Latest news with #EdgarAward
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Book Review: Following a vicious attack, a woman solves her own murder in Holly Jackson novel
After the shattering conclusion of 'Not Quite Dead Yet,' author Holly Jackson addresses her readers this way: '… and breathe. Sorry. I know that was intense.' This is the first adult suspense novel by Jackson, the author of popular young-adult fiction including 'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder,' and it is emotionally wrenching from start to finish. The unforgettable protagonist is Jet Mason, a 27-year-old woman still living with her parents in Woodstock, Vermont. She's can't seem to get her life started — has never finished anything including law school. 'I'll do it later,' she always says. 'I have plenty of time.' But she doesn't. Returning home after a Halloween party, she is attacked, her skull smashed with a hammer. When she wakes up in the hospital, she receives shocking news. Her surgeon was unable to remove a tiny bone fragment resting against a major blood vessel in her brain. If it remains there, it will cause a fatal brain aneurysm within seven days. If they try to remove it, they must act now, but she has only a remote chance of survival. Her doctor tells her that she must choose. Jet decides against surgery. With just seven days left, she is determined to finally finish something. Before she dies, she will solve her own murder. Leaving home to escape her mother's constant pleas to have the surgery, Jet teams up with Billy, a sweet young man who has loved her since they were children, and together they set out to unmask the killer. Jet never imagined that she had enemies, but before long the police have arrested JJ, a former boyfriend who had never gotten over her. All but sure the police got it wrong, Jet persists, uncovering a series of family and small-town secrets that reveal an abundance of motives and suspects. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. The result is a fast-paced, intensely suspenseful race against time populated by an impressive collection of well-drawn characters. And in the end, the young woman who never finished anything emerges as a model of intelligence, courage, resilience and decency. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.' ___ AP book reviews:
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Book Review: Following a vicious attack, a woman solves her own murder in Holly Jackson novel
After the shattering conclusion of 'Not Quite Dead Yet,' author Holly Jackson addresses her readers this way: '... and breathe. Sorry. I know that was intense.' This is the first adult suspense novel by Jackson, the author of popular young-adult fiction including 'A Good Girl's Guide to Murder,' and it is emotionally wrenching from start to finish. The unforgettable protagonist is Jet Mason, a 27-year-old woman still living with her parents in Woodstock, Vermont. She's can't seem to get her life started — has never finished anything including law school. 'I'll do it later,' she always says. 'I have plenty of time.' But she doesn't. Returning home after a Halloween party, she is attacked, her skull smashed with a hammer. When she wakes up in the hospital, she receives shocking news. Her surgeon was unable to remove a tiny bone fragment resting against a major blood vessel in her brain. If it remains there, it will cause a fatal brain aneurysm within seven days. If they try to remove it, they must act now, but she has only a remote chance of survival. Her doctor tells her that she must choose. Jet decides against surgery. With just seven days left, she is determined to finally finish something. Before she dies, she will solve her own murder. Leaving home to escape her mother's constant pleas to have the surgery, Jet teams up with Billy, a sweet young man who has loved her since they were children, and together they set out to unmask the killer. Jet never imagined that she had enemies, but before long the police have arrested JJ, a former boyfriend who had never gotten over her. All but sure the police got it wrong, Jet persists, uncovering a series of family and small-town secrets that reveal an abundance of motives and suspects. The result is a fast-paced, intensely suspenseful race against time populated by an impressive collection of well-drawn characters. And in the end, the young woman who never finished anything emerges as a model of intelligence, courage, resilience and decency. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.' ___ AP book reviews:
Time Out
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
This NYC bookshop was just named the best indie bookstore in the country
It's official: The best indie bookstore in the U.S. is tucked behind a candy-striped awning in Tribeca—and it smells like suspense. The Mysterious Bookshop, the beloved literary haunt dedicated to all things crime, noir and detective fiction, has been crowned the top independent bookstore in the country by the 2025 USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice Awards. Opened in 1979 by publishing legend Otto Penzler, the editor, collector and mystery aficionado behind The Mysterious Press and other imprints, the shop is the oldest mystery-specialist bookstore in the country. Step inside and you'll find floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked with everything from Agatha Christie classics to collectible first editions by James Ellroy, along with a world-class trove of Sherlockiana that would make even Benedict Cumberbatch blush. But the store's secret weapon is its Bibliomystery series—exclusive novellas where books, bookstores or collectors find themselves tangled up in murder. The series has attracted heavy hitters like Michael Connelly and Joyce Carol Oates, and one story even nabbed an Edgar Award. While it began life in Midtown, the shop moved downtown in 2005 and now lives at 58 Warren Street, where it doubles as HQ for Penzler Publishers and It also hosts regular signings, readings and newsletter updates for diehard fans looking to keep a pulse on the crime fiction world. The Mysterious Bookshop beat out buzzy newcomers and beloved community mainstays from across the country (including Nashville's Parnassus Books and Indianapolis's Loudmouth Books) to take the No. 1 spot in this year's rankings. And another local favorite, Brooklyn's romance-only bookstore The Ripped Bodice, helped bookend (see what we did there?) the list by coming in at No. 10. With cozy reading chairs, rare book displays and a staff fluent in red herrings and locked-room puzzles, the Mysterious Bookshop is a certified shrine to the genre. And now, it has the title to match.
San Francisco Chronicle
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Book Review: A fingerprint expert obsessed with learning the fate of her missing sister
Sixteen years have passed since Shaw Connolly's teenage sister, Thea, slipped out of their family home in rural Maine to party with friends and never came home. Shaw (short for Shawnee), now a fingerprint expert for law enforcement agencies, is certain that her sister was murdered, but she is obsessed with learning where she was buried. Even now, after all these years, she continues to put up posters and roam the woods of their hometown with a cadaver dog. Her obsession takes a toll not only on her but on her family, driving her husband away and traumatizing her two boys. But in author Gillian French's 'Shaw Connolly Lives To Tell,' Shaw isn't the only one who is obsessed. Someone is obsessed with her. His name is Anders Jansen, and he calls Shaw frequently, often at odd hours. He taunts her about Thea, revealing details that hint at his involvement in the girl's disappearance — but never enough to justify an arrest. As their cat-and-mouse game continues, the phone calls become more menacing, and soon he starts following her and making vague threats against her family. When Shaw grows alarmed enough to get a protective order, he violates it, giving police a justification to make an arrest. But now he's on the run, the police can't find him, and the calls continue. Meanwhile, Shaw has a job to do. She assists police investigating the death of a man who was bludgeoned while walking his dog. She is called to assist with an arson fire in a vacant building. But then there is another arson fire. And another. And another. When the arsonist burns down the church Shaw attended as a child, she and the readers wonder if Anders could be setting the fires. This well-written, emotionally wrenching novel is not a mystery in the traditional sense. It is apparent early on that Thea is dead and that Anders killed her. The tension lies in how far Shaw will go to learn where she is buried, what Anders will do if she persists, and the price the people she loves will pay for her obsession. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.' ___
Hamilton Spectator
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Book Review: A fingerprint expert obsessed with learning the fate of her missing sister
Sixteen years have passed since Shaw Connolly's teenage sister, Thea, slipped out of their family home in rural Maine to party with friends and never came home. Shaw (short for Shawnee), now a fingerprint expert for law enforcement agencies, is certain that her sister was murdered, but she is obsessed with learning where she was buried. Even now, after all these years, she continues to put up posters and roam the woods of their hometown with a cadaver dog. Her obsession takes a toll not only on her but on her family, driving her husband away and traumatizing her two boys. But in author Gillian French's 'Shaw Connolly Lives To Tell,' Shaw isn't the only one who is obsessed. Someone is obsessed with her. His name is Anders Jansen, and he calls Shaw frequently, often at odd hours. He taunts her about Thea, revealing details that hint at his involvement in the girl's disappearance — but never enough to justify an arrest. As their cat-and-mouse game continues, the phone calls become more menacing, and soon he starts following her and making vague threats against her family. When Shaw grows alarmed enough to get a protective order, he violates it, giving police a justification to make an arrest. But now he's on the run, the police can't find him, and the calls continue. Meanwhile, Shaw has a job to do. She assists police investigating the death of a man who was bludgeoned while walking his dog. She is called to assist with an arson fire in a vacant building. But then there is another arson fire. And another. And another. When the arsonist burns down the church Shaw attended as a child, she and the readers wonder if Anders could be setting the fires. This well-written, emotionally wrenching novel is not a mystery in the traditional sense. It is apparent early on that Thea is dead and that Anders killed her. The tension lies in how far Shaw will go to learn where she is buried, what Anders will do if she persists, and the price the people she loves will pay for her obsession. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 'The Dread Line.' ___ AP book reviews:
