Sonja van der Westhuizen

Shitamachi Scam by Michael Pronko

1 February, 2024

The squeamish yet diligent Detective Hiroshi Shimizu returns in Shitamachi Scam, the sixth instalment of Tokyo-based Michael Pronko’s crime novel series. In 2022, Azabu Getaway transported readers to the cosmopolitan Azabu district, but this time the action takes place in an older, more traditional Shitamachi…

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Daughter of Ashes by Ilaria Tuti

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

25 January, 2024

Translated by Ekin Oklap — Daughter of Ashes is the third and possibly final instalment in Italian author Ilaria Tuti’s Teresa Battaglia series. It follows on from Painted in Blood in 2022, which was also published as The Sleeping Nymph. This bittersweet conclusion takes place…

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The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou by Eleni Kyriacou

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

29 December, 2023

Over the past year or two we’ve seen a flurry of book titles containing the names of women. These often fall into the quirky and offbeat or cosy categories. The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou is not one of them. Quite the contrary. In 1954,…

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Sonja van der Westhuizen: Top five books of 2023

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

21 December, 2023

It’s been an interesting year for crime fiction trends. We’ve had it all, whether it’s the closed circle mystery novels with hen parties set a remote islands or mountain tops, the return to the gothic crime mystery a la Daphne Du Maurier, or crime fiction…

iBook Kindle Print Reviews

The Wolf by Samuel Bjork

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

17 December, 2023

Translated by Charlotte Barslund — If you’ve been enjoying Samuel Bjork’s Munch and Krüger novels, The Wolf will take you back in time to their first case. If you’ve yet to discover them, then this prequel to I’m Travelling Alone is where their story begins….

Kindle Print Reviews

Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

12 December, 2023

Translated by David Warriner — An infamous manor house on a small Swedish island. A wealthy family with secrets. A string of unexplained deaths. In the first of a new series, French crime author Johana Gustawsson, who has Nordic roots, combines elements of the traditional…

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This is How We End Things by RJ Jacobs

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

23 October, 2023

The Breakfast Club meets The Secret History in mystery author RJ Jacobs’ new dark academia thriller. This is How We End Things, like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, takes place on an American college campus. In this case, it’s the fictional Hampden College in Shepard,…

Kindle Print Reviews

The American Boyfriend by Ivy Ngeow

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

2 October, 2023

For Phoebe Wong, exchanging the miserable British weather for the balmy Florida Keys with her new boyfriend for a few weeks seems like the ideal vacation, even though she only met Carter 11 months ago on LinkedIn and they haven’t spent much time together. He’s…

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About author

Shitamachi Scam by Michael Pronko

Daughter of Ashes by Ilaria Tuti

The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou by Eleni Kyriacou

Sonja van der Westhuizen: Top five books of 2023

The Wolf by Samuel Bjork

Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson

This is How We End Things by RJ Jacobs

The American Boyfriend by Ivy Ngeow

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