Excerpt: A BOTANIST’S GUIDE TO TRADITION AND TRAGEDY by Kate Khavari (Crooked Lane)

Civilian Reader Excerpt , , , , , ,

A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery is the fifth novel in Kate Khavari‘s popular Saffron Everleigh Mystery series, and it is due to be published tomorrow (June 9th) by Crooked Lane Books. To celebrate the release, and give readers a taste of the novel (and series as a whole, for newcomers), CR has an excerpt to share! First, though, here’s the synopsis:

Brilliant botanist Saffron Everleigh has set sail on her first research expedition, but it’s disrupted by accusations of murder when one of her fellow scientists is murdered…

Saffron Everleigh is newly engaged and full of optimism as she sets off on the adventure of a lifetime for any scientist: a research expedition. She sails to newly formed Turkey with her fiancé, Alexander Ashton, and a bevy of fellow researchers under the watchful and reformed eye of Dr. Henry. With only two other women on board, Saffron soon finds she is right back in the same infuriatingly misogynistic environment that marked the earliest days of her career. Only this time, Saffron is determined to show everyone, including Alexander, that she can handle the trials of an expedition.

And trials she has in spades. Before the expedition team has even arrived, Saffron has managed to find an enemy in historian Joseph Clark, who frequently torments the assistant that Saffron has taken under her wing, Martin Neill. But when Martin unexpectedly dies, Saffron is targeted as the main suspect.

Falling ruins, venomous snakes, and mysteriously blocked passages are the least of Saffron’s worries. With unexpected help from a familiar face, Alexander and Saffron have to work fast to prove not only that Saffron is innocent but that they both have nothing to do with a larger conspiracy at play among the expedition crew.

And now, on with the excerpt…

Continue reading →

CR20 Favourites: MILKWEED TRIPTYCH by Ian Tregillis (Tor/Orbit)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , , ,

As you may have noticed, Civilian Reader recently celebrated its 20th anniversary — a milestone that is still quite amazing to me. In addition to sharing the first review and interview I posted, I wanted to publish some other “CR20” content. One of the ideas I keep coming back to, recently, is some kind of “CR20 Favourites” series of posts: what are the books, interviews, and other things over the past 20 years that have stood out to me.

I thought I’d kick off this series of posts by revisiting, and re-recommending, Ian Tregillis‘s superb, not-as-widely-read-as-it-deserves Milkweed Triptych! Continue reading →

Quick Review: A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE by Jordan Harper (Faber / Mulholland)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , , ,

Another grim, brutal exploration of the darker sides of human nature

For some people there are no rules, only prices…

This place is a crime that can’t be solved. And that’s why we love it.

LA is a brutal, burning city. It is America with nowhere to run. Each night Jake Deal captures it on a livestream to his blood-hungry subscribers. Above board, Doug Gibson is a street lawyer trying to fix the system one case at a time. Underground, Kara Delgado is working for a private concierge company – a make-a-wish foundation for the terminally rich.

When Kara’s best friend Phoebe goes missing, she soon finds herself in the worlds of both Jake and Doug. Will the remaining humanity of this fragile team kill them all or expose one enormous, unspeakable crime?

Jordan Harper has fast become a must-read author for me. His novels are consistently gripping, unafraid to venture into the darker corners of human nature and what the powerful can get away with. A Violent Masterpiece is no exception, and examines the worst-possible-scenario of Hollywood power and corruption. Continue reading →

Very Quick Review: MIST & MALICE by Rachel Howzell Hall (Thomas & Mercer)

Civilian Reader Review , , , ,

Return to Haven and the darkness beneath the ideal

A small-town PI is drawn into a killer conspiracy…

Private investigator Sonny Rush, the newest resident of Haven, California, knows that this fogbound coastal hamlet is every bit as dangerous as her hometown of Los Angeles. And when teenager and repeat runaway Honor Butler shows up at Sonny’s door with terror in her eyes, Sonny is immediately pulled into a new case that lands close to home.

Desperate, hungry, and in need of someone she can trust, Honor tells Sonny a horrifying story about where she’s been—and what she’s been forced to do. Then, hours later, the forest near Sonny’s cottage yields the remains of a missing day laborer, a man whose wife has been searching for answers for months. Soon, coincidence sharpens into conspiracy.

As Sonny digs deeper, the threads of these cases twist together into something horrifying: a ruthless network preying on the vulnerable, protected by the very people meant to uphold the law. With every step closer to revealing Haven’s corruption, Sonny risks pulling the lives of her loved ones into the cross fire—and exposing the shadows of her own past. Because in this town, loyalty can be fatal, and survival means deciding who you’re willing to betray.

Rachel Howzell Hall’s first Haven novel, Fog & Fury was a very good introduction to Sonny Rush and the ideal-but-only-on-the-surface town of Haven. In Mist & Malice, we pick up Sonny’s story shortly after the end of the first novel, as she continues to wrestle with the fallout of the first novel, even as a new case arises. I enjoyed this, but it wasn’t quite as strong as the first book. Continue reading →

Quick Review: THE SHADOW FRIENDS by Tess Gerritsen (Thomas & Mercer / Penguin UK)

Civilian Reader Review , , , , , , ,

Ghosts of the Cold War come back to haunt the Martini Club

When a renowned disease expert and Russian defector dies mysteriously during a global affairs conference in Purity, Maine, the tight-knit band of former spies in the Martini Club once again sees their quiet coastal retirement interrupted by international intrigue. And when a waitress at the conference hotel is found murdered, Ingrid Slocum sees chilling links to a disastrous mission that nearly killed her three decades ago.

Desperate to uncover the truth, Ingrid’s drawn back into the game by a magnetic ex-CIA colleague ― and former lover ― who was with her on the long-ago doomed mission. He convinces her to join him, and together they head to Amsterdam to track down her would-be killer.

Ingrid’s frantic husband Lloyd and Maggie Bird are close behind, but a clandestine network of assassins is intent on stopping them. Forced to question every allegiance, the Martini Club must rely on the skills they tried to leave behind. Because in this game of revenge and deception, the past never dies ― it just hides in the shadows.

The first novel I read by Tess Gerritsen was The Spy Coast (2023), the first book in the Martini Club series. It was a fantastic introduction to the group of retired spies living in Maine, juggling civilian life with the now-frequent resurrection of issues from their past actions. The Summer Guests (2025) nicely expanded readers’ picture of these characters and the lives they lived at CIA. In The Shadow Friends, Gerritsen continues to develop the characters and the world they live in, and also gives another member of the group the spotlight. It’s another engaging thriller/mystery, which I very much enjoyed. Continue reading →

Upcoming: SOULSTEALER by Miles Cameron (Gollancz)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , , , ,

This September, Gollancz are due to publish Soulstealer by Miles Cameron, the first novel in the Soulflake fantasy series! The excellent cover by Fran Vegas was unveiled earlier this week by Grimdark Magazine, along with the synopsis, and both the artwork and plot caught my attention. Here’s what it’s about:

Bekka Trevelyan is an arcanist, and the first woman to be made a Gentleman Scholar of Arcany at the University of Kabakak. Her graduate work was in refining a device to measure the potency of the winds of magic. Over her Yule holidays from teaching, she travels east on a field trip to test her theory about the Winds in the true Wyld. Instead, she finds herself swept up in the investigation of a kidnapping of an indigenous woman and her child by a demon that has possessed the body of a tracker.

Tam Warden was a war hero, and then a sort of government enforcer. He gave up rank and fame to marry across class lines. But government isn’t done with him yet. He’s called back to action to investigate Bekka’s claims – discreetly. This is delicate work, because the truth could unbalance the nation.

Essa Bateman is a mercenary spy, a hard woman with no attachments and very few ethics. Few, it turns out, is more than ‘none.’ She sees the ripples of unrest from the underbelly of society, but deciding what to do about them is a different beast entirely.

In a world where gunpowder is manufactured from the souls of executed criminals, and the ultra-rich seek immortality at any price, where children labour in factories and the desperate poor turn to vampirism, where slavery is rampant and gangs rule the streets…

A few people are about to be heroes. They just don’t know it yet.

But maybe, just maybe, the Revolution is coming.

Mile Cameron’s Soulstealer is due to be published by Gollancz in the UK, on September 3rd. The author’s sci-fi series, Arcana Imperii, is also published in the UK by Gollancz, and in North America by Saga Press. (He is also a prolific historical fiction author, as Christian Cameron.)

Also on CR: Excerpt from Storming Heaven, Guest Post on “How I do Research”

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky

Excerpt: MOON OVER BRENDLE by Jeff Noon (Angry Robot Books)

Civilian Reader Excerpt , , , ,

A couple of weeks ago, Angry Robot Books published the latest magical contemporary fantasy novel from Jeff Noon: Moon Over Brendle. Already very well-received, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share with our readers (in case you need any more convincing to give it a read). Before we get to that, though, here’s the synopsis:

The Dust tells the story…

1968, Lancashire: It is Joe Sutter’s last summer before going to secondary school. His world is like ours but beyond and beside what we know is Greot; a vast swirling rainbow of many-coloured dust. It settles on the dead, it swathes cities and fields. Joe is one of the few who have the gift of always being able to see it. But no one knows what Greot is. Is it the trillion-eyed god? The history of everything told grain-by-grain? Prophecy? The magic of creativity?

Joe can’t know; all he wants to do is draw comics and listen to music. Then one day, after climbing up to the ancient tower on Brendle hill, he meets an old writer of pulp SF books who is determined to pass on the power and joy of telling stories. And everything changes.

Decades later Joe is a successful SF novelist, and the time has come to tell his story, not only of how he became a writer but also how the secrets of the dust were revealed to him, one grain at a time.

And now, on with the excerpt…

Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE PORCELAIN SISTERS by Daryl Gregory (Tachyon)

Civilian Reader Upcoming , , ,

I’ve been a fan of Daryl Gregory‘s books for quite some time, now. I believe the first novel by him that I read was Afterparty, which was partially set in the first neighbourhood in Toronto I got to know. Ever since, I’ve been a keen reader of his new novels and short stories — each has been engaging, original, and offers imaginative twists on new and classic SFF ideas and tropes. In October, Tachyon Publications are due to publish his latest speculative mystery: The Porcelain Sisters. Check out the synopsis:

A shy young woman and her deeply unpleasant—and literally porcelain—sister fight for their inheritance, taking on an impossible array of enemies, including a chain-smoking demon crow, an unkillable assassin, and a secret clan of French sorceresses.

Ruth Winslow is trying to save up enough money to finish college while looking after her sister, Isabel―who happens to be a haunted doll. When an accident severely damages Isabel’s porcelain body, the sisters have to find the only woman who can fix her, the fearsome witch known as La Fabricante: the Dollmaker.

The sisters head to Marseille, where they take on Le Clan: Chiffon, a red-headed, unkillable assassin; a collection of angry, haunted dolls; plus a pair of demons―one a cigarette-smoking crow, the other a black cat―and their human familiars.

Along the way, the sisters learn that they’ve been lied to their entire lives. Their mother wasn’t just a homemaker who died in a car accident, she was a legendary enforcer in the Le Clan des Sorcières.

While Ruth has to come out of her shell and deal with her own latent powers, Isabel has to grow up in a body that can’t grow. Together they’ll have to outwit and outfight everyone to claim their birthright.

I’m really looking forward to this!

Daryl Gregory’s The Porcelain Sisters is due to be published by Tachyon Publications, on October 26th.

Also on CR: Interview with Daryl Gregory (2017); Review of The Album of Dr. Moreau

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky

Excerpt: THE REDEMPTION CENTER IS CLOSED ON SUNDAYS by Andrea Hairston (Tor Books)

Civilian Reader Excerpt , , ,

Today, we have an excerpt from Andrea Hairston‘s upcoming new novel, The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays. An interesting take on the mystery genre, featuring a canine detective, sci-fi elements, and more; here’s the synopsis:

In the Heart of Mystery Lies Redemption…

Every Sunday, Oona the St. Berdoodle and her current owner, Zsuzsu, make their way through the winding paths of the State Park to the enigmatic Redemption Center—a place often mistaken for a haunted mansion.

When a local celebrity is found murdered, the unexpected brings Oona together with a rag-tag group of local misfits. Together they venture into the depths of the Center’s mystery to untangle the threads of murder and deception.

But Oona holds two secrets: she’s a citizen of the multiverse, able to travel between dimensions at will, and more importantly, she knows the killer’s identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and he’s determined to find her and silence her for good.

An extra-dimensional murder mystery with conundrums, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay”.

Continue reading →