In 1940s Chicago, a serial killer known as the White City Vampire spreads fear as everyone wonders who his next victim will be. Helen Brandt, an exiled magician deemed a warlock for her crimes against the Brotherhood, is on the case. But as the mystery unfolds, her past comes back to haunt her, and sheRead More
A Bittersweet Supernatural Romp: Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk Review
At the close of 2024, I offer up my favorite read of the year: C.L. Polk’s Even Though I Knew the End. This novella catapulted me through five acts in the span of 133 pages, and it hurt in the best possible way. Settle in for a gritty noir detective story: January 1941, Chicago. The coldRead More
Misogyny and Murder: Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link In her most ambitious novel yet, crime writer Jessica Knoll—author of Luckiest Girl Alive (2015)—blends fact and fiction as she adapts the events surrounding a series of killings committed in Tallahassee, Florida in 1978. Bright Young Women (2023) begins in January 1978. Patricia Schumacher is president of her sorority at Florida State University. She takesRead More
A Supernatural Noir Novella About Love at All Costs: Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link What would you give up everything for? If you knew you were doomed, would you keep fighting? In fewer than 140 pages, the award-winning Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk posits these questions with a heroine whose love and determination propel her through a fast-paced investigation to catch a killerRead More
Danika reviews The Restless Dark by Erica Waters
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link During October this year, I tried to pack my TBR with seasonal, Halloween-adjacent reads, and The Restless Dark looked like the perfect match. It’s a sapphic YA horror/thriller book set at a true crime podcast event where listeners compete to try to find the unrecovered bones of aRead More
Danika reviews Throwaway Girls by Andrea Contos
This book was a real rollercoaster of a read: I was intrigued by the beginning, felt the middle dragged, and then I was completely on board again by the end. It’s about Caroline, whose best friend, Madison, has just gone missing. Caroline hasn’t been having a great time even before this. Her mother sent herRead More
Megan Casey reviews The Dead by Ingrid Black
In a 2013 interview, Anne Laughlin lists Ingrid Black as one of her favorite lesbian mystery writers. It isn’t clear from the interview whether she was aware that “Ingrid Black” is actually two writers—Ellis O’Hanlon and her husband Ian McConnel. Nor is it mentioned whether she was aware that O’Hanlon, a journalist, has written flippantRead More