CrimeReads has named PRETTY AS A PICTURE by Elizabeth Little one of the best psychological thrillers of 2020, calling it, “a satisfying, twisty thriller,” and “a smart meditation on the place that the movies occupy in pop culture.”

And others agree. The Wall Street Journal named this “witty and suspenseful” book one of their best mysteries of the year.

Meanwhile, The Seattle Times also included Little’s “captivating fun house of a thriller” in their top 10 crime novels of 2020. “It’s also a snarky sendup of Hollywood pretensions, rife with movie references; film nuts, rejoice!”

Check out the full lists at CrimeReads, The Wall Street Journal, and The Seattle Times, or make it one of your favorite books of 2020 and pick up a copy of PRETTY AS A PICTURE wherever books are sold.

It’s a great day for mystery fans. Elizabeth Little’s PRETTY AS A PICTURE, a CrimeReads Most Anticipated Book of 2020, has just been published. And it’s not a moment too soon, as the early reviews have been fervent in their praise.

“Both a captivating thriller and a snarkily funny send-up of Hollywood pretensions, the book glories in movie references — film fans will be especially rewarded.” —The Seattle Times

“[A] smart, cinematically steeped page-turner. . . . Little scores with the achingly vulnerable Marissa, whose specific set of skills enables her to see the big picture before anyone else. Psychological thriller fans will be well satisfied.” —Publishers Weekly

“The standout feature of Pretty as a Picture is its idiosyncratic heroine, whose observational skills and deductive reasoning make her a true twenty-first century rival of Sherlock Holmes.” —Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

“Pre-order this one now. Go ahead, put it in your basket. . . . . Little has an extraordinary gift for capturing voice. . . . [She] depicts perfectly what it feels like to be a little different and on the outside. . . . Startling plot twists. I can’t recommend this one highly enough.” —Crimespree Magazine

You can see what all the excitement is about by reading this exclusive excerpt out today in CrimeReads. Or you can purchase a copy of PRETTY AS A PICTURE for yourself wherever books are sold.

Earlier this year, Ron Charles of The Washington Post hailed Leah Hager Cohen’s STRANGERS AND COUSINS,  calling it  “an absolute delight…one of the most hopeful and insightful novels I’ve read in years.” Now The Washington Post has named it one of the ten best books of 2019.

“The tale of a quirky family planning a wedding in a tumble-down house” the Post says in its announcement, “contains all the promise of an arthritic rom-com, but, as masterfully told by Cohen, it’s an absolute delight infused with the most pressing concerns of our era. … Cohen takes comedy seriously, and it shows in this disarmingly substantive story that’s funny, tender, provocative and wise.”

See the full list here. And if you haven’t already, it’s time to grab a copy of STRANGERS AND COUSINS for yourself.

CLAIRE DEWITT AND THE CITY OF THE DEAD, the first installment in Sara Gran’s Claire Dewitt series, has been named one of the ten best crime novels of the last decade by CrimeReads.

CrimeReads calls the novel “a shot of adrenaline straight into the arm of private eye fiction.” And goes on to anoint Gran “one of the foremost stylists at work in crime fiction today….”

The latest in the Claire Dewitt series, THE INFINITE BLACKTOP, is available in paperback and has itself been named a best book of 2018  by NPR and The Washington Post, among others.

Click here to see the full list.

Just as Hurricane Dorian was reaching the East Coast last week, Ari Shapiro of All Things Considered interviewed Gilbert Gaul about his new book, THE GEOGRAPHY OF RISK, which has just been published.

“One of the things you see – and it’s kind of interesting – when you go to…hurricane disasters within days of the disasters or the week of the disaster, you often see people putting up American flags, almost as if it’s their patriotic duty to rebuild in harm’s way, which is one of the paradoxes of all of this.”

Listen to the full interview below or read the transcript at NPR.org.

Named a best book of the year by NPR, The Washington Post, Bookpage, Booklist, and The Telegraph, THE INFINITE BLACKTOP by Sara Gran is finally out in paperback.

And it’s not just critics who are fawning over Gran’s “bold and stunning” (Publishers Weekly) new installment of the Claire DeWitt series; writers love it too.

“A wonderful mystery, packed with unexpected gems of truth and humor and beauty, that reminded me of why I love reading fiction.” — Chris Pavone, author of THE EXPATS

“THE INFINITE BLACKTOP is a hard boiled, existential masterpiece. There’s no detective as skilled or as strange as Claire DeWitt: mouse-whisperer, slumming angel, gnostic disciple. She always wins the day. Sara Gran is peerless.” Cara Hoffman, author of RUNNING and SO MUCH PRETTY

“I turned to Claire DeWitt when I was down and she gave me a week to remember that there is always a way onwards.”  – Mark Z. Danielewski, author of HOUSE OF LEAVES

Or take it from Maureen Corrigan of The Washington Post: “For those who haven’t yet read Gran, trust me, you are in for a singular mystery experience.”

Don’t get left behind. Find yourself a paperback copy of THE INFINITE BLACKTOP today.

With sea levels on the rise and hurricanes proving more destructive every year, Gilbert Gaul’s THE GEOGRAPHY OF RISK examines the full cost of climate denial to coastal development – and who bears the brunt of that cost.

“It is a patient and relentless investigation,” applauds San Francisco Review of Books, “Gilbert Gaul shows unmistakably what we thought we knew all along: disaster relief and flood insurance have become a stealth entitlement for the wealthy. In his excellent The Geography of Risk, Gaul piles up the evidence through research, interviews and actual examination.”

Publishers Weekly salutes Gaul’s “punchy report” that “sticks to the facts” – “Mixing breezy storytelling with the nitty- gritty details of inside-politicking, Gaul demonstrates how state and federal agencies have tried, but failed, to rein in developers and decelerate coastal development.”

Kirkus declares, “coast dwellers will want to give this book their urgent attention.”

Read the full reviews at San Francisco Review of Books, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus, or pick up your own copy of this crucial and timely book. THE GEOGRAPHAPHY OF RISK is now available wherever books are sold.

RESTORATION HEIGHTS, Wil Medearis’s “smart and evocative debut” (Publishers Weekly), is one of the best crime books of the year so far, according to CrimeReads.

“Medearis is a novelist of real energy and ambition, and Restoration Heights is the kind of biting social critique that crime fiction has always excelled at and made necessary.”

Click here to see the full list.

If you’re looking for must-read fiction this month, THE SUMMER DEMANDS has just been published and Chicago Tribune is lauding “Deborah Shapiro’s smart, funny, nuanced and seductive second novel.”

“A gorgeously written story of late youth and early middle age, the novel makes the delicate argument that maybe a person can come of age at any age — that maybe everyone is always coming of age all the time.”

The novel was also featured in Chicago Tribune’s list of 25 ways to kick off summer in Chicago. And they’re not the only ones to take notice. THE SUMMER DEMANDS has appeared on the summer reading lists for BBC Culture and NYLON.

Read the full Chicago Tribune review here or pick up your own copy of THE SUMMER DEMANDS today wherever books are sold.

In a rapturous review of Leah Hager Cohen’s new novel, STRANGERS AND COUSINS, Ron Charles of the Washington Post declares the book, “an unusually substantive comedy, a perfect summer novel: funny and tender but also provocative and wise.”

“STRANGERS AND COUSINS floats on the waters of a society in flux, an America still trying to figure out who we really are. Cohen’s ability to acknowledge the agony of that strife in the context of a modern, loving family makes this one of the most hopeful and insightful novels I’ve read in years.”

Read the full review here.

STRANGERS AND COUSINS will be published by Riverhead on May 14, available wherever books are sold.