Mystery

Excerpt: A NUMBERS GAMES by R.J. Dark (Datura)

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“R.J. Dark” is the crime-writing alter-ego of RJ Barker, best-selling fantasy author — and, in my opinion, one of the best SFF writers at the moment. When I first learned that he was writing crime/mystery novels as well, I was certainly intrigued. Datura Books are due to publish the first novel in the Mal & Jackie series, A Numbers Game, on August 18th, and they have allowed us to share an exclusive pre-publication excerpt! First, here’s the synopsis:

All Malachite “Mal” Jones wants is a quiet life as the foremost (fake) psychic medium on the Blades Edge estate.

Enter his new client: Janine, the widow of a man who hid away a huge amount of money. Mal is drawn into a mystery he never asked for in an attempt to help Janine find the cash and escape the estate once and for all.

Problem is, Mal’s not the only one hoping to get his hands on the cash. The crime lord of the estate to other criminals are all on the hunt. Plus adding to his worries, there are some corrupt cops after Mal’s best and only friend, Jackie.

Aided by Jackie and Beryl, Mal’s nosy secretary, Mal sets out to find the cash and a solution that pleases everyone. If he can’t, he’ll have to pay the price. After all, it’s a numbers game…

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Excerpt: THE SLEUTH OF FERREN CITY by S. M. Beiko (ECW Press)

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Next week, ECW Press will publish The Sleuth of Ferren City, the third novel in the Brindlewatch Quintet by S. M. Beiko. To mark the occasion, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share; something to tide existing series fans over until the book’s release, and also give new readers a taste of what they can expect from the novel/series. First, here’s the synopsis:

Monsters are real. Well, monstros are, anyway — an emerging group of citizens trying to find their place in Brindlewatch, ever since the Camillites made a splash in the small town of Quixx, and the Jettites climbed out of their subterranean city beneath Lake Mallion. The Far Cities are bristling with newcomers looking for a fresh start in this brand-new world, but is it as safe for them as they think?

Sable, a Camillite who still lives on Mount Quixx, isn’t so sure. She sees the world through the distorted lens of the novels she steals from Professor Bedouin’s observatory and is slow to trust the strangers in the world beyond the page. She is a side-character in her own story, and she wants to keep it that way.

But a desperate letter begging for help rewrites Sable as the protagonist sleuth of her favorite novels, and hot on the trail trying to find her vanished friend, Sable uncovers more than she bargained for in the bright lights of the big a famous author with the ability to make every monstro’s dream come true, a dastardly underworld targeting vulnerable monstros, and a sweet bookseller who may be at the heart of the mystery.

And on the airwaves, a broadcast like no other promises a bold new world for everyone. Will Sable find her voice and save those terrified of speaking up, before it’s too late?

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

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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…

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

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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 →

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

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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 →

Excerpt: GREEN CITY WARS by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor Books)

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This summer, Tor Books will publish Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky. A fantastical spin on the noir detective genre — “Philip Marlowe meets Redwall” — this has been on my must-read list ever since I read the synopsis. Luckily, I do have a review copy, which I’ll be reading very soon. In the meantime, the publisher has allowed CR to share a substantial excerpt!

Here’s the synopsis:

In the solar cities of the future, the humans relax in the sun and the animals work in the shadows. Genetically engineered Little Helpers, serving humanity—unseen, unheard.

Meet Skotch. Raccoon, PI—yours for a few buttons as long as the job isn’t too illegal, whatever that means.

A mouse has gone missing. Normally this wouldn’t raise any hackles, nor any alarms, but this mouse has something that everyone seems to want, though nobody appears particularly eager to say what that something is.

The fee is good—perhaps too good. Certainly not something Skotch can easily turn down.

If only Skotch can work out where the mouse is hiding, what he’s hiding, and why his secrets are upsetting a lot of animals caught up in the Green City wars.

And now, on with the excerpt!

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Civilian Reader is… 20yrs Old. WTF? Anyway, Here’s the First Review I Wrote…

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Twenty years ago today, I posted my first fiction review on Civilian Reader. That is… pretty wild.

Before creating CR, I’d been reviewing music for my own fanzine that I’d been running for about four years. I first put that together using Microsoft Publisher, and printed, stapled, and mailed it out to the handful of subscribers I had. After I discovered this thing called “blogging”, while studying journalism, I shifted everything online. (It’s just so much easier, quicker, and cheaper — no more multipacks of printer ink!)

I wanted to do something to mark the occasion, and more than just the one post marking the milestone, and have been mulling this ever since I noticed we were coming up to the 20th anniversary. I’m still not entirely sure what I want to do, so I’ll have to keep thinking about (hopefully) interesting and related things to do. I am currently toying with revisiting early books I read and reviewed for the website, and taking a look at “Before Civilian Reader” books that I love and think deserve a little more attention. (Basically, it’ll be an excuse to re-read some older favourites.) I’m hesitant to make any concrete plans, though, as I invariably don’t follow through on “reading plans” or “reading goals” for a variety of reasons.

The first book review I ever wrote was for Richard Morgan’s Market Forces, for my university paper. It was a good book, and I thought I wrote a pretty good (albeit too-long-for-print) review, which was then butchered for publication. What went to press stripped out the discussion of what actually made the novel interesting and worth reading. So, I decided to create my own space to review books. Continue reading →

Upcoming: IN THE DEVIL WIND by Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager)

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This November, Sandman Slim rides again! I’ve been a fan of Richard Kadrey‘s excellent series since they were first published in the UK (2012), when the publisher gifted me the first three books. Each new book has been a must-read for me (in addition to the author’s other, non-Sandman Slim books), but after a busy period I fell a little behind. With In the Devil Wind — the 13th, final novel in the series — on the way, I think I have the incentive to finally get caught up! A nice goal for the summer, perhaps.

Here’s the synopsis:

In this heart-pounding epilogue novel to the acclaimed, New York Times bestselling Sandman Slim series, James Stark once again finds himself between a rock and a hard place — except this time the rock is Heaven, and the hard place is Hell…

A devil’s work is never done.

James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, is trying to find his footing in a Heaven that’s anything but heavenly. And when God gets attacked and the angels and hellions start picking sides for a new war, the celestial realm is one spark away from an explosion. Stark just wants to be left alone to watch old movies, but when a madman named Dixie Midnight starts cutting a bloody path through the palace, he’s dragged back into the fray.

Stark’s investigation uncovers a conspiracy that goes deeper than he could have ever imagined. And every new encounter leads to yet another mystery, another foe, and — at one point — a spell that is inexorably draining his very essence. Betrayed by those he should be able to trust, hunted by supposed friends and enemies alike — all while running out of time, because apparently there is nothing after the afterlife — Stark must navigate the treacherous corridors of Heaven and the backroads of Hell to solve a problem he only sort of understands.

And he’d kill for a good apple fritter.

Death is not the worst thing that can happen to Stark — dealing with bureaucratic assholes, renegade angels, and homicidal sociopaths is. Stark thought he was done with being the monster killer… done with being the monster. He was wrong.

And that means Heaven must wait…

Richard Kadrey’s In the Devil Wind is due to be published by Harper Voyager in North America and in the UK, on November 17th.

Also on CR: Reviews of Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, Aloha From Hell, Devil in the Dollhouse, Devil Said Bang, and Kill City Blues

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky

Upcoming: THE CALAMITIES by Chuck Wendig (Del Rey)

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Earlier today, Del Rey unveiled the cover and synopsis for Chuck Wendig‘s next novel, The Calamities. That stunning cover was the first thing to catch my attention — it’s giving off Devil’s Advocate vibes, maybe? The synopsis, which promises a mix of occult magic and family drama, only increased my interest. Check out the synopsis:

The heir to one of the world’s most influential families reckons with the demonic secret to their power…

Mourning Mayne knows he’ll one day bear the duty of managing his family’s vast empire of wealth and power. But the feckless Mourning has always struggled to accept this legacy, which is one of cruelty, domination, and exploitation… and something even darker.

Because the Maynes are no ordinary family: Hidden in our world are the fiends—half-human, half-demon, and possessed of dark magic born from buying human souls—and the Maynes are one of the oldest and most influential fiendish families.

But when Mourning’s estranged father, the formidable and terrifying Hadrian Mayne, demands that he return to the fold, Mourning has to make a decision whether to accept his legacy and embrace his role in the family, or to forge his own destiny, and with it, change the course of the world.

Because along the way home, he will meet Key, a black-market seller of human souls, and Quinn, an artist who may hold the dark truth behind the fate of the fiends. Alone, they have all struggled with the darkness of their fiendish nature… but together, they might find a path out of the shadows.

It’s been a little while since I read one of Wendig’s novels (not for lack of interest, there are just so many books on my TBR mountain, I sometimes forget what I have on the pile…); but this one has shot onto my Most Anticipated of 2026 list. Can’t wait to read it.

Chuck Wendig’s The Calamities is due to be published by Del Rey in North America and in the UK, on August 18th. (No cover for the UK edition, at the time of writing.)

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky

Upcoming: THE LAST MANDARIN by Louise Penny & Mellissa Fung (Minotaur / Hodder & Stoughton)

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In May, Minotaur Books (North America) and Hodder & Stoughton (UK) are due to publish a new collaboration between Louise Penny (author of the internationally best-selling Inspector Gamache series) and award-winning journalist Mellissa Fung: The Last Mandarin. I’ve only read one of Penny’s novels — State of Terror, co-authored with Hilly Clinton — and I’m really interested in reading The Last Mandarin (as well as starting the Gamache series, hopefully soon). Pitched as a thriller “about the precarious balance of power across the world, and within a family. And what happens when both break down.” Here’s the synopsis:

Global politics become personal for two unlikely heroines. Alice Li, a first-generation Chinese-American, is an erstwhile food blogger who has lived in the shadow of her mother, Vivien Li. A Chinese dissident who escaped China after Tiananmen Square, Vivien is now a globally recognized human rights activist and passionate advocate for a free and democratic China.

When security and fire alarms go off simultaneously all around the world, setting off a panic, the signal is traced back to China. As world leaders scramble to respond, Vivien and Alice are called to the White House in hopes Madame Li can decode the Chinese intentions.

While it makes some sense that the President would turn to Vivien, since she regularly advises world leaders on the actions of today’s Chinese government, what isn’t clear is why they’d want to talk to Alice.

After looking at the evidence, Vivien says that the only thing worse than the Chinese government being behind it, is if they are not. It would mean, she explains, that some clandestine element within China is calling the shots. That the President of China has lost control. And an unstable China cannot be good for anyone.

Or perhaps that’s exactly what the shrewd old politician wants everyone to think.

Caught up in the chaos, Vivien and Alice are uniquely placed to stop the next, cataclysmic attack. But there are forces deep within both the American and Chinese governments intent on stopping mother and daughter. The estranged pair, who excels at misunderstanding each other, must figure out how to work together.

The increasingly frantic search for answers takes the women from the Oval Office to an office building in Akron, Ohio, from the noodle shops of Hong Kong to the necropolis of the first emperor. Along the way they must decode an old legend, and an old language invented by women, for women.

Louise Penny & Melissa Fung’s The Last Mandarin is due to be published by Minotaur Books in North America and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK, on May 12th.

Also on CR: Review of State of Terror

Follow the Author (Penny): Website, Goodreads, Instagram
Follow the Author (Fung): Website, Goodreads