I very much enjoyed Heather Chavez‘s 2023 novel, Before She Finds Me — it was a fast-paced thriller, with well-drawn and engaging characters. This summer, Mulholland Books are due to publish the author’s next novel, What We’ll Burn Last. When I spotted it in a catalogue, it went right onto my (metaphorical) Must Read/Most Anticipated list for the year. Here’s the synopsis:
Two entangled families in a California neighborhood must race to find answers about a missing teenage girl as a wildfire crackles to life nearby…
Three women.
When she was twelve, Leyna Clarke watched her older sister, Grace, walk away from their Sierra Nevada foothills home with her boyfriend, Adam Duran. Neither was ever seen again. Sixteen years later, a stranger who looks like Grace shows up at the restaurant where Leyna works — and vanishes soon after. When it comes out that Leyna was one of the last people to have talked with the young woman, Leyna’s childhood crush Dominic, who is also Adam’s brother, pleads with her to do the last thing she wants to do: come home.
Three secrets.
But Leyna isn’t the only one who hasn’t been able to leave that fateful night behind. Her mother, Meredith, still lives in the family’s old home — even if she claims to believe the police’s theory that Grace and Adam were willing runaways. Down the street, Adam and Dominic’s mother Olivia has also stayed, determined to be there when her son finally returns… and to prove that Meredith and Leyna have been hiding something all these years. But the past isn’t the only threat to the two families, or the missing girl. As a wildfire sparks, tempers flare and intentions turn deadly. Because someone in the neighborhood knows what really happened that night — and just how good the forest is at keeping its secrets.
Who will you trust?
Heather Chavez’s What We’ll Burn Last is due to be published by Mulholland Books in North America and in the UK, on July 23rd.
Also on CR: Review of Before She Finds Me
The next novel from Rio Youers sounds like a lot of fun. The new novel from the acclaimed author of No Second Chances, The Bang-Bang Sisters is described as “an action-packed crime novel featuring three kick-ass heroines—bandmates who moonlight as vigilantes.” Due to be published by 
An intriguing, quirky serial killer mystery
Introducing Maggie Bird and the Martini Club…
In five weeks (January 9th), Forge Books are due to published Deep Freeze, the first book in Michael C. Grumley‘s near-future thriller Revival series. It’s a “fast-paced near future thriller that explores cryonics and humanity’s thirst for immortality,” which sounds like it might very well appeal to readers of CR.
Pitoniak’s engaging, gripping first foray into espionage fiction
Next week, 
Today, we have an excerpt from The Plinko Bounce, the latest legal thriller/mystery by Martin Clark. I’m a relative newcomer to Clark’s work, having only started reading him with 2019’s 
The Fury is the next novel from Alex Michaelides, the best-selling author of The Silent Patient and The Maidens. Strangely, I still haven’t had a chance to read the author’s first two novels, but the premise for his third book really caught my attention:
We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.
The cover and details for Stuart Turton‘s next novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World were released a few days ago, and I for one am very much looking forward to reading it! Not only is the cover eye-catching,* but the synopsis also grabbed my attention:
Civilian Reader 