Pierce's Pick of the Week
The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards

While trying to solve the seven-year-old death of an aspiring young writer, found drowned in a shallow pool in England’s Lake District, DCI Hannah Scarlett becomes involved as well with the recent killings of rare book dealers -- apparently all victims of somebody unhealthily obsessed with Thomas de Quincey’s tract On Murder.

See previous weekly picks by J. Kingston Pierce  -->

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd

A clever killer has set up a plot to frame the FBI for slayings he commits in the name of a bogus terrorist organization. A reporter who blew the lid off corruption is murdered. Then, when the FBI attempts to pay the Pentad extortion money, the agent sent on that errand is also done in. Another one disappears, apparently part of this growing conspiracy to disgrace the Bureau.

Gone ’til November by Wallace Stroby

Readers have grown accustomed to seeing villains in crime fiction portrayed in starkly negative terms, or else given such repulsive quirks that whatever humanness they manifest must be considered suspect. So Wallace Stroby runs some risk in making his killer for hire, Nathaniel Morgan, the most engaging character in Gone ’til November.

Author Snapshot: Gyles Brandreth
A snapshot of Gyles Brandreth who talks about his most recent book, Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man’s Smile

Natasha Cooper author of A Poisoned Mind
The international bestseller talks about her professional background, her interest in today’s economic uncertainties and what it is she finds so fascinating about the complex world of laws and lawsuits.

Inger Ash Wolfe author of The Calling
When The Calling debuted early in 2008, some reviewers reacted with anger: just who was this mystery author whose identity was being kept such a big secret? January contributor Ali Karim gets no closer to an answer, but reveals some interesting tidbits along the way.

Sean Chercover author of Trigger City
Two rich and compelling novels of crime have earned him a growing audience and a list of glowing reviews.

Mark Billingham author of In the Dark
Mark Billingham hits it big with his first standalone, but swears his Tom Thorne series isn’t dead.

Larry Beinhart author of Salvation Boulevard
The author of Wag the Dog delivers another stunning novel in Salvation Boulevard. It is an important book: it deals with topics that are important -- questions of faith and freedom and systems of belief -- yet it never fails to entertain.

Shannon Burke author of Black Flies
The author candidly discusses the dozen years he spent on his road to publication; a road that was studded with disappointment and near misses.

Kelli Stanley author of Nox Dormienda
The debut author and classics scholar clues us into her newly minted sub-genre: Roman Noir.

John McFetridge author of Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
McFetridge is one of a new breed of Canadian crime fictionists, building neo noir that seems touched by both the humor and self-consciousness of life north of the 48th.

Dan Vyleta author of Pavel & I
Vyleta calls Pavel & I “a broken sort of love story,” but it’s so much more, as well. If you like classic cold war thrillers with a tough, literary edge, Pavel & I is one you’ll not want to miss.

Barbara Fister author of In the Wind
Barbara Fister’s novels are smart, sophisticated and deeply concerned with the larger world. In many ways, all of those words -- smart, sophisticated, concerned -- describe the Madison-born and Minnesota-based author perfectly.

Sandra Ruttan author of What Burns Within
Titian hair. A deceptively sweet smile. Arms akimbo. Mystery writer and journalist Sandra Ruttan manages these disparate things easily, seemingly without contradiction.

See the complete listing of authors of crime fiction January Magazine has interviewed  -->

The Arresting Fiction of Ed McBain
For half a century, the man known variously as Ed McBain and Evan Hunter gave us some of the best and most innovative crime stories available. With a final farewell to this giant of the genre scheduled in New York City, January Magazine presents a trio of stories in tribute to his talent and his tendency to inspire.

Dashiell Hammett A 75th-Anniversary Tribute
This author's third and now best-known novel, The Maltese Falcon, was published in book form on Valentine's Day, 1930, changing both Hammett's life and American detective fiction. We celebrate with a look back at his career and influences; a review of the new collection, Vintage Hammett; and praise from dozens of modern crime writers.

Strangers on Terrain by George J. Demko
Twenty-first-century Packards, fictitious big-city locations, blatantly distorted politics -- foreign mystery writers who set their stories in America are often as guilty of committing crimes against fact as their characters are of causing larceny and murder.

See our complete listing of crime fiction features  -->

Back to the Coast by Saskia Noort|
Life is rough for Maria Vos, a Dutch soul singer from Amsterdam, in Saskia Noort’s Back to the Coast. The second Bitter Lemon Press book by Dutch author and journalist Noort (following 2007’s The Dinner Club), is noir in the classic sense, harking back to the famous 1944 film Gaslight.

Cape Disappointment by Earl Emerson
Cape Disappointment is a complex and somewhat unsettling yarn. It’s compelling reading, especially from an action standpoint, but you come away from it asking yourself a few questions you might wish you hadn’t.

The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
Olen Steinhauer takes on the reality of James Bond’s world in his latest novel, The Tourist. His story doesn’t involve tuxedoes, fancy gadgets or gorgeous femmes fatales. What it does involve is lying.

Skin and Bones by Tom Bale
Skin and Bones represents the “debut” of British novelist Tom Bale. Bale is better known as David Harrison, author of 2006’s Sins of the Father.

Good People by Marcus Sakey
If you suddenly had half a million dollars, what would you do with it? In Marcus Sakey’s latest thriller, Good People, Tom and Anna Reed find out.

Crimini edited by Giancarlo De Cataldo
A captivating survey of the best Italian noir authors and foremost stories about Italian crimes, cops and criminals, Crimini is definitely worth reading.

Angel’s Tip by Alafair Burke
Where Alafair Burke really shines is in building suspense. She hands her cops an open-and-shut case, only to have it unravel halfway through the book.

The Turnaround by George Pelecanos
The Turnaround does not break new ground. Instead, author Pelecanos plays all the familiar notes to bring out what’s on his mind.

The Mirror’s Edge by Steven Sidor
Steven Sidor’s latest novel, The Mirror’s Edge, slips the reader more than a few Mickey Finns before its final scenes unfold.

New England White by Stephen L. Carter
The strength of New England White makes it well worth reading, if you’re willing to hang in there. Carter’s informed take on economics, politics and, above all, race, are trenchant, compelling and timely. Just don’t mistake it for beach reading.

The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe
For January’s reviewer, a single thing marred the sharp perfection of the plotting and prose of The Calling. That was the secret identify of the literary superhero who penned the book.

Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina
Mina comes well prepared for her pre-eminence among the Tartan Noirists, a group that, besides Rankin and McDermid, also includes Christopher Brookmyre, Allan Guthrie, Manda Scott and Louise Welsh.

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
Faulks has crafted a crisp locomotive of a thriller, a master class not so much in how to emulate another author but how to strip away everything from a complex story except the relatively few details that make its heart beat.

The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow
The Dawn Patrol straddles that delicate line between commercial mainstream fiction and a genuine piece of art. It’s like a pop song that sounds cheery and bright, but if you listen closely, you’ll find darkness clinging to the words.

See previous crime fiction reviews  -->