Archives de catégorie : Crime & Thrillers

LAVENDER HOUSE de Lev AC Rosen

A delicious story from a new voice in suspense, Lev AC Rosen’s LAVENDER HOUSE is Knives Out with a queer historical twist.

LAVENDER HOUSE
by Lev AC Rosen
Forge Books,October 2022
(via the David Black Literary Agency)

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret―but it’s not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they’ve needed to keep others out. And now they’re worried they’re keeping a murderer in. Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept―his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.
Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He’s seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn’t extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy―and Irene’s death is only the beginning.
When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business.

« Lev AC Rosen’s lushly rendered mystery sets the detective novel on its head. There’s the dishonored policeman sitting on a barstool in 1950’s San Francisco and the elegant woman who slides in next to him with a job. But this femme’s wife has been murdered, and the day-drinking cop has been brutally ousted from his job for being gay. Rosen’s smart, bittersweet tale plays with the oldest truth of all: the price we pay for our identity in America. » ―Walter Mosley

« LAVENDER HOUSE is a fabulous, genre-bending mystery-noir, told with wit, panache and style. Lev Rosen is one of a kind and just gets better and better―his eye for characters is both acerbic and compassionate, and his story-telling is top notch. » ―Dan Chaon, author of Sleepwalk

« Rosen’s deeply compelling and suspenseful historical mystery pulls readers into the 1950s with Detective Evander « Andy » Mills, who was just tossed off the force for being gay and is feeling just unmoored enough to pick up a gig investigating a maybe murder…. The mystery itself borders on cozy, and wrapping it in an exploration of WWII-adjacent queer life makes for the perfect autumn page-turner. » ―BuzzFeed

Lev AC Rosen writes books for people of all ages, including Camp, which was a best book of the year from Forbes, Elle, and The Today Show, among others, and is a Lambda finalist and ALA Rainbow List Top Ten. He lives in NYC with his husband and a very small cat.

NEVER COMING HOME de Kate Williams

The beach read you have been dying for! When ten of America’s hottest teenage influencers are invited to an exclusive island resort, things are sure to get wild. But murder isn’t what anyone expected. Will anyone survive? A dark thriller and satire of social media.

NEVER COMING HOME
by Kate Williams
Delacorte Press, June 2022
(via Levine, Greenberg, Rostan)

Everyone knows Unknown Island—it’s the world’s most exclusive destination. Think white sand beaches, turquoise seas, and luxury accommodations. Plus, it’s invite only, no one over twenty-one allowed, and it’s absolutely free. Who wouldn’t want to go?
The mysterious resort launched with a viral marketing campaign, and now the whole world is watching as the mysterious resort opens its doors to the First Ten, the ten elite influencers specifically chosen to be the first to experience everything Unknown Island has to offer. You know them. There’s the gamer, the beauty blogger, the rich girl, the superstar, the junior politician, the environmentalist, the DJ, the CEO, the chef, and the athlete.
What they don’t know is that they weren’t invited to Unknown Island for their following—they were invited for their secrets. Everyone is hiding a deadly one, and it looks like someone’s decided it’s payback time. Unknown Island isn’t a vacation, it’s a trap. And it’s beginning to look like the First Ten—no matter how influential—are never coming home.

Kate Williams has written for Seventeen, NYLON, Cosmopolitan, Bustle, Vans, Calvin Klein, Urban Outfitters, and many other brands and magazines. She is the author of The Babysitters Coven series: The Babysitters Coven, For Better or Cursed, and Spells Like Teen Spirit. Kate Lives in Kansas with her family.

LEAGUE OF LIARS d’Astrid Scholte

In this fantasy thriller, four teens charged with murder and caught up with the illegal use of magic band together to devise the ultimate jailbreak. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows and How to Get Away with Murder.

LEAGUE OF LIARS
by Astrid Scholte
G.P Putnam’s Sons, February 2022
(via Sterling Lord Literisitc)

Ever since his mother was killed, seventeen-year-old Cayder Broduck has had one goal—to see illegal users of magic brought to justice. People who carelessly use extradimensional magic for their own self-interest, without a care about the damage it does to society or those around them, deserve to be punished as far as Cayder is concerned. Because magic always has a price. So, when Cayder lands a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to apprentice under a premier public defender, he takes it. If he can learn all the tricks of public defense, the better he’ll be able to dismantle defense arguments when he’s a prosecutor. Then he’ll finally be able to make sure justice is served.
But when he meets the three criminals he’s supposed to defend, it no longer seems so black and white. They’re teenagers, like him, and their stories are … complicated, like his. Vardean, the prison where Cayder’s new clients are incarcerated, also happens to be at the very heart of the horrible tear in the veil between their world and another dimension—where all magic comes from.
LEAGUE OF LIARS is a dark and twisty mystery set in a richly-drawn world where nothing is as it seems, rife with magic, villains and danger.

Astrid Scholte was raised on a diet of Spielberg, Lucas and Disney, and knew she wanted to be surrounded by all things fantastical from a young age. She’s spent the last fourteen years working in film, animation and television as both an artist and a manager. Career highlights include working on James Cameron’s Avatar, Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin and Disney’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her fiancé and two cats, Lilo and Mickey. Her debut young adult novel, Four Dead Queens, was an international bestseller and award winner.

MY MURDER de Katie Williams sera adapté pour Netflix et produit par Harry & Meghan

Netflix et la société de production du prince Harry et de son épouse Meghan, Archewell Productions, ont remporté aux enchères les droits d’adaptation du thriller de science-fiction de Katie Williams, MY MURDER. La plateforme de streaming prévoit d’en faire un long métrage. Aucune date n’a été annoncée pour le moment.

Dans le roman, qui paraîtra en été/automne 2023 chez Riverhead aux États-Unis, la mort de Louise, une jeune mère assinée par un tueur en série, scandalise l’opinion publique. Mais Lou renaît, clonée par le gouvernement. Pour essayer de comprendre ce qui lui est arrivé et qui elle est désormais, elle rejoint un groupe de soutien auquel appartiennent les quatre clones des autres victimes. Elles se réunissent chaque semaine pour s’épauler mutuellement au sein d’une société obsédée par leur existence même. Après avoir accepté d’aider une des victimes à rendre visite au tueur, Lou découvre un secret choquant et décide d’enquêter sur sa propre mort… (Lire la présentation complète ici)

Les droits de langue française sont toujours disponibles.

FIVE DECEMBERS de James Kestrel lauréat du Edgar Award 2022 – Best Novel

FIVE DECEMBERS, publié en octobre 2021 par Hard Case Crime aux États-Unis, vient de remporter l’Edgar Award 2022 dans la catégorie Meilleur Roman. Les Edgar Allan Poe Awards sont décernés chaque année par l’association Mystery Writers of America à des titres de fiction et de non-fiction policières  ainsi qu’à des œuvres télévisées. (voir le site)

Le roman FIVE DECEMBERS commence à Hawaï dans les années 1940. Alors que les États-Unis s’apprêtent à entrer en guerre, l’inspecteur de police Joe McGrady est chargé d’une enquête sur homicide qui changera sa vie à jamais. La piste du meurtre le mènera de l’autre côté du Pacifique, tandis que la flotte japonaise se dirige déjà vers Pearl Harbor. Bien plus qu’un thriller captivant, ce livre magistral et bouleversant offre aussi un stupéfiant portrait de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et une histoire d’amour déchirante.

Le livre a également été sélectionné par le New York Times, Publishers Weekly et Booklist dans leurs listes des meilleurs romans 2021, et a reçu de nombreuses autres distinctions dont les excellentes critiques ci-dessous.

Les droits de langue française sont toujours disponibles.

« Hard-as-nails mystery/suspense/noir set against a backdrop of war in the Pacific. One hell of a good story. » – Stephen King

“War, imprisonment, torture, romance…The novel has an almost operatic symmetry, and Kestrel turns a beautiful phrase.” – The New York Times, Best Mystery Novels of 2021

“Lyrical, violent, intelligent, breathtaking: this is an unforgettable book.” – The Wall Street Journal

« This is hardboiled fiction at its best: an exceptional tale, filled with emotion, plenty of surprises, and enough violence to satisfy the most bloodthirsty reader. »  – Library Journal, Starred Review

« Vivid, richly detailed… This tale of love, courage, hardship, and devotion is unforgettable » – Publishers Weekly, Starred Review and Editor’s Choice

« Magnificent… a transcendent love story and a gripping thriller… it works superbly… plot strands come together exquisitely in a truly breathtaking finale that is unbearably violent one moment and tearfully tender the next… Give this special novel the word of mouth it so richly deserves. » – Booklist, Starred Review & Booklist’s Best Books of the Year

« It’s never easy to challenge the expectations of a beloved genre successfully, but Kestrel has done just that, growing an adventure story far beyond the expectations of a noir murder mystery. » – Los Angeles Review of Books