Mystery and Suspense Magazine

Book Reviews

Reviews of new and upcoming books in the mystery, thriller, horror, crime, and suspense genres. Our editorial staff and reviewers choose which titles to review. All reviews meet standards of notability.

Murder Under Her Skin

To uncover the real killer they join the circus in sleepy Stoppard, Virginia

Last Redemption

Forced to battle killers as he tries to live to see the birth of his child

Blood in the Water

A murder in a small fishing community raises questions of right and wrong

Sea Hawke

An unholy alliance of nations plot to attack Western democracies

Dead Silence

She and her crew board a lost cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare

Iron Annie

The Rat King asks her to help him dispose of ten kilos of cocaine

The President's Daughter

All he wants is to sink into anonymity with his family

Booth

Behind the curtains, multiple disasters begin to take their toll

A History of Wild Places

He has an unusual talent for locating missing people

When the Reckoning Comes

The darkest elements of the plantation’s past have been carefully erased

City on Fire

Two criminal empires together control all of New England

The Texas Job

A fugitive killer is responsible for murdering local landowners

The Runaway

What begins as an act of kindness soon turns into a deadly chase

Better Off Dead

A jeep plowed into the only tree for miles, with a woman slumped over

Claret and Present Danger

The illusionist is dead, poisoned by someone who wasn’t clowning around

The Attic on Queen Street

The ghost of a Civil War era girl warns her of threats to her family

The Midnight Hour

When an impresario is found dead no one suspects foul play

My Darling Husband

There’s another side he’s kept hidden that has put their family in danger

The Science of Serial Killers

The real-life inspirations behind history’s most infamous serial killers

The Unfamiliar Garden

They partner to fight a deadly contagion and the government forces

Amok

A dangerous psychopath has taken over Berlin’s leading radio station

The Last Protector

South African mercenaries target his girlfriend at an awards gala

Guild Boss

A killer is hunting her, and there aren’t a lot of options when it comes to heroes

The Last House on the Street

Her husband dies in an accident while building their dream house

Far from the Light of Heaven

She must find out who is responsible for these deaths on the colony ship

Beautiful Little Fools

To the police, it appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide

The Guest House

She kept her successful guest house going and even met a new man

Vanishing Point

The case triggers disturbing childhood memories

The Hidden

In a small seaside town, a little girl is found abandoned

The Mark

He’s unconscious on the beach with a strange symbol carved into his skin

The Nameless Ones

In Amsterdam, four people are butchered in a canal house

Base Notes

Creating scents that evoke immersive memories are worth killing for

You’ll Be The Death of Me

Three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes fatally wrong

The Last Guest

Come morning, her ex-husband is dead and all of the guests are suspects

Down a Dark River

A small boat bearing a young woman’s corpse floats down the Thames

Vital Lies

He’s looking for help tracking down a notorious Cold War spymaster

Dark Tarot

She can see the shape of things to come in her deck of cards

The House of Ashes

The house has a terrible history she wasn’t meant to discover

Wild Cowboy Wolf

This cowboy has a dark secret he can never escape

You Can Run

He might be closer to this killer than anybody knows

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

Presidents have come and gone

A Fatal Night

A young man froze to death after crashing into a snowdrift

Three Sisters

In the horror of the death camp, these three beautiful sisters are reunited

Silverview

A letter of warning turns up at the door of a spy chief in London

The Judge's List

Could a sitting judge be a serial killer?

The Forest

They believe their annual tithes are what purchase the town’s safety

The Stalker

They soon discover that all is not as it seems: the island has a tragic past

A Ballad of Love and Glory

As the war intensifies, they’re drawn inexorably to each other

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