Read reviews about our gripping crime fiction, thrillers and mysteries, detective books, crime stories and page-turning books.
STARRED PW REVIEW. "Dressed in the grungy trappings of a crime drama, this literary tour-de-force from Padura offers a colourful cultural history of Cuba and the island’s historical contact with Europe that helped to shape its people’s religious beliefs."
"A grandiose novel of social and magical realism." Wall Street Journal
Haunting, eerie and strange in its imagery but often grimly humorous, The Basel Killings is a vintage Swiss mystery fiction that appears to only be improving with age. CrimeTime
This is an absorbing story; Hansjörg Schneider paints a disturbing picture of a cruelty that has lain undiscussed behind the façade of Swiss propriety and complacency; and all the while he keeps us guessing right to the end." European Literature Network (ELN)
"The realities of life in Latin America offer little escapism perhaps, but in the gutsy, raunchy Veronica they have a contemporary heroine to cherish." The Times
"A layered, gripping story, finely translated by Miranda France." Financial Times
“A quirky, un-put-down-able thriller by a veteran Argentine novelist." Kirkus Reviews
"Fast, slick and acerbically funny: buckle up and enjoy the ride." Laura Wilson, Guardian
"It reads like a marvellous mash-up of Anita Brookner and Quentin Tarantino." The Times
Times/Sunday Times Crime Club:
June star pick:
Welcome return for doughty 1950s Finnish cop Hella Mauzer, such a misfit in the male-dominated police force where we first met her in Evil Things, that she’s been fired and is trying to make her way as a private detective.
GLOBE and MAIL: The Aosawa Murders is certain to top a lot of Best Books this year and Alison Watts’s masterful translation is part of the reason. Can this book open up the world of Japanese crime in the way that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opened up Scandi Noir? I hope so.
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Ms. Onda’s novel—part psychological thriller, part murder mystery—is audacious in conception and brilliant in execution.
In this solid spin-off from Cuban author Pedro’s Havana Quartet, police detective Mario Conde investigates the 1989 murder of 73-year-old Pedro Cuang, a dry cleaner, in Havana’s Chinatown. Fans of the Havana Quartet will welcome Conde’s return. Publishers Weekly
How nice it is to watch a high-powered talent at work on a form that too often relies on flat-footed prose. Booklist
Padura on his very best form. Once again, we have Padura’a irresistible combination of quirky storytelling and a vivid evocation of the city of Havana –the translation by Peter Bush does full justice to the novel, which was inspired by the author’s work as a journalist when investigating the history of Havana’s Barrio Chino. ELN Barry Forshaw