An engaging pair of police detectives, an exotic locale, and a turbulent time in history all come together in A Necessary Evil, Abir Mukherjee’s second novel featuring Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surrender-not Banerjee of the Calcutta Police Force in the years after World War One
Posts By: Nancie Clare
Episode 143: Nova Jacobs
Chaos theory, quantum physics and higher math are all part of a day’s work for many of the characters in The Last Equation of Isaac Severy, Nova Jacobs debut crime fiction novel. But while some of the characters may be geniuses, many of the things they do are far from smart Photo of… Read more »
Episode 142: Mariah Fredericks
Jane Prescott, the protagonist of A Death of No Importance in Mariah Fredericks’ novel, introduces herself to readers as a “Nobody. Less than nobody.” As a lady’s maid in the first decade of the 20th century, she’s not too far off. Regardless of her station in life, though, Jane has a keen eye. Once again, in her… Read more »
Episode 141: Sebastian Rotella
In Rip Crew, the third novel in Sebastian Rotella’s series featuring Valentine Pescadore, the global nature of organized crime is brought home—literally and figuratively, as the story travels from New York City’s financial heart to the border between Mexico and Guatemala to Naples, and the lawlessness of Italy’s mafia
Episode 140: Lee Goldberg
Three years after spitballing doomsday scenarios for a U.S. intelligence agency, thriller writer Ian Ludlow—the protagonist of Lee Goldberg’s True Fiction—sees his horrible imaginings become reality. If that wasn’t bad enough, the agency who hired him would now like to clean up after themselves by destroying the evidence of their nefarious actions, and that means eliminating… Read more »
Episode 139: Alison Gaylin
Part psychological thriller, part police procedural, If I Die Tonight, Alison Gaylin’s new crime fiction novel, is a twisty journey through a small town’s secrets, lies and social media Photo of Alison Gaylin ©Franco Vogt
Episode 138: Naomi Hirahara
In Hiroshima Boy, Naomi Hirahara’s seventh—and last—Mas Arai mystery, the American-born Mas travels to Hiroshima, where he lived between the ages of three and eighteen, surviving The Bomb, on a pilgrimage to repatriate the ashes of his best friend. The city of his youth has changed—and not changed—much like its former resident: Mas … Read more »
Episode 137: Ben Dolnick
The Ghost Notebooks, Ben Dolnick’s fourth novel, defies easy categorization: it’s a be-careful-what-you-wish-for story that’s a mystery, a ghost tale, and a love story, the whole being greater than the sum of its parts Photo of Ben Dolnick ©Todd Heisler
Episode 136: Dennis Palumbo
In Head Wounds, Dennis Palumbo’s fifth Dr. Daniel Rinaldi mystery, Rinaldi finds himself playing a deadly game of beat-the-clock with a villain so cunning and diabolical, he’s reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter If you’d like to know more about Dennis Palumbo’s series featuring Dr. Daniel Rinaldi, and Dennis’s “Hollywood on the Couch” column in… Read more »
Episode 135: Karen Cleveland
After a working all day as an analyst handling highly classified material on the CIA’s Russia Desk, Vivian Miller, Karen Cleveland’s protagonist in her debut novel Need to Know, returns home to her husband and four children. All that domestic normalcy isn’t what it appears to be, though, in what becomes a test of loyalty… Read more »
