The Best New Crime Fiction of February 2020
February may be the month of love, but for crime readers, it’s always a great month for reading mysteries and thrillers! And the new year keeps publishing great crime books, so, lucky us. We have the return of a New York PI, a former Brooklyn detective now working as a Dallas detective, a Korean suspense novel, a super-long-running FBI agent series, and a YA revenge novel! So much fictional bloody goodness—insert all the knife emojis and detective emojis. And a few more knife emojis.
One of the most prolific writers is back with a new Leonid McGill novel! The New York PI, known to be morally ambiguous, is tasked with helping a 92-year-old Mississippi man with the simple job of delivering a letter. But it’s a mystery novel, so you know the drill, nothing is simple and McGill is going to have his work cut out for him. And by that I mean there’s going to be a hit put out to stop the letter, and the truth, from arriving at its destination. Enter vengeance and a team of aspiring investigators–who will come out victorious?
This novel feels perfect for fans of the authors Natsuo Kirino and Kanae Minato, plus the films Silence of the Lambs and The Bad Seed. The Korean author’s debut explores nurture vs nature and dark criminal minds as a young and optimistic criminal psychologist is called upon to talk to a convicted killer. It's a great slow-burn read filled with suspense as tension grows between her prison meetings and her new home life as she tries to help her stepdaughter settle in...
FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast will have his return to New York late, as human feet are washing up on the shore off the west coast of Florida. Yeah, there was no typo in that sentence, sorry! The only thing to go on is that the feet haven’t been in the water long, and there isn’t much more evidence, considering the rest of the bodies aren’t there. And soon there are more than 100 feet and Pendergast needs to call in help from his former partner, Special Agent Armstrong Coldmoon, to embark on an undercover assignment…
Life is great for Elle and her circle of friends...until her sweet sixteen party leads to the girls crashing a prep school party and Elle is targeted by the boys. After her assault, Elle declares vengeance. Her plan is to transfer to their prep school and destroy the boy’s on her list one by one. Marketed as a bloody revenge thriller and feminist battle-cry, I am very much here for this!
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Jamie Canavés is a Book Riot contributing editor and Tailored Book Recommendations coordinator who always has a book in one hand. She writes the Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter, never says no to chocolate or ‘80s nostalgia, and spends way too much time asking her goat-dog “What’s in your mouth?!” Tweets: @Oh_Dinky.