This week, I’m reading three books that have just been released and that I couldn’t resist, even though I’m focusing most of my reading this year on my enormous TBR pile. All three are crime books by authors that I know. The riskiest one, in terms of ‘Will it work or is it just a one-line idea?’ is the new book by James Patterson and Brian Sitts. The other two were automatic buys for me: I loved Katy Brent’s debut novel and I’ve already spent four books with Lee Goldberg’s Eve Ronin so how could I resist the fifth book in the series?
These are crime books that I expect to make me smile but which I hope will also have strong plots and engaging characters.
‘Holmes, Margaret and Poe ‘ (2024) by James Patterson and Brian Sitts
This book is a bit of a gamble. I read James Patterson’s young adult ‘Maximum Ride‘ trilogy a decade or so ago and enjoyed the first two a good deal but the final book didn’t work for me. I’ve never read anything by Brian Betts. I have seen that James Patterson has had a lot of best-selling collaborations, including with Candice Fox and Maxine Paetro. He and Brian Betts have collaborated before, mostly on Young Adult books,
I bought this book because, if it works, it will give me a whole new series to follow. If it turns out to be a graphic novel in prose, well, it might still be a smile.
‘The Murder After The Night Before‘ (2024) by Katy Brent
‘How To Kill Men And Get Away With It‘ was one of my favourite reads of 2022. It was an engaging, exciting, thought-provoking read, studded with moments of wit and moments that were deeply sad and disturbing.
I bought ‘The Murder After The Night Before’ as soon as I saw that it was available, hoping for something equally good.
I was glad to see that this isn’t a sequel. ‘How To Kill Men And Get Away With It‘ was surprisingly character-driven for something labelled as a dark comedy and I felt that I already learned what there was to know about the main character, Kitty Collins.
‘The Murder After The Night Before‘ makes a fresh start with Molly Monroe who I hope will be just as interesting.
Katy Brent is a British freelance journalist with 16 years of experience.
Katy started work in women’s magazines back in 2005. In 2006 she won a PTA award for New Journalist of the Year.
She has published two novels: How To Kill Men And Get Away With It (2022) and The Murder After The Night Before (2024).
‘Dream Town’ (2024) by Lee Goldberg
I love the way Lee Goldberg tells a story. He manages to combine real-life events (well, real-life if you live in California amongst the rich and crazy) with larger-than-life characters, pacy plots and humour that always makes me smile.
I think Eve Ronin is one of his best characters. I’m hoping that one of the streaming studios will pick it up and make it into a series with a season for each book. I’ve already read the first four books ’Lost Hills‘, ‘Bone Canyon’, ‘Gated Prey’ and ‘Movie Land‘ and I’m looking forward to the latest episode.
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer.
He has published over forty books . He his best known for his two most recent series, the four Iain Ludlow thrillers that started with True Fiction, and the five Eve Ronin police procedurals that started with Lost Hills.
He co-wrote the Kate O’Hare & Nicolas Fox novels with Janet Evanovitch.
His TV crime series, include Monk, Diagnosis Murder, Spenser, Martial Law and The Glades
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