The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran (2022)

Chapter 1Like most book people, there was a shadow in his face, a hollow echo in his laugh, that let you know he’d rather be around books than people. Who could blame him? It was why so many of us were in this business. People had let us down. People had broken our hearts. We liked books ( Read more... )

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark (2020)

Images which idealise are no less aggressive than work which makes a virtue of plainness. There is an aggression implicit in every use of the camera.
- SUSAN SONTAG, ON PHOTOGRAPHY

DEAN/DANIELI get her to bring my hangover kit, and two glasses of water. The kit is a Tupperware box full of over-the-counter ( Read more... )

Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangan (2021)

Chapter 5During this recital, Gilly appeared indifferent-or oblivious, rather-to the looks her presence was garnering from the men who crowded the bar on the other side. She was tall and thin and young, and that always counted for something in the world, Frankie knew. It was enough, at any rate, to ( Read more... )

The Devil May Dance: 2 (Charlie and Margaret Marder Mystery, 2) by Jake Tapper (2021)

Chapter Six: Beverly Hills, California“‘They don’t worship money here, they worship death,’” Goode said. “That’s Faulkner, the patron saint of writers who come here to have our hearts broken” (58 ( Read more... )

The Conjure-Man Dies: A Harlem Mystery: The first-ever African-American crime novel by Rudolph Fisher (1932)

Chapter XVI‘I am Frimbo. You heard this lady ( Read more... )

The Princess Spy: The True Story of World War II Spy Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones by Larry Loftis (2021)

Chapter 2: The FarmIn the fall of 1941 he was offered a position with the Office of the Coordinator of Inter- American Affairs (later to become the Office for Inter-American Affairs, or OIAA). Few had heard of the organization, which ( Read more... )

Consent by Annabel Lyon (2021)

Part One
Chapter One: Fall 1992
She took her secret book to the bathroom and locked the door. It was a memoir by a woman who had worked as an editor at French Vogue. She was classy and acid and opinionated. One did not collect T-shirts; one owned pieces. One wore perfume, like a grown-up, and had an ongoing ( Read more... )

Prefecture D: Four Novellas by Hideo Yokoyama (1998), translation by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies (2019)

Briefcase
Chapter 6 “You know, there’s something I’ve come to understand,” Mayuzumi began, as though to himself. “You can’t make new friends after thirty. You’ll have colleagues you work closely with, sure, maybe even a few you’ll trust. But they won’ ( Read more... )

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead (Claire DeWitt Novels Book 1) by Sara Gran (2011)

1“No one will save you,” Silette said from his rooftop. “No one will come. You are alone in your search; no friend, no lover, no God from above will come to your aid. Your mysteries are yours alone ( Read more... )

Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway (Claire DeWitt Novels) by Sara Gran (2013)

EpigraphThe detective thinks he is investigating a murder or a missing girl but truly he is investigating something else all together, something he cannot grasp hold of directly. Satisfaction will be rare. Uncertainty will be your natural state. Much of your life ( Read more... )