A veteran writer’s new novel is defined by meticulous, expansive, and breathtaking world-building. Sometimes, though, too much is too much. —Zoe McKenna reviews Blackheart Man, by Nalo Hopkinson (Toronto: Simon & Schuster / Saga Press, 2024) $34.99 / 9781668005101
Part hippie hitchhiker’s odyssey, part draft resister’s memoir, this novel “reads like the diary of… countercultural wanderers of the 1960.” —Ron Verzuh reviews Waiting for the Revolution, by Ross Klatte (Altona: Friesen Press, 2024) $22.99 / 9781039188877
Full of “humorous observation and stylistic verve,” this collection of flash fictions and short stores is “contemporary, exuberant, and zany.” —Jessica Poon reviews The Long Swim, by Terese Svoboda (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781625348074
A debut story collection set in rural Nova Scotia offers a careful examination of the messiness of family dynamics. —Candace Fertile reviews In the Shadow of Crows, by M.V. Feehan (Montreal: Baraka Books, 2024) $19.95 / 9781771863476
Veteran mystery writer returns with an intriguing case, a “captivating, enigmatic” style, and a chase for clues across England. —Valerie Green reviews Bad Boy (A Jason Davey Mystery), by Winona Kent (New Westminster: Blue Devil Books, 2024) $19.99 / 97817390418
Vancouver Island author’s sophomore novel is “a tightly plotted, ambitious work of historical fiction that has fast-paced thriller elements and, at other times, the makings of a slow burn romance.” —Jessica Poon reviews The Last Secret, by Maia Caron (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2024) $25.00 / 9780385688826
“Newland’s talent with the architecture of sentences never detracts from the exhilaration of his plot, with its strange events and estranged sense of time.” —Peter Babiak reviews The Marysburgh Vortex (Volume 1: Jack Wenland, Time Guardian), by Trevor Newland (Vancouver: Simply Read Books, 2024) $22.99 / 9781772291001
Sisters who happen to be creatures of myth offer wit and wisdom, cynicism and love in a breezily written and beguiling novel. —Jessica Poon reviews Roxy and Coco, by Terese Svoboda (Morgantown: U West Virginia Press, 2024) $29.99 / 9781959000068
Infectiously fun, rapid-fire novel recounts tales from the golden age of charismatic criminals, and ushers readers into “into a fictional world of real-life events that is grippingly good reading.” —Ron Verzuh reviews Crooked: A Crime Novel, by Dietrich Kalteis (Toronto: ECW Press, 2024) $22.95 / 9781770417076
Atmospheric and poetic writing supports a striking novel that follows an aunt and niece on a perilous, uncertain journey. —Bill Paul reviews Bad Land, by Corinna Chong (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781551529592
A debut novel, a moderately appealing political satire, explores the notion of radical democracy. —Valerie Green reviews Owls, Doughnuts, and Democracy, by Jason A.N. Taylor (Victoria: independently published) $7.99 (e-book) / 9798333346148
With a cast of writers, this stylish thriller provides “deeply satisfying escapism; however, it also skillfully depicts parental grief, artistic struggles, and that persistent feeling that, if you just find the right words, then, your life will have meant something.” —Jessica Poon reviews The Deepest Lake, by Andromeda Romano-Lax (Toronto: Soho Crime, 2024) $26.95 / 9781641295604
Debut novel examines Hitler’s Aktion T4 program. With striking results: “When We Were Ashes is a powerful novel, flawlessly executed and emotionally resonant. It is haunting, and its words have stayed with me long after I closed the book.” —Trish Bowering reviews When We Were Ashes, by Andrew Boden (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2024) $25.00 / 9781773103365
A ‘fairy tale wedding’ provides a novelist with the opportunity to create “a chaotic, soul-baring, multi-generational family drama.” —Bill Paul reviews The Wedding, by Gurjinder Basran (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2024) $24.95 / 9781771624169
Inspired by family history, novelist sets volatile love affair in the midst of WWII, specifically with the guerrilla actions of Churchill’s Special Operations Executive in northern Italy. —Theo Dombrowski reviews The Cipher, by Genni Gunn (Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2024) $22.95 / 9781773241425
Readers will feel anger and compassion “as they follow this pathetic, arthritic, alcoholic woman through the last years of her life as she finally realizes that Hitler’s horrific ‘Final Solution’ was the most odious event in history.” —Valerie Green reviews The Imposter, by Johanna Van Zanten (Las Vegas: Histria Books, 2024) $29.99 / 9761592113767
Novelist sets out to “destroy it all … and start over with a handful of survivors, to see if they could build something better,” and then imagines the fraught next steps. —Dana McFarland reviews Post Civ, by Julianne Harvey (Surrey: Ruby Finch Books, 2024) $25.00 / 9780987797841
“That’s what Adderson does best: placing her characters in unsettling situations and then introducing them to a variety of possibilities.” —Bill Paul reviews A Way to be Happy: Stories, by Caroline Adderson (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2024) $22.95 / 9781771966221
A fun and easy beach read, this Mexican resort-set murder mystery brings together secrets, ulterior motives, and extravagant wealth. —Candace Fertile reviews The Plus One, by S.C. Lalli (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2024) $25.99 / 9781443467049
In this touching poetic novel, a pair of exes are accompanied by simmering grief and guilt as they journey from southern Ontario to Tofino. —Jessica Poon reviews Moon Road, by Sarah Leipciger (Toronto: Viking, 2024) $26.00 / 9780735249691