Seattle-set debut novel features a procrastinating romance author whose DIY cure for the blues involves the lives of strangers she observes. Contact with others, she soon learns, comes with responsibilities. And consequences.
—Jessica Poon reviews Inside Outside, by Faye Arcand (Okanagan Falls: Blue Robin Books, 2024) $19.99 / 9781069029508
Set circa 1948 in northern Mexico and BC’s central interior, the 12th book in a lighthearted murder mystery series begins with two missing person cases. Twists, turns, and “all manner of false leads” ensue. —Bill Paul reviews The Cost of a Hostage, by Iona Whishaw (Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2025) $21.95 / 9781771514545
“Wright’s psychological exploration—her emphasis on the ‘why was it done?’—takes us into territory beyond the cozy mystery that a series set in a small town and complete with an ongoing romance might invite.” —Ginny Ratsoy reviews Sleep While I Sing: Murder in a Small Town, by L.R. Wright (New York: Felony and Mayhem Press, 2024) $26.95 / 9781631943171
Although a few missteps are in evidence, a Vancouver Island author’s debut novel—set near Tofino in 1968—introduces a “worthy mystery with a captivating setting.” —Valerie Green reviews Fake Out, A Long Beach Mystery, by Faye Bayko (Victoria: Tellwell Publishing, 2025) $26.99 / 9781779624789
A missing father sparks a discomfiting family reunion in a novel that presents “an authentic, timely, and moving account of the Asian immigrant experience through a distinctly British Columbian lens—one that should resonate long after reading it.” —Daniel Gawthrop reviews The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, by Eddy Boudel Tan (Toronto: Viking Canada, 2025) $26.95 / 9780735248557
Reprint series showcases an author who’s sure to satisfy if a “reader is looking for a complex psychological read that explores the murkiness of the justice system, friendship, and, well, life in general.” —Ginny Ratsoy reviews The Suspect: Murder in a Small Town, by L.R. Wright (New York: Felony and Mayhem Press, 2024) $26.95 / 9781631943164
“In a thriller populated with criminals and, possibly, a ghost, the scariest thing in this book is their marriage.” —Jessica Poon reviews Every Fall, by Angela Douglas (Toronto: Rising Action, 2025) $25.99/9781998076819
“But it’s how we get there, and the questions that go unanswered as we sit right there in the passenger seat with Teddy, that give the book its force.” —Ryan Frawley reviews The Passenger Seat, by Vijay Khurana (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2025) $22.95 / 9781771966306
With vicious bare-knuckle fights, illicit booze runs, and bloody tussles with Al Capone’s goons, a veteran crime novelist gives the career of Huck Waller an immense, though gritty, appeal. —Ron Verzuh reviews Dirty Little War: A Crime Novel, by Dietrich Kalteis (Toronto: ECW Press, 2025) $26.95 / 9781770417960
Freshly returned to Vancouver, PI Dave Wakeland strives to keep cynicism and despair at bay as he investigates the Houseboat Massacre. Sam Wiebe’s latest excels in all the right ways. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews The Last Exile: A Wakeland Novel, by Sam Wiebe (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025)
$24.95 / 9781998526086
In the latest instalment, a plucky “Canadian kid from a middle-class family” meets larger-than-life characters from the heyday of ’60s London. The bodies really pile up too. —Ron Verzuh reviews Curse of the Savoy: A Priscilla Tempest Mystery, Book 4, by Ron Base and Prudence Emery (Madeira Park, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2025) $19.95 / 9781771624381
At its best, a debut collection of 15 stories is deeply unsettling, anxiety-inducing, and memorably character-driven. —Zoe McKenna reviews I Will Wander On: Terrifying Tales of Life, Love, & Death, by Ron Prasad (Acheson: iUniverse, 2024) $30.95 / 9781663266477
Debut novel immerses readers “in the infested Gothic stream of the American South” and portrays memorably obsessive characters “nurtured on beer and cigarettes.” —Michael Greenstein reviews After We Drowned, by Jill Yonit Goldberg (Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2024) $22.00 / 9781772142273
“Myth is the only truth, says Eros, echoing Jung, and perhaps we would be better served by a novel that focused more on myth and less on boring humans.” —Sheldon Goldfarb reviews A Bouquet of Darts: A European Travel Mystery, by Reed Stirling (Drayton Valley: BWL Publishing, 2024) $18.99 / 9780228631309
Captivating historical novel set on the BC coast features diplomatic posturing, a restless crew, a Nuu-chah-nulth chief, and a dash of magic realism. —Ron Verzuh reviews The Wind from All Directions, by Ron Thompson (Toronto: Double Dagger Books, 2024) $22.99 / 9781990644900
2024 donors to the British Columbia Review, a thank you from Richard Mackie.
BCR asked some of our regular contributors about books they read in the past year that really stayed with them. “Eclectic” is our word of the year.
“If you’ve grown weary of heterosexual couples… [and] like the idea of a Sapphic romance involving literate characters,” then this dark fantasy will keep you enthralled. —Jessica Poon reviews Serpentine Valentine, by Giana Darling (BC: Giana Darling Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781774440469
A brooding hero gives a centuries-spanning novel gravity, but too many characters “create a pacing that is reminiscent of old ‘monster of the week’ television, à la Scooby Doo, or Doctor Who, without the levity that makes these shows so digestible.” —Zoe McKenna reviews The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, by Peter Darbyshire (Hamilton: Wolsak & Wynn, 2024) $24.00 / 9781998408054
“Once again, as with his previous graphic novels, he offers readers a lesson in ‘history from below’ about how ordinary people can rally against tyranny.”—Ron Verzuh reviews Revolution by Fire: New York’s Afro-Irish Uprising of 1741, A Graphic Novel, by David Lester and Marcus Rediker with Paul Buhle (Boston: Beacon Press, 2024) $18.95 / 9780807012550