Revue of Reviewers: 7-14-23

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.













This week marks a surprising seven years since The Rap Sheet launched its “Revue of Reviewers” series. In the beginning, I imagined directing readers to three or maybe half a dozen reviews of crime, mystery, and thriller works per week. I’d been thinking for a while that the blog needed to feature more book covers, and that it could also use the occasional straight-out review. Linking off-site critiques by a diversity of arbiters to a selection of hardcover and paperback fronts here seemed like it might be the perfect solution.

Indeed, things have gone quite to plan. Over the previous 189 installments, “Revue of Reviewers” has covered many hundreds of new releases—primarily fiction, but including as well some works of non-fiction I believe would be of interest to fans of this genre. In quest of thoughtful commentary, I have drawn from an ever-expanding circle of blogs and Web sites, many of which I’d never have discovered were it not for my having to assemble this recurring feature. Some of those I check regularly, such as Crime Fiction Lover, New York Journal of Books, Aunt Agatha’s, Live and Deadly, Tzer Island, Book Reviews to Ponder, Reading Reality, Gumshoe Review, Lesa’s Book Critiques, Kevin’s Corner, BOLO Books, The Quick and the Read, In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel, and Criminal Element. Others I pull from as I can, hoping they will become reliable resources in the future.

The downside to all of this, of course, is that blogs and Web sites have a nasty habit of suddenly vanishing—even those that seem solidly entrenched (e.g., Bookgasm, the disappearance of which has caused me to replace links to its reviews throughout this series). Technical changes can lead to no less havoc. Aunt Agatha’s, for instance, recently revised its file path syntax structure, the result being that old links will take you to that site’s main page, but not to the specific critique I had in mind. If you find any broken links of this sort—or any sort—while browsing “Revue of Reviewers” posts, I ask that you please drop me a note and tell me where they can be found.

As the number of “Revue of Reviewers” posts has risen, and their individual size grown, I’ve been pleased to hear readers say how much they appreciate this element of The Rap Sheet. Know that it has proven as useful to me in planning my reading (and encountering new authors) as it has been to anyone else. Seven years later, and 190 entries in, I smile, glad to have taken a chance on this series.