Sonja van der Westhuizen

Lucien by JR Thornton

31 March, 2026

Christopher Novotny, the son of Czech immigrants, arrives at Harvard in the summer of 2010 with a bright future ahead of him. Despite being a child prodigy and talented artist, Chris is self-conscious and acutely aware of his working-class roots, a fish out of water…

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What I Told My Friends by Alice Leigh

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

25 March, 2026

Alice Leigh’s debut is pitched as a coming-of-age dark academia thriller, leaving her with big expectations to fulfil. While it contains all the essential ingredients of the subgenre, its style and themes align more closely with young adult fiction. The setting of High Hill Manor…

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Sharks by Simone Buchholz

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

17 March, 2026

Translated by Rachel Ward — Sharks is the eighth novel featuring our intrepid, acerbic and tough Hamburg state prosecutor Chastity Riley, and frankly, I can’t get enough of her. Sharks is just as dark and gritty as other books in the series, from Blue Night…

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Greedy by Callie Kazumi

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

12 March, 2026

Ed Cook is a British immigrant living in Tokyo with his Japanese wife, Sayuri, and their toddler daughter, Kaori. Having been unemployed for six months, Ed spends his days in illegal pachinko parlours or betting on horses. He has squandered their savings and his daughter’s…

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One True Word by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

7 March, 2026

Translated by Larissa Kyzer — Icelandic children’s author Snæbjörn Arngrímsson makes a complete genre U-turn with his first crime novel, a psychological thriller with a unique premise and a distinctly unsettling perspective. Júlía, a freelance writer, is in a bit of a fix. During a…

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Holy Boy by Lee Heejoo

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

3 March, 2026

Translated by Joheun Lee — K-pop hysteria is taken to a new extreme in Lee Heejo’s Holy Boy, which is the author’s first novel to appear in English debut. The story is equal parts psychological horror and crime novel, and is set in 1990s South…

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A Gift Before Dying by Malcolm Kempt

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

20 February, 2026

Drawing on 17 years in the Arctic working as a criminal lawyer, Canadian author Malcolm Kempt has set his debut novel in the region. A Gift Before Dying follows Sergeant Elderick Cole, a disgraced cop exiled to the rugged landscape of Cape Dorset, Nunavut. This…

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The Living and the Dead by Christoffer Carlsson

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

22 December, 2025

Translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles — Fans of Nordic noir will be on the look out for The Living and the Dead by Swedish criminologist and author Christoffer Carlsson. Following on from Under the Storm and Blaze me a sun, it won Best Swedish Crime Novel…

Crime Fiction Lover

About author

Lucien by JR Thornton

What I Told My Friends by Alice Leigh

Sharks by Simone Buchholz

Greedy by Callie Kazumi

One True Word by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson

Holy Boy by Lee Heejoo

A Gift Before Dying by Malcolm Kempt

The Living and the Dead by Christoffer Carlsson

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