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lgbtqreads · 2 months

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New Releases: March 2024

Tempting Olivia by Clare Ashton (1st) Olivia Sachdeva’s life is flawless. With a first from Oxford and as the youngest partner at Bentley lawyers, she expects high standards from everyone. Her only indulgences are eating iced desserts and repeat watching romcoms, especially those featuring Kate Laurence – pure escapism and cinematic perfection. But, when the actor walks into Olivia’s office with…

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kamreadsandrecs · 27 days

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Unstable grace is wobbly, but it’s still a miracle. Every blessing is worth fighting for.

from Scorched Grace (Sister Holiday Mystery #1) by Margot Douaihy

#quotes #scorched grace #sister holiday mystery series #margot douaihy #mystery #books #science

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kammartinez · 27 days

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Everybody’s got secrets, especially nuns.

from Scorched Grace (Sister Holiday Mystery #1) by Margot Douaihy

#quotes #scorched grace #sister holiday mystery series #margot douaihy #mystery #books

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wlwbookshelf · 2 years

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SCORCHED GRACE - MARGOT DOUAIHY Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ I am a sucker for an imperfect protagonist and a good noir feel mystery and Scorched Grace delivered for me on both fronts! I wish Sister Holiday the queer riot girl musician nun had been my music teacher at school! The mystery was compelling however I also enjoyed just reading about the characters lives in New Orleans and during the flash backs. There is plenty of depth and mystery in her character which is fitting given this is the start of a series and I expect we’ll learn more about her as the series continues.Looking forward to the next instalment! Many thanks to Zando Projects/Gillian Flynn Books for an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

#scorched grace #margot douaihy #lgbtqialitdaily #sapphic lit #book review #wlwbookshelf #booklr #wlw books #sapphic books

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marywoodartdept · 10 months

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Reality and a Little Extra

Have you ever experienced synchronicity? It happened recently to Delayne, Arts Administration, when she learned about a scholarship recipient who used AR with poetry around the same time she read an article about painters using AR. #marywoodart

Some new exciting developments in my time working at the Waverly Community House have got me thinking about new expressions of art, especially those using technology. Earlier this week, the Belin Arts Scholarship named their recipient, author Margot Douaihy. The scholarship is given to an applicant who proposes an exceptional artistic project to complete with the money. Douaihy’s proposed project…

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#AR #Art #augmented reality #Belin Arts Scholarship #Ife Olowu #Margot Douaihy #Marywood Art #Marywood Art Department #Marywood University #Marywood University Art Department #Painting #Poetry #Technology #Virtual Reality #Waverly Community House #Where Creativity Works

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genderdrift · 1 year

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From Margot Douaihy's 🔥 queer mystery, Scorched Grace. "If punishment is straight, forgiveness is queer"

#ScorchedGrace #margot douaihy #queerness

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neowitcher · 1 year

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SCORCHED GRACE | ARC REVIEW

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy ★★★

Expected release date: 21 February 2023

Genre: LGBTQ+ Mystery, Crime

Summary:

When Saint Sebastian's School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding community are thrust into chaos. Unsatisfied with the officials' response, sardonic and headstrong Sister Holiday becomes determined to unveil the mysterious attacker herself and return her home and sanctuary to its former peace. Her investigation leads down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets in the sticky, oppressive New Orleans heat, turning her against colleagues, students, and even fellow Sisters along the way.

Sister Holiday is more faithful than most, but she's no saint. To piece together the clues of this high-stakes mystery, she must first reckon with the sins of her checkered past-and neither task will be easy. (Netgalley)

[Storygraph] [Goodreads] [Amazon]

My review:

If anything is going to draw me to a book, it has to be a smoking, queer nun on a stained-glass-style cover. Douaihy brings a character to life who has to solve a crime a little too close to home and it is intriguing and beautifully written however, sometimes not enough to the point to really keep me engaged.

The gorgeous writing style is already apparent in the opening lines and continues throughout the rest of the book. At times, nearly every paragraph ends with some type of wisdom or at least quote-worthy text and there are detailed descriptions. This is great for anyone who enjoys very wordy books however, it does take away from the action a bit.

The action happens a little too late as well, making me wonder halfway through when it will get exciting. Luckily, the eventual climax did end up being pretty good. Again, very well written and it shows a lot of cinematic potential. The thing that really intrigued me, however, is Sister Holiday's past that slowly but surely gets revealed as the story progresses. It ties in well with the present conflict and the parallels add a lot to the story’s quality. I think if the overall mystery had been as intriguing as the backstory, I would have loved it a lot more.

Through the backstory, Sister Holiday's motivations and character become a lot more clear. Her ideas of God and religion as a whole make her both complex and relatable, which her queerness definitely adds to. Having "a chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun" as the main character is an automatic win but with her cleverness and again, her backstory, she ends up being an incredibly interesting and refreshing mystery lead. I would read more novels with her, or even a prequel about pre-nun Holiday. With the other characters, I feel like some were almost equally interesting while others faded into the background a bit too much, but overall, I liked a lot of them as well.

Note that Scorched Grace may have a queer character to root for, but not quite a queer relationship, as it isn’t giving space for a present romance, which definitely favours the tone of the book. There are a lot of homophobic scenes and flashbacks (see down below for more content warnings) but the queerness is overall very relatable which I appreciate. Aside from that, many dark themes are being explored, which definitely makes this an adult book. Think a dark, queer, religious crime novel is right up your alley? Absolutely check out this Sister Holiday book and get ready to be drawn in by its linguistic beauty and thematic gruesomeness.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for a chance to read an ARC of this book for free, in exchange for an honest review.

content warnings (slight spoilers): homophobia, sexual assault, animal death, incest, fire

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oracleofmadness · 1 year

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Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

A nun with full body tattoos who also smokes the cigarettes and other contraband from her students, all while starting a new reputation as super sleuth as she works on the clues for multiple fires at her convent. This story didn't need any more surprises, but it definitely kept them rolling in.

I love that this takes place in New Orleans, a perfect city for the scene of any murder/mystery. Sister Holiday has been a nun for about one year after leaving her tumultuous life behind in NYC. There are many looks into her past throughout this book, which only adds to the drama. Sister Holiday teaches at the private school attached to the convent with a few other teachers and nuns. When fires begin erupting seemingingly out of nowhere several times at this school and convent, Sister Holiday takes it upon herself to find the culprit.

This is an intriguing read that definitely kept me entertained. However, I felt like some of the characters and the interactions in this story fell a bit flat. With that said, I still couldn't put this book down!

Out February 21, 2023!

#book #bookish #books #bookworm #book review #currently reading #read #bookblogger #reading #murder mystery book #mystery books #murder mystery #Scorched Grace #Margot Douaihy #netgalley review #netgalley

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mendingbone · 10 months

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i keep seeing people in their late teens/early twenties having a "[X] content intended for younger audiences does not feel satisfying to me anymore but i don't know where to start to branch out into adult fiction" moment and i thought i would give some recommendations for adult fiction for my fellow creepy crawly queer people. all or at least a LOT of it will be on the darker and more fucked up side bc i primarily engage with horror and thriller media personally but feel free to add on with more or recommendations from other genres :)

edit: i am continuing to add to this list so there might be new recs (highlighted in pink) in here every once in a while! also want to add that there's a variety of POC, queer, and disabled authors in here as well, i am also all of the above (asian, bi/aro, poly, disabled) and tried to incorporate as many of their wickedly talented, compelling narratives as possible. that's all, happy reading!

A Certain Hunger, Chelsea G. Summers

A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E Schwab*

A Dowry of Blood, S.G Gibson

Animal, Lisa Taddeo*

A Ripple of Power and Promise, Jordan A. Day*

Bunny, Mona Awad*

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi*

Cursed Bread, Sophie Mackintosh*

Dark Places, Gillian Flynn

Dead Girls Don't Say Sorry, Alex Ritany*

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk*

Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh*

Fruiting Bodies, Kathryn Harlan*

Goddess of Filth, V. Castro*

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski

If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha*

Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao

Jackal, Erin E. Adams*

Juniper and Thorn, Ava Reid*

Kindred, Octavia Butler*

Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin*

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee*

Rabbits, Terry Miles*

Scorched Grace, Margot Douaihy*

Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn

She is a Haunting, Trang Thahn Tran

Slewfoot, Brom*

Sorrowland, Rivers Soloman

Summer Sons, Lee Mandelo

Supper Club, Lara Williams*

The Centre, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi*

The Change, Kirsten Miller

The Death of Jane Lawrence, Caitlin Starling*

The Dreamer Trilogy, Maggie Stiefvater

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

The Hollow Places, T. Kingfisher*

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter, Soraya Palmer*

The Jasmine Throne, Tasha Suri

The Locked Tomb, Tamsyn Muir

The Luminous Dead, Caitlin Starling*

The Red Tree, Caitlin Kiernan*

The Unfamiliar Garden, Benjamin Percy*

Vicious, V. E Shwab

Wake, Siren, Nina MacLaughlin*

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher*

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battyaboutbooksreviews · 1 month

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🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in March 2024 🌈

🌈 Good afternoon, my bookish bats! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!

[ Release dates may have changed. ]

❤️ Shift: A Memoir of Identity and Other Illusions - Penny Guisinger 🧡 Tempting Olivia - Clare Ashton 💛 Monilinia - Free Mints 💚 Guillaume - Aurora Dimitre 💙 The Marble Queen - Anna Kopp & Gabrielle Kari 💜 The Baker & the Bard - Fern Haught ❤️ Rainbow! - Sunny & Gloom 🧡 The Safe Zone - Amy Marsden 💛 The Weavers of Alamaxa - Hadeer Elsbai 💙 The No-Girlfriend Rule - Christen Randall 💜 A Different Kind of Brave by Lee Wind 🌈 Cirque du Slay - Rob Osler ❤️ Wizard’s Debt - Niranjan 🧡 One Last Breath - Ginny Myers Sain 💛 Nothing Special - Katie Cook 💚 I Feel Awful, Thanks - Lara Pickle 💙 The Tower - Flora Carr 💜 Be the Sea - Clara Ward ❤️ What Grows in the Dark - Jaq Evans 🧡 Heirs of Bone and Sea - Kay Adams 💛 The Haunting of Velkwood - Gwendolyn Kiste 💙 Thunder Song - Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe 💜 Mona of the Manor - Armistead Maupin 🌈 Like Happiness - Ursula Villarreal-Moura

❤️ Ellipses - Vanessa Lawrence 🧡 Saint, Sorrow, Sinner - Freydís Moon 💛 Blood & Brujas - Mikayla D. Hornedo 💚 Infinity Kings - Adam Silvera 💙 Really Cute People - Markus Harwood-Jones 💜 How You Were Born - Kate Cayley ❤️ These Bodies Between Us - Sarah Van Name 🧡 Icarus - K. Ancrum 💛 The Emperor and the Endless Palace - Justinian Huang 💙 How Not to Date an Angel - Lana Kole 💜 Enemy Colours - R.M. Olson 🌈 Broken Parts Included - Alyson Root

❤️ Who's Afraid of Gender? - Judith Butler 🧡 The Duke’s Cowboy - Andrew Grey 💛 The Secret Something - Emily Wright 💚 Colstead & Andie - Olivia Janae 💙 Play It Again, Ma’am - Sienna Waters 💜 Love Is…? - K.J. Wrights ❤️ Welcome to Forever - Nathan Tavares 🧡 Just Another Epic Love Poem - Parisa Akhbari 💛 The Phoenix Bride - Natasha Siegel 💙 These Letters End in Tears - Musih Tedji Xaviere 💜 Truly Home - J.J. Hale 🌈 Monster Mixer - Robin Jo Margaret

❤️ The House of Hidden Meanings - RuPaul 🧡 Promised to the Queen - Barbara Winkes 💛 A Conclave of Crimson - Nicole Eigener & Beverley Lee 💚 A Hunt of Blood and Iron - Cara Nox 💙 The Fealty of Monsters - Ladz 💜 Ariel Crashes a Train - Olivia A. Cole ❤️ Those Beyond the Wall - Micaiah Johnson 🧡 Dancing Toward Stardust - Julia Underwood 💛 Heir to Dreams & Darkness - Ben Alderson 💙 Comet Cruise - Niska Morrow 💜 Dead Girls Walking - Sami Ellis 🌈 Blackout - Carlos E. Rivera

❤️ Monster Crush - Erin Ellie Franey 🧡 Blessed Water - Margot Douaihy 💛 These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart - Izzy Wasserstein 💚 Kiss of Seduction - Rawnie Sabor 💙 Sunbringer - Hannah Kaner 💜 Evacuation to Love - C.A. Popovich ❤️ Sin - Brooke Matthews 🧡 Falls from Grace - Ruby Landers 💛 Lean in to Love - Catherine Lane 💙 A Small Apocalypse - Laura Chow Reeve 💜 Cascade Failure - L.M. Sagas 🌈 The Mars House - Natasha Pulley

❤️ All This Time - Sage Donnell 🧡 The Romance Lovers Book Club - MA Binfield 💛 View from the Top - Morgan Adams 💚 Number Call - Nagisa Furuya 💙 Crossing Bridges - Chelsey Lynford 💜 The Boyfriend Subscription - Steven Salvatore ❤️ Love the World or Get Killed Trying - Alvina Chamberland 🧡 Synthetic Sea - Franklyn S. Newton 💛 The Prince & His Stolen Groom - J.E. Ridge 💙 Chrysalis and Requiem - Quinton Li 💜 Where Sleeping Girls Lie - Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé 🌈 A Botanical Daughter - Noah Medlock

❤️ Wednesday Nights - by Donna Jay 🧡 The Woods All Black - Lee Mandelo 💛 Song of the Huntress - Lucy Holland 💚 Rainbow Black - Maggie Thrash 💙 Spirits & Sunflowers - A.D. Armistead & Austin Daniel 💜 Floating Hotel - Grace Curtis ❤️ Far From Camelot - Rylee Hale 🧡 This Way to Change - Jezz Chung 💛 Mexican Bird - Luis Lopez-Maldonado 💙 Android Affection: Unveiling - Beau Van Dalen 💜 Welcome to the Damned - Astraea Long 🌈 She Came for Blood - Darva Green

❤️ Cover Story - Rachel Lacey 🧡 The Poisons We Drink - Bethany Baptiste 💛 The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist - Sophie Gonzales 💚 In Walked Trouble - Dana Hawkins 💙 Never Leave, Never Lie - Thea Verdone 💜 Guardian: Zhen Hun - Priest ❤️ All the World Beside - Garrard Conley 🧡 Rainbows, Unicorns, and Triangles - Jessica Kingsley Publishers �� The Feast Makers - H.A. Clarke 💙 Synthetic Sea - Franklyn S. Newton 💜 All the Painted Stars - Emma Denny 🌈 A Hard Sell - Jennifer Moffatt

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jesuisici33 · 4 months

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9 Books To Read in 2024

open tag by @eddiebabygirldiaz!

Camera Man by Dana Stevens

a biography about film star, Buster Keaton.

2. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Two rival journalists end up anonymously writing each other letters during a time when the gods are warring against each other. I don't know much about this one, but two friends recommended this to me with high praise.

3. I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

When going back to her high school reunion, Bodie has to face questions of what really happened to cause the murder of her roommate Thalia. And if the suspect, Omar, is really to blame.

4. While You Were Dreaming by Alisha Rai

IF YOU NEVER READ ALISHA RAI, START NOW!!!!! I swear, she's the unknown queen of romance. This is her first ya book. Sonia Patil, in a homemade superhero costume, ends up saving the life of her crush, James. Now she's trying to dodge TikTok detectives while getting to know James while hiding in plain sight.

5. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

The Greek Gods are crammed together in a London townhouse and fighting to still stay relevant in the modern age. Soon all twelve gods start fighting and it's up to two humans, Neil and Alice to smooth everything over between all of them.

6. Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy

A queer, heavily tattooed, chain smoking nun who says fuck the police and investigates an spree of arson crimes? Do I need any more reason to want to read this book?

7. Wolfsong by TJ Klune

I've only read one TJ Klune book so far (I know!) but I heard so many mutuals rave about this. When Ox was a teen, he joined the Bennett family pack of shapeshifters, and formed a close bond with Joe. However, when Ox was 23, a murder occured in town causing the Bennetts to leave, leaving Ox behind. Now three years later, they've returned.

8. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

(I've had a book with the entire Inheritance Trilogy for like two years, plus Jemisin has been on my tbr for even longer.) When Yeine Darr's mother mysteriously dies, she's been trasported to the city of Sky and made the heiress to the king. And suddenly she's been thrust into a vicious power struggle.

9. Malice by Heather Walter

Auora (Sleeping Beauty) and Malificent romance. No need to give any more than that.

and also if anyone's interested: My Goodreads My Storygraph

tagging @hippolotamus @911-on-abc @malewifediaz @rmd-writes @monsterrae1 @liminalmemories21 @disasterbuckdiaz @loserdiaz @wandering-night19 @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @apothecarose @mammameesh @thewolvesof1998 @steadfastsaturnsrings @daffi-990

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kamreadsandrecs · 28 days

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Not that I knew what to make of a nun like me—gold tooth from a bar fight, black scarf and gloves concealing my tattoos, my black roots pushing through badly bleached hair. God never judged me as harshly as I judged myself. If you talked to anyone else the way you talk to yourself, Moose said, it’d be abuse.

from Scorched Grace (Sister Holiday Mystery #1) by Margot Douaihy

#quotes #scorched grace #sister holiday mystery series #margot douaihy #mystery #books

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kammartinez · 1 day

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Racist, homophobic brutes like Grogan probably daydream about brassknuckling gay Black kids like Lamont. Bashing Jamie would have been a bonus.

from Scorched Grace (Sister Holiday Mystery #1) by Margot Douaihy

#quotes #scorched grace #sister holiday mystery series #margot douaihy #mystery #books

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out-of-the-forest-i-come · 2 months

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Yesterday, I listed some queer books coming out this month, and today I'll go over the queer series that are being continued in March. This is a non-exhaustive and informative list, checking out the trigger warnings and possible problematic content/author will be up to you.

Cirque du Slay, Book 2 of Hayden & Friends; Rob Osler, March 5th

Remnants of Filth: Yuwu, Vol. 3; Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (translation), March 5th

Saint, Sorrow, Sinner, Book 3 of The Gideon Testaments; Freydís Moon, March 5th

Mona of the Manor, Book 10 of Tales of the City; Armistead Maupin, March 7th

Blessed Water, Book 2 of A Sister Holiday Mystery; Margot Douaihy, March 12th

Infinity Kings, Book 3 of Infinity Cycles; Adam Silvera, March 14th

Heir to Dreams and Darkness, Book 3 of Court of Broken Bonds; Ben Alderson, March 15th

The Weavers of Alamaxa, Book 2 of the Alamaxa Duology; Hadeer Elsbai, March 19th

Guardian: Zhen Hun, Vol. 2; priest, March 26th

In Walked Trouble, Book 2 of Single in Seattle; Dana Hawkins, March 26th

The Feast Makers, Book 3 of Scapegracers; H.A. Clarke, March 26th

The Phantom Flame, Book 2 of Brimstone and Fire; T.M. Ledvina, March 26th

#books #book releases #march 2024 releases #book recs #book recommendation #book list #queer books #queer series #adam silvera #armistead maupin #tales of the city #out of the forest out of the brain #out of the queue i come

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year

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The Red Team Blues tour

In just a few days, my next novel, Red Team Blues, will be released in all English territories. It’s an “anti-finance finance thriller” — my most commercial novel to date, about a 67-year-old high-tech forensic accountant fighting for his life as he unwinds a cryptocurrency heist:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/redteamblues

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/19/whats-wrong-with-iowa/#red-team-blues-tour

My publishers are sending me around the world on a tour of the US, Canada, and the UK, with a bonus stop in Berlin! When I do book tours, each stop is a mix of a reading, a little background talk about the book, and then a kind of AMA with the audience. They’re incredibly fun and rewarding, and over the decades I’ve been doing them, I’ve had some of the most memorable and important interactions of my life. What’s more, these tours are a great way to support indie booksellers and get my readers acquainted with the stores who really support my work, creating lifelong relationships between bookstores and the communities they serve.

I hope you’ll come out to see me on this trip! What’s more: if you don’t see your city on the list below, don’t despair: I’ve got three more books coming out in the next 12 months and I’m going on the road with all of them, so there’s a good chance I’ll see you in the future even if I miss you this time around.

Here’s where you can catch me:

Los Angeles:

I’m speaking at the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend (4/22–23).

https://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/schedule/

Sat at 12, I’m doing a panel called “Covering Silicon Valley” with Douglas Rushkoff, Winddance Twine, moderated by Wendy Lee from the LA Times.

Sun at 11, I’m signing for California Book Club at booth 111.

Sun at 12:30, I’m doing a panel called “The Accidental Detective” with Alex Segura, Margot Douaihy and SJ Rozan.

San Diego:

I’ll be at Myseterious Galaxy with Sarah Gailey on 4/25:

https://www.mystgalaxy.com/event/42523Doctorow

Burbank:

I’ll be at Dark Delicacies on 4/26:

https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2873/Wed%2C_Apr_26th_6pm%3A_Red_Team_Blues%3A_A_Martin_Hench_Novel_HB.html#

San Francisco:

I’ll be at the San Francisco Public Library with Annalee Newitz on 4/30:

https://sfpl.org/events/2023/04/30/author-cory-doctorow-red-team-blues

PDX:

I’ll be at the Powell’s in Cedar Hills with Andy Baio on 5/2:

https://www.powells.com/book/red-team-blues-martin-hench-1-9781250865847/2-1

Mountain View:

I’ll be at the Books, Inc with Mitch Kapor on 5/5:

https://www.booksinc.net/event/cory-doctorow-books-inc-mountain-view

Berkeley:

I’ll be at the Bay Area Bookfest with Glynn Washington on 5/6:

https://www.baybookfest.org/session/cory-doctorow/

Vancouver:

On 5/10 I’m doing an afternoon keynote for Open Source Summit:

https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-north-america/

And that evening I’ll be at Massy Arts with Sean Cranbury:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/red-team-blues-cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-sean-cranbury-tickets-608877016547

Calgary:

I’ll be at Wordfest with Peter Hemminger on 5/11:

https://wordfest.com/2023/event/wordfest-presents-cory-doctorow/

Gaithersburg:

I’ll be at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on 5/20:

https://www.gaithersburgbookfestival.org/featured_author/cory-doctorow/

DC:

I’m keynoting Public Knowledge’s Emerging Tech conference on 5/22:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/emerging-tech-tickets-600582126307

Toronto:

I’ll be on stage with Ron Deibert, Dave Bidini and Nancy Olivieri for WEPFest on 5/23:

https://www.westendphoenix.com/shop/wepfest-spring-fundraiser

Hay:

I’m speaking at the HowTheLightGetsIn festival on 28–29/5:

On May 28, I’m on a panel called “The AI Enigma” with Joshua Bach and Mazviita Chirimuuta:

https://howthelightgetsin.org/events/the-ai-enigma-12147

On May 29, I’m on a panel called “The Danger and Desire of the Frontier” with Nolen Gertz and Esther Dyson:

https://howthelightgetsin.org/events/the-danger-and-desire-of-the-frontier-12246

Oxford:

I’ll be at Blackwell with Tim Harford on 29/5:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cory-doctorow-red-team-blues-with-tim-harford-tickets-574673793787

Nottingham:

I’ll be at Waterstones with Christian Reilly on 30/5:

https://www.waterstones.com/events/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow/nottingham

Manchester:

I’ll be at Waterstones with Ian Forrester on 31/5:

https://www.waterstones.com/events/in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow/manchester-deansgate

London:

I’m delivering the Peter Kirstein Lecture for UCL on 1/6:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peter-kirstein-lecture-2023-featuring-cory-doctorow-registration-539205788027

Edinburgh:

I’m speaking at Cymera with Ian McDonald and Nina Allan on 3/6:

https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/cymera23-events/2023/4/4/connection-interrupted-with-nina-allan-cory-doctorow-and-ian-mcdonald

London:

I’m speaking at the British Library with Baroness Martha Lane Fox on 5/6:

https://www.bl.uk/events/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow-techno-thriller

Berlin:

I’m keynoting Re:publica on 7/6:

https://re-publica.com/de/news/rp23-keynote-von-cory-doctorow-rebecca-giblin-kreative-arbeitsmaerkte-und-monopole

[Image ID: The Red Team Blues tour schedule.]

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justforbooks · 5 months

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Best crime and thrillers of 2023

Given this year’s headlines, it’s unsurprising that our appetite for cosy crime continues unabated, with the latest title in Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, The Last Devil to Die (Viking), topping the bestseller lists. Janice Hallett’s novels The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, which also features a group of amateur crime-solvers, and The Christmas Appeal (both Viper) have proved phenomenally popular, too.

Hallett’s books, which are constructed as dossiers – transcripts, emails, WhatsApp messages and the like – are part of a growing trend of experimentation with form, ranging from Cara Hunter’s intricate Murder in the Family (HarperCollins), which is structured around the making of a cold case documentary, to Gareth Rubin’s tête-bêche The Turnglass (Simon & Schuster). Books that hark back to the golden age of crime, such as Tom Mead’s splendidly tricksy locked-room mystery Death and the Conjuror (Head of Zeus), are also on the rise. The late Christopher Fowler, author of the wonderful Bryant & May detective series, who often lamented the sacrifice of inventiveness and fun on the altar of realism, would surely have approved. Word Monkey (Doubleday), published posthumously, is his funny and moving memoir of a life spent writing popular fiction.

Notable debuts include Callum McSorley’s Glaswegian gangland thriller Squeaky Clean (Pushkin Vertigo); Jo Callaghan’s In the Blink of an Eye (Simon & Schuster), a police procedural with an AI detective; Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy (Pushkin Vertigo), featuring queer punk nun investigator Sister Holiday; and the caustically funny Thirty Days of Darkness (Orenda) by Jenny Lund Madsen (translated from the Danish by Megan E Turney).

There have been welcome additions to series, including a third book, Case Sensitive (Zaffre), for AK Turner’s forensic investigator Cassie Raven, and a second, The Wheel of Doll (Pushkin Vertigo), for Jonathan Ames’s LA private eye Happy Doll, who is shaping up to be the perfect hardboiled 21st-century hero.

Other must-reads for fans of American crime fiction include Ozark Dogs (Headline) by Eli Cranor, a powerful story of feuding Arkansas families; SA Cosby’s Virginia-set police procedural All the Sinners Bleed (Headline); Megan Abbott’s nightmarish Beware the Woman (Virago); and Rebecca Makkai’s foray into very dark academia, I Have Some Questions for You (Fleet). There are shades of James Ellroy in Jordan Harper’s Hollywood-set tour de force Everybody Knows (Faber), while Raymond Chandler’s hero Philip Marlowe gets a timely do-over from Scottish crime doyenne Denise Mina in The Second Murderer (Harvill Secker).

As Mick Herron observed in his Slow Horses origin novel, The Secret Hours (Baskerville), there’s a long list of spy novelists who have been pegged as the heir to John le Carré. Herron must be in pole position for principal legatee, but it’s been a good year for espionage generally: standout novels include Matthew Richardson’s The Scarlet Papers (Michael Joseph), John Lawton’s Moscow Exile (Grove Press) and Harriet Crawley’s The Translator (Bitter Lemon).

Historical crime has also been well served. Highlights include Emma Flint’s excellent Other Women (Picador), based on a real 1924 murder case; Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s story of a fortune teller’s quest for identity in Georgian high society, The Square of Sevens (Mantle); and SG MacLean’s tale of Restoration revenge and retribution, The Winter List (Quercus). There are echoes of Chester Himes in Viper’s Dream (No Exit) by Jake Lamar, which begins in 1930s Harlem, while Palace of Shadows (Mantle) by Ray Celestin, set in the late 19th century, takes the true story of American weapons heiress Sarah Winchester’s San Jose mansion and transports it to Yorkshire, with chillingly gothic results.

The latest novel in Vaseem Khan’s postcolonial India series, Death of a Lesser God (Hodder), is also well worth the read, as are Deepti Kapoor’s present-day organised crime saga Age of Vice (Fleet) and Parini Shroff’s darkly antic feminist revenge drama The Bandit Queens (Atlantic).

While psychological thrillers are thinner on the ground than in previous years, the quality remains high, with Liz Nugent’s complex and heartbreaking tale of abuse, Strange Sally Diamond (Penguin Sandycove), and Sarah Hilary’s disturbing portrait of a family in freefall, Black Thorn (Macmillan), being two of the best.

Penguin Modern Classics has revived its crime series, complete with iconic green livery, with works by Georges Simenon, Dorothy B Hughes and Ross MacDonald. There have been reissues by other publishers, too – forgotten gems including Celia Fremlin’s 1959 holiday‑from-hell novel, Uncle Paul (Faber), and Richard Wright’s The Man Who Lived Underground (Vintage). Finished in 1942 but only now published in its entirety, the latter is an account of an innocent man who takes refuge from racist police officers in the sewers of Chicago – part allegorical, part brutally realistic and, unfortunately, wholly topical.

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