Author and musician Tim Bryant weaves his tale ,World of Rivers, like a chamber piece, where most authors would make it their symphony.. Just a little over two-hundred pages, it covers over forty years, three locations, at least four main characters, each told with their own section, and at least three families that become one as it looks at race, fate, art, and other themes. By taking an epic and tightening it, he looks at how life may hold a method under its chaos. He first

Jake Hinkson immediately grabs us with the set-up in his latest, You Will Never See Me. Alice, Hardesty, a married academic, gets pulled into an alley and is assaulted, as she leaves her lover's apartment. She escapes and leaves him bleeding. When she returns with the man she was sleeping with, the attacker and any signs of the crime are gone. She goes home, gets rid of her clothes, and decides to keep quiet as not to reveal her indiscretions. She didn't know private detectiv

With The Rancher, Peter Bracvold's third book about the tall, tough swede Anders Nordic, he puts the cap on his hero's arc. He began as a wandering loner who has a stronger bond with Finn, the collie he saves from torment, to finding love in The Man From Dakota. Here he establishes, friends, family, and a place for a future, learning the lengths he'll go when it is all threatened. Nordic is now married to Alexandria (Alex) , daughter of the Comanche Ranch owner Garth Deveraux

Bill Pronzini is one of those master craftsmen who can deftly apply his craft to almost any genre and subgenre. He recently broadened my opinion of the locked room (or impossible) mystery with his collection Tales of the Impossible. He was kind enough to take some questions from this newbie to the genre. SCOTT MONTGOMERY: Can you write a locked room on demand or can you only do it when you have most of the puzzle pieces in mind? BILL PRONZINI: I’ve never written an Impossible

Run Killer, Run is both heist master Lionel White's first and sixteenth book. Originally published in a digest version in 1952, under the title Seven Hungry Men, it was revised and retitled seven years later for Avon Books. It shows how well he had the genre down from the beginning. The first half of the plot and structure hit many familiar yet fun beats. Career robber Rand Coleman gets sprung from prison by lawyer and mastermind Borgman, who has a plan for a two million doll

T. Jefferson Parker often uses the crime novel to journey into Southern California society. Starting with his debut, Laguna Beach, he is at his best when he looks at the more insular communities outside L.A. With Wild Instinct, he gives us Orange County Detective Lew Gale to take us through some of its lesser known corners. A former marine who served in Afghanistan and part of the area's Acjacheme Indian community, struggling with PTSD. Parker introduces us to him in an engag

WARNING SPOILERS ALL AROUND FOR SHORT STORY AND BOTH FILMS. The Three Ten To Yuma became the first story of Elmore Leonard’s to be adapted into a film. It also became one of two of his works that Hollywood adapted twice. Both took liberties with the story as they expanded it.   Published by Dime Western in 1953, Leonard’s short story begins with Deputy Marshal Paul Scallen riding into the town of Contention with Jim Kidd, a convicted robber and murderer. At the Commercial Hot

Noir can often just be fun, providing a way to have base experiences in the safety of a book. Tod Goldberg executed a perfect understanding of that when he wrote Only Way Out. Filled with unscrupulous people, it keeps us wondering who is truly smart and too smart for their own good. Jack Biddle, a compromised top cop in the run down beach town of Granite Shores, Oregon, is about to shake down a van driver for money to pat off some unsavory types. Before he can reach it, the v

Announcing Boom Town as Nic Stone's adult debut contains more than one meaning. After making a name for herself in the YA field, this is her first published novel out of the genre is a gritty thriller involving the women who work at the Atlanta gentlemen's club where the the title comes from. Instead of exploiting it for cheap thrills, she approaches the subject matter in a mature, unflinching manner. The story moves back and forth between two timelines about two missing wome

As Fall arrives, so does the Texas Book Festival and the Saturday night Lit Crawl Austin Noir At The Bar. This year they have us off Red River Street at Cheer Up Charlies November 8th, 7:30pm for reading up murder, betrayal, thievery, and other fun things in a range of voices. We have a line-up of local and national talent. SARA SLIGAR hit he scene in 2020 with the unnerving pyschological thriller with Take Me Apart. She has earned rave reviews with her dark look at family wi