wing extremists in suburban and urban areas, the authors of White Rural Rage contorted studies and called unambiguously metro areas “rural” so that they could tell an all-too-familiar story about scary hillbillies. Perhaps this was easier than confronting the truth: that the call is coming from inside the house. It is not primarily the rural poor, but often successful , white metropolitan men who imperil our republic.