Mysteries

Summer reading: Killer thrillers Summer reading: Killer thrillers

Salon recommends four addictive novels to add intrigue and treachery to your beach book list.
By Laura Miller Jun 2, 2009

  • Summer reads

    Killer thrillers: From an art-world conspiracy to a campus murder to the gripping tale of a missing child, these recommendations will add suspense to your beach book list.
    By Laura Miller and Louis Bayard May 26, 2008

  • The sound of strangers

    A hero with superhuman hearing sets out to rescue a silent child in Peter Hoeg's compelling new mystery.
    By Heather Havrilesky November 28, 2007

  • Woman with a loaded gun

    Across 40 years and 61 novels, the icy-blooded Ruth Rendell has proven to be more than a great mystery writer -- she's one of Britain's finest living novelists.
    By Charles Taylor December 2, 2004

  • Shadows of late summer

    Out of the past come the noir-ish entries for our latest mystery roundup: A "fallen woman" solves crime in Regency England, a French Resistance fighter hides out in Manhattan, and a respectable bourgeois ditches it all.
    By Charles Taylor August 20, 2004

  • Steam heat and cold ground

    In our roundup of the best new mysteries, a hip-hopper sells his soul to the devil, an abortion goes wrong in late-'60s Chicago, and a Minnesota sheriff's detective can't find her shifty cop husband.
    By Charles Taylor February 26, 2004

  • Letters

    Yes, detective novels are lousy -- if you're too lazy to search out the good ones! Mystery readers (and quite a few mystery writers) strike back at Ben Yagoda.
    January 8, 2004

  • The case of the overrated mystery novel

    Robert Parker, Dennis Lehane, Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly -- I've read them all. Amid the logrolling and endless hype, one thing gets obscured: Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald did it first, and did it a lot better.
    By Ben Yagoda January 6, 2004

  • Murder in midwinter

    In our roundup of the season's best mysteries, a cracking new Dalziel-Pascoe yarn, echoes of a forgotten murder, S.J. Rozan's appealing private-eye duo, and the bleak brilliance of Ruth Rendell.
    By Charles Taylor December 10, 2003

  • "The Cutting Room" by Louise Welsh

    A Glasgow antiques dealer finds horrible pictures in a dead man's house, in this captivating thriller from a new Scottish writer.
    By Charles Taylor April 8, 2003

  • "Why are movies bad and how do women get dead?"

    Film critic-turned-crime writer Helen Knode on her first novel, the soul-crushing deadness of Hollywood, the greatness of "Titanic" and her relationship with husband James Ellroy.
    By Barbara O'Dair April 2, 2003

  • Black and white and dead all over

    In our roundup of the best new mysteries, black America's answer to Ross Macdonald, a Danish boy fights the Nazis, and the great Ross Thomas, back in print at last.
    By Charles Taylor March 17, 2003

  • "Lost in a Good Book" by Jasper Fforde

    Literary detective Thursday Next teams up with Dickens' Miss Havisham to fight world destruction and an outbreak of deadly coincidences.
    By Laura Miller March 13, 2003

  • Kiss Miss Marple goodbye

    Scottish mystery author Val McDermid talks about the tough reality of life in today's Britain and why crime writers, not literary novelists, are the ones facing up to it.
    By Charles Taylor November 26, 2002

  • The case of the confusing bookstore

    It takes the skills of a great detective to find the best mysteries among the new releases. Our critic offers his list of some recent gems.
    By Charles Taylor November 14, 2002

  • "Our Man in Washington" by Roy Hoopes

    H.L. Mencken and James M. Cain play detective in an uproarious mystery set in a scandal-plagued capital.
    By John W. Dean October 31, 2000

  • The best American whats of the century?

    A new best-of omnibus has some terrific stories. But are they mysteries?
    By Jacqueline Carey May 5, 2000

  • Getting there

    Are the ends supposed to justify the means? Or is it the other way around?
    By Jacqueline Carey March 24, 2000

  • Call the next witness

    Our mystery columnist puts three legal thrillers on trial.
    By Jacqueline Carey February 25, 2000

  • Christie for Christmas

    Desperate for more Agatha Christie? Now there are two "new" mysteries by the late queen of clues.
    By Jacqueline Carey December 23, 1999

  • Ripped from the headlines

    New mysteries are lifting their plots out of the newspapers. And that's not a bad thing.
    By Jacqueline Carey December 3, 1999

  • The female dick

    How three hard-boiled writers have retooled the mystery novel for women.
    By Jacqueline Carey October 29, 1999

  • Hard boiled

    Five great noir novels from the post-Chandler generations.
    By David Bowman June 28, 1999

  • Mystery roundup

    Humor and history dominate our eclectic selection of 1998's best crime fiction.
    By Suzette Lalime December 24, 1998
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