As an author of thriller and noir, I like to feature other female writers of those genres on my blog, She Kills Lit. Here are just a few whose books I have read and enjoyed.
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The Substitute, by Nicole Lundrigan
I love a book that surprises me, and this one gave me my greatest jaw drop of all time. I challenge you to anticipate the twist in this expertly crafted psychological thriller about a science teacher accused of murdering one of his students.
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Blood Atonement, by S.M. Freedman
Freedman is a fellow Dundurn author, and we are reciprocal fans of one another. In this, her latest thriller, she delves into the dark world of polygamist cults. It reads like a disturbing combination of A Handmaid’s Tale and All About Eve. And speaking of The Handmaid’s Tale….
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The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
My first book, Petra’s Ghost, was a semi-finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards for Horror, so, I’m often asked what the most frightening book is that I’ve ever read. The Handmaid’s Tale wins that auspicious honour every time. If somebody doesn’t think this dystopian tale of women with all their rights stripped away is not Horror, they misunderstand the genre.
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The Dame Was Trouble, edited by Sarah L. Johnson, Halli Lilburne & Cat McDonald
This anthology is a collection of Canadian crime fiction from the “best and brightest female writers that the Great White North has to offer.” Each story is a unique gem, but the one thing every dame in them has in common is that she bucks the ingenue vs femme fatale archetype. Hurray!
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Tell Me My Name, by Erin Ruddy
Think of a modern day telling of Rumpelstiltskin, where the stakes are higher than not being able to spin straw into gold. This debut thriller by Erin Ruddy takes place in Ontario cottage country and will have you sitting on the edge of your Muskoka chair.
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Bunny, by Mona Awad
It is tough to nail down the genre of Bunny. Is it noir? Horror? Crime fiction? Is it an acid flashback from that tab you dropped stupidly in college? Whatever you call this, it is a superbly written cautionary tale of the dangers of joining the “in” crowd.
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Watch Out for Her, by Samantha Bailey
I had the pleasure of appearing on a panel with this author at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival. Our topic was unreliable narrators. Her latest domestic suspense, Watch Out for Her, is about a mother with a proclivity for voyeurism and a nanny she doesn’t trust. Whether she is also unreliable will be for you to decide.
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Cold Girl, by R.M Greenaway
Cold Girl is the first in this author’s B.C. Blues Crime Series. Read them all if you like authentic and engaging police procedurals with finely rendered characters and a gorgeous west coast backdrop.
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After losing her young son in a tragic accident, Eve struggles to protect the one child she has left, a teenage daughter who just might be pure evil.
The dark side of magic is where the Ragman dwells. Nobody knows that better than Eve. Desperate for a child, she called on that cunning conjurer eighteen years ago. Her daughter, Abbey, was the result.
After Abbey’s younger brother dies in a fall, Eve fears the worst about her daughter. Five years later, she still battles her guilt and grief over what happened the day she lost her son. Her husband, Richard, doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know the truth about Abbey; and besides, he has secrets of his own to keep.
But when terrible things begin to happen to those who get in Abbey’s way, Eve must overcome her own pain and loss and find the strength to deal with what she fears most—a teenage daughter she can no longer control and a past that could come back to haunt her in the most monstrous of ways.