CrimeReads editors select the month’s best crime, mystery and thriller debut novels.
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Vibhuti Jain, Our best intentions
(William morning)
The characters in it Our best intentions are immigrants under the powerful influence of the American Dream. Babur Singh – call him Bobby – is a single dad who owns a ride-sharing business, Move with Bobby, which would also be a good name for a guy with a van or a dance class. Bobby loves his daughter Angie and they live in an affluent suburb where Angie is never comfortable. When she stumbles across the dead body of a classmate named Chiara Thompson on her way home from swim practice, the news shocks the city and sheds light on the issues of privilege and morality. Jain’s debut is an impressive performance, nuanced and unafraid to tackle some thorny issues. -LL
Philip Ellis, Love and other scams
(Put Nam)
Nothing brings two people together like desperation and a get-rich-quick plan (I really hope there’s some fanfic to start this off The thorn.) In Philip Ellis’ utterly charming new novel, an unlucky graphic designer with a passion for pickpocketing teams up with a handsome bartender with his own valuable item stealing skills after they discover a once-in-a-lifetime find. a lifetime chance to steal a giant diamond. –MON
Nathan Oates, A design flaw
(any house)
This book has a complex premise that encompasses many of the issues we grapple with as a society. Gil, a respected creative writing professor (I’ve heard they exist but I don’t think I’ve seen one in the wild), agrees to take in his nephew Matthew after Gil’s sister and her husband are in a car accident have died. Gil and his wife are not thrilled with the idea of suddenly having a 17-year-old boy in their home and are unhappy about taking Matthew in due to his strange (creepy strange) behavior towards their young daughter. With the bitter aftertaste of that incident still lingering and Matthew writing detailed stories about the deaths of his parents and the possible deaths of Gil’s family, Gil must decide if he wants to try and stop his distraught nephew before something bad happens. -LL
Gerardo Samano Cordova, monsterio
(Zando)
Part of a new wave of haunted house horror that continues to expand and redefine the genre, monsterio is about a woman who creates a monster out of a piece of her dead son’s lung and feeds it bloody victims while it grows into the spitting image of her long-dead child. Your Monstrilio is loved, cared for and monstrous outright. But aren’t the monsters among us capable (and worthy) of love too? Read this if you liked Sarah Gailey’s Just like at home! -MON
jin woo chong, Flow
(Melville house)
Flow is full of surprises and difficult to describe. Three storylines slowly coalesce into a tale of time-traveling serial killers. Woven into all three stories is a connection to a 1980s detective series in which a now-defunct star faces damning allegations of abuse. If you like neo-noir style stories, corporate corruption and anything else that comes in a slightly more humorous version of the Bladerunner Universe, then look at this one! Also notable as an exploration of queer and Asian-American identities. –MON
Ren DeStafanoHow I’m gonna kill you
(Berkeley)
(adult novel debut)
DeStefano gets some good grades How I’m gonna kill you, a chronicle of three identical triplets taking turns in a very serious game. The sister at the punch makes a man fall in love with her, murders him and calls the other two sisters to help clean up. So far, Sissy, the youngest, has always been on the clean-up crew. But when they reach Arizona, the sisters decide it’s Sissy’s turn. Her trademark is a widower named Edison (really? That’s a name now?), and while she casts her love spell on him, her sisters become restless, urging her to finish the job so they can move on. But there is a complication: Sissy falls in love with Edison. Will her sisters complete their mission and eliminate them too? Or can she and Edison somehow escape and break the cycle? -LL
