Here are five debut crime novels, thrillers, and mysteries, all worthy of your attention. Enjoy these first forays into the published world; the start, we hope, of many. As always, blurbs are by me unless otherwise stated. Article continues after advertisement
*
Leslie Bazzett, Mia
(Scribner)
Reminiscent of Chelsea Bieker’s Madwoman or Rachel Eve Moulton’s Tantrum, two recent tales of monstrous motherhood, the psychodynamics of Mia get queasy and nasty real quick. Bazzett’s debut, set in the American expat community of San Miguel de Allende, is aptly compared to Patricia Highsmith: the novel follows the obsessive friendship between a young mother and the older woman who begins to fill the role of her mother, triggering a cascade of terrible memories and even worse events. Mia takes a simple premise—be careful who you pretend to be—and carries it to extreme, and devastating, conclusions. –MO
