Our Reviews

At firstCLUE, we only review books we love, or at least like a whole lot—and the reviews appear months in advance of publication.

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firstCLUE: New reviews every Thursday.
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Recent Reviews

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by Jeff Ayers

Irish step dance can kill in the first of what is hopefully many books in this series. Single mom to two young girls and …

by Jeff Ayers

Joseph Finder combines various themes from his previous novels and creates his best book to date. Six years ago, Paul Brightman worked on Wall …

by Brian Kenney

A classic “locked-mansion” mystery set on Michigan’s actual Mackinac Island, which in off-season has a population of a mere 500. And the only way …

by Jeff Ayers

Byrne’s latest starts with a bang and never lets up for a second. Dez Limerick has unique skills and training as a former special …

by Henrietta Thornton

Get ready to face big questions in Faber’s novel, one that uses a southern college’s philosophy department as a magnifying glass on relationships between …

by Brian Kenney

Succession meets Canyon Ranch in this terrifying family reunion. The deeply complex and über-rich Agarwals family (parents, three adult kids, a daughter-in-law), with homes …