Gritty Crime Fiction

When Ian Rankin finished up his Inspector Rebus series, I was devastated. I had followed his career over the span of 17 books and almost 20 years. I couldn't imagine another author capturing that same feel - the underbelly of Scotland, the dourness and the grit. I'm thrilled to have found Denise Mina's series featuring Alex Morrow, a tough, female detective inspector. The Glasgow backdrop makes a change from Rankin's Edinburgh and Mina does a great job with the dialog. You can hear the strangulated vowels leap off the page as you read.

Still Midnight, the first in the series, opens with a home invasion and kidnapping. The criminals are inept and unsure of themselves. The situation is almost funny, until an accidental shot ups the stakes. DI Alex Morrow is assigned to the case, but not in the leading role she feels she deserves.

A Scarlet Letter for Today

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan is a sci-fi re-imagining of The Scarlet Letter. In this not-so-distant future, abortion is outlawed in the state of Texas, where Hannah Payne, a naive young dressmaker, grew up. When she has an affair with a flashy televangelist named Aidan Dale, her crime is not bearing an illegitimate child...it is aborting it. Convicted felons have their jail time televised and skin dyed bright red before their release. This is the point at which we meet Hannah, a modern Texan Hester Prynne.

Hard Truths

So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman

Where is Wendy White? The sweet girl's disappearance is being accepted as one of those unfortunate events that will never be solved. Obviously, an agent from the outside has infiltrated rural Haeden. Wendy was the target. These things happen. These things happen all of the time.